syonidv
VIP Member
From everyone's favourite duo (the Washington Post via MSN) [bold by me]:
All readers are encouraged to read the full article here.
What say you?
A good idea that shifts focus from treatment to prevention? A progressive pipe dream that will ultimately collapse under its own weight? A brilliant strategy well grounded in positive real-world results? An invitation for abuse and the new American housing projects?
Meet Sam Tsemberis. According to academics and advocates, he’s all but solved chronic homelessness. His research, which commands the support of most scholars, has inspired policies across the nation, as well as in the District. The results have been staggering. Late last month, Utah, the latest laboratory for Tsemberis’s models, reported it has nearly eradicated chronic homelessness. Phoenix, an earlier test case, eliminated chronic homelessness among veterans. Then New Orleans did the same.
Homelessness has long seemed one of the most intractable of social problems. For decades, the number of homeless from New York City to San Francisco surged — and so did the costs. At one point around the turn of the millennium, New York was spending an annual $40,500 on every homeless person with mental issues. Then came Tsemberis, who around that same time unfurled a model so simple children could grasp it, so cost-effective fiscal hawks loved it, so socially progressive liberals praised it.
And now, here he is again, peering up at another brick building on another urban street in another city that’s dabbling with his models. “This building,” he declares of the Irving Street structure, “is great.”
He pauses for a moment, eyes flashing.
“See that sign over there? It says, ‘Now Leasing.’ That’s what we look for.”
It’s that simple, he said. Give homes for the homeless, and you will solve chronic homelessness.
Homelessness has long seemed one of the most intractable of social problems. For decades, the number of homeless from New York City to San Francisco surged — and so did the costs. At one point around the turn of the millennium, New York was spending an annual $40,500 on every homeless person with mental issues. Then came Tsemberis, who around that same time unfurled a model so simple children could grasp it, so cost-effective fiscal hawks loved it, so socially progressive liberals praised it.
And now, here he is again, peering up at another brick building on another urban street in another city that’s dabbling with his models. “This building,” he declares of the Irving Street structure, “is great.”
He pauses for a moment, eyes flashing.
“See that sign over there? It says, ‘Now Leasing.’ That’s what we look for.”
It’s that simple, he said. Give homes for the homeless, and you will solve chronic homelessness.
All readers are encouraged to read the full article here.
What say you?
A good idea that shifts focus from treatment to prevention? A progressive pipe dream that will ultimately collapse under its own weight? A brilliant strategy well grounded in positive real-world results? An invitation for abuse and the new American housing projects?
