Professional Documents
Culture Documents
“The human right to adequate housing, which is thus derived from the right to an adequate standard of living, is of
central importance for the enjoyment of all economic, social and cultural rights.”1
Housing First is a strategy that aims to move people directly from homelessness into
permanent housing without requiring treatment for addictive or mental illnesses. The Housing
First philosophy recognizes that housing is a right, not a reward, and that people should not have
to wait until they are deemed “housing ready.” Once the chaos of living on the streets or in
shelters is eliminated, the Housing First model provides supportive services such as case
management, treatment options and job training to help clients address the underlying causes of
their homelessness. Harm reduction – the recognition that homeless individuals who have not
yet clinically stabilized or are still active users require housing in order to begin the recovery
process – is a central tenet of the Housing First philosophy that has proved successful in keeping
people housed while they work towards personal goals in a stable environment.
emergency shelters to transitional housing to permanent housing. Evidence over the past two
decades demonstrates that this model, where the goal is permanent housing, fails to “graduate” a
significant percentage of people from emergency shelters. Many individuals cycle through the
system for extended periods of time while affordable housing, employment and personal stability
remain out of grasp. The chronically homeless often face significant barriers which this model
proves unable to alleviate, given the instability unaddressed and often exacerbated by shelter life
community, up 33% from two years prior.2 Recognizing this trend, Charlotte’s Ten Year Plan to
End Homelessness, “More than Shelter!,” calls for a shift in resources away from the traditional
shelter-based model towards a housing-based strategy that places people in permanent housing
and links them with supportive services. While emergency shelters are necessary for the
transitionally homeless, short-term shelters must no longer be the primary approach to alleviate
homelessness because they fail to address its root causes. The Ten Year Plan aims to secure
2,500 units of supportive and service-enriched housing units.3 This new direction recognizes that
homelessness is a housing issue and that combating homelessness requires sufficient affordable
housing.
the housing is available to the most vulnerable populations by not imposing behavioral
requirements for eligibility that mandate abstaining from substance use, demand clinical
stabilization or assign obligatory treatment and counseling sessions. For any “normal” member
of society to maintain housing, one is required only to maintain timely payment of rent and
responsibility as a tenant or neighbor. The dignity and rights of those most vulnerable should be
reduction5 as the most effective strategy to help tenants work through their personal issues while
maintaining stable housing. Recovery from substance abuse, mental illness, and the trauma of
2
Consolidated Plan, 14.
3
Five hundred of these supportive units will be for the chronically homeless, which make up approximately 15% of
Charlotte’s homeless population. More than Shelter, 4.
4
Many Housing First projects require residents to pay 30% of their income towards their apartment’s rent. Thirty
percent is the widely accepted percentage of income that should be allocated to housing costs.
5
Harm reduction is understandably controversial; some view it as enabling and implicitly condoning illegal or
harmful behavior.
time spent on the street is a lengthy process. Individual progress arises from strong personal
relationships with caseworkers and support groups, and one’s gradual improvement
fundamentally requires the stability that comes with being housed. Housing First providers
design these supportive services to entice clients to participate but diverge from coercive or
obligatory services that typically accompany housing programs. The flexibility for caseworkers
to support tenants as they progress through individual stages of change without the constant risk
of losing their housing enables tenants to work towards the long-term goals of sobriety and
normalcy. Abstinence-based strategies certainly play a part in a city’s comprehensive plan, but a
diversified strategy including harm reduction as a core component is the most effective tool to
Empirical evidence demonstrates that Housing First enables greater success in terms of
allowing for recovery from addiction and illness, for keeping people housed and for saving
taxpayers money. The housing development at 1811 Eastlake in Seattle pioneered the Housing
First principles of “screening-in” the most vulnerable population, in this case chronic alcoholics,
and providing housing without mandatory treatment. The program found that, while recovery
time varied widely from person to person, the longer time spent in housing directly correlated
with reductions of alcoholism. Seattle City Attorney Tom Carr dubbed the project an “anti-
crime” initiative, observing that its tenants no longer frequented the county courthouse. Given
the unprecedented success in sheltering those least likely to be housed, the model has since been
emulated with similar success in other regions of the country. An 85-unit supportive housing
project called Moore Place is slated for construction in August 2010 in Charlotte, North
While human compassion and the universal right to housing should be the primary
motivation for expanding Housing First, housing the chronically homeless is also attractive
because of its economic benefits. Housing First saves money, on aggregate, that is not spent on
emergency services like hospital and jail visits. A 2009 study conducted by the Journal of the
American Medical Association demonstrated significant annual savings from Seattle’s 1811
Eastlake,6 and Moore Place is similarly expected to save Charlotte $2 million in its first year
available to the homeless,7 and Housing First presents a cost-effective way to free up
overburdened soup kitchens and emergency shelters. Housing First programs also have positive
net social impacts on urban areas; whether scattered-site or project-based, they are not the
inhabitants and toxic to the city as a whole. Studies show that property values near Housing First
projects actually rise several years after construction,8 and anecdotal observations demonstrate
Housing First provides a holistic strategy that addresses the underlying issues of homelessness
while respecting the human right to housing. Despite a somewhat high learning curve for
acceptance among policy makers and the general public, the efficacy of Housing First’s harm
reduction supported by wrap-around services is not only the smart option when combating
homelessness, but more importantly, it is the compassionate way to answer the call to house our
neighbors.
6
The study of 95 participants of 1811 Eastlake found total cost reductions of 53% relative to those on the wait list
over six months, JAMA study.
7
Twenty percent of the homeless population (the chronically homeless) use eighty percent of the resources intended
for the entire homeless population.
8
Study by the Furman Center on New York Housing First projects.
Works Cited
Larimer, Mary E., Daniel K. Malone, et. al, “Health Care and Public Service Use and
Costs Before and After Provision of Housing for Chronically Homeless Persons With
Severe Alcohol Problems,” Journal of the American Medical Association 301.13 (2009):
1349-1357 < http://jama.ama-assn.org/>.
“The Impact of Supportive Housing on Surrounding Neighborhoods: Evidence from New York
City,” Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, New York University, 2008
<http://furmancenter.org/files/FurmanCenterPolicyBriefonSupportiveHousing_LowRes.p
df>.