Coalition for the Homeless Responds to USICH's new strategic plan, “Expanding the Toolbox”
Catherine Villarreal • October 21, 2020
New USICH report disheartening, partisan, disregards the facts
Earlier this week, the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH)
released its new strategic plan, "Expanding the Toolbox: The Whole-of-Government Response to Homelessness."
We're disheartened by the partisan nature of the USICH’s new strategic plan. By denigrating Housing First, the plan appears to be trying to pit political philosophies against each other, instead of looking at the facts or data, or consulting the experts, to solve homelessness in our country.
The fact is, Housing First is a set of policies that allows us to set aside the problematic concept of “housing-ready” in favor of “housing as a human right” — and it has proven to be effective. Housing First means that our homeless response system works to provide needed, customized wraparound services to our most vulnerable residents while they are in housing — not making them wait for housing until they are deemed “worthy” by a service provider.
In fact, contrary to the USICH plan’s assertions, it is Housing First that has allowed us to have so much success in reducing homelessness in The Way Home Continuum of Care in the Houston area (which encompasses Harris, Fort Bend, and Montgomery counties, Texas). Since 2011, The Way Home has placed more than 19,000 people in permanent housing, 85% of whom have remained successfully housed. This represents a 53% decrease in overall homelessness.
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Read our partners' responses
While our system has helped thousands of people move from homelessness to housing, this year’s results highlight the need to broaden our approach.
This event kicked off a new season of CFTH Presents, bringing the community together for a discussion on the intersection of homelessness, recovery, and housing .
What We Stopped, What We Started, and What Comes Next
