As election returns roll in, political analysts will undoubtedly focus on the deep partisan divisions over the cost of energy, the Iran War, support for Israel, and immigration. Most of it will predict two more years of gridlock between Congress and the White House.
Whatever the balance of power in Congress, a new consensus could emerge on homelessness. The conditions are ripe: a Republican administration dedicated to better outcomes for both the homeless and the public and Democrats incentivized to show their constituents that they are no longer ignoring a crisis at its worst in blue strongholds like Seattle and San Francisco.
The only results that matter are whether Washington finally stops counting dollars spent on homelessness and starts counting the people it helps escape it.
Even so, change won’t come easily. Expecting a Democratic takeover in Congress, the homelessness activists who brought us billions in wasteful spending and worsening outcomes are already urging lawmakers to undo the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s performance-based funding reforms.
Most people recognize that homelessness should not be a red or blue issue. The two primary causes of homelessness — severe mental illness and substance use disorder — impact most Americans in some way. Homelessness happens to black and white Americans, young and old, in big cities and small towns.
The heart of the partisan divide on homelessness is how to solve the problem. Republicans want to spend less on ineffective and inefficient programs and refocus on drug addiction and mental illness treatment. Democratic activists insist that the current Housing First model (the provision of permanent supportive housing without treatment or sobriety requirements) is working and want to spend more on it.
No matter who is in office, the situation on the ground has changed. Americans across the political spectrum, who have seen the effects of a decade of increasing homelessness in their neighborhoods, are no longer inclined to take the activists at their word.
Our recent report brings hope that, if both parties work together for commonsense reform, they can achieve what the taxpayers and voters really want, which is to alleviate the suffering on America’s streets. Across the country, we can help more people get off the street and rebuild their lives, while ensuring federal and state governments eliminate waste and spend taxpayer money efficiently.
The report shows that most of the homelessness funding from the federal government is spent on inputs: how many beds facilities have, how many people they have hired, how many homeless people check into their facilities.
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But the local entities that distribute federal funding do a poor job of tracking outcomes, especially considering the amount of money spent. How many people are getting jobs? How many people walk out with better health or are able to return to their families having beaten their addiction? No one can say. Meanwhile executives at ineffective homelessness nonprofits make more money than ever, while the homeless languish.
This is where Republicans and Democrats can come together. President Trump has emphasized the need for outcomes in federal homelessness funding, with a particular focus on treatment for addiction and mental illness, economic self-sufficiency, and public safety. Meanwhile Democrats concerned about protecting the less fortunate should see targets in the nonprofit executives getting rich at taxpayer expense and victims in the homeless people they exploit.
And before anyone says it, yes, this can be done. Daniel Lurie, the mayor of San Francisco, is hardly conservative, but he has offered some of the same outcome-based reforms as Trump, notably mandated treatment, street enforcement, and a rollback of low-barrier harm reduction. To achieve this, Lurie has had to reject the radical demands of homeless activists in his own city. If he and Trump can align on anything, lawmakers in Washington ought to be able to do the same.
As Washington considers voting outcomes on Wednesday morning, more than 745,000 Americans will have spent the night on the streets. For them, the only results that matter are whether Washington finally stops counting dollars spent on homelessness and starts counting the people it helps escape it.
Opinion & analysis, Homelessness, Bipartisan