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“Sisyphus on the Street” A review by Jason DeParle
In “Sisyphus on the Street,” Jason DeParle reviews Rough Sleepers: Dr. Jim O’Connell’s Urgent Mission to Bring Healing to Homeless People by Tracy Kidder…. DeParle reports that in Kidder’s book “there’s not much about the broader inequality from which homelessness springs and almost nothing about politics or the paucity of housing aid…. To connect the policy dots,” DeParle writes, “readers might consult Marybeth Shinn and Jill Khadduri’s In the Midst of Plenty: Homelessness and What to Do About It (2020), a clear-eyed journey through a rich academic literature.” [read more]
How Houston Moved 25,000 People From the Streets Into Homes of Their Own, (behind paywall) Michael Kimmelman.
“Chronic homelessness” is a term of art. It refers to those people, like many in the Houston encampment, who have been living on the streets for more than a year or who have been homeless repeatedly, and who have a mental or physical disability. Nationwide, most of those who experience homelessness do not fall into that narrow category. They are homeless for six weeks or fewer; 40 percent have a job... There are at the same time many thousands of mothers and children, as well as couch-surfing teenagers and young adults who are ill-housed and at risk. These people are also poor and desperate. Finding a place to sleep may be a daily struggle for them. They might be one broken transmission or emergency room visit away from the streets. They’re in the pipeline to homelessness. But they are not homeless according to the bureaucratic definition...
Eradicating homelessness would involve tackling systemic racism, reconstituting the nation’s mental health, family support and substance abuse systems, raising wages, expanding the federal housing voucher program and building millions more subsidized homes... Five states — California, New York, Florida, Washington and Texas — now account for 57 percent of the people experiencing homelessness. Not coincidentally, it is worst in those big cities where affordable housing is in short supply, the so-called NIMBYs are powerful, and the yawning gap between median incomes and the cost of housing keeps growing...
It may seem surprising that, of all cities, Houston — built on a go-it-alone oil business culture — decided to tackle homelessness by, in effect, collectivizing its homeless relief system... The vast majority of the 50,000 people in the Houston area who sought some type of homelessness service in 2021 did not qualify for an apartment... There are critics of rapid rehousing who contend it’s just kicking the can down the road...
As elsewhere, giant investment firms like Blackstone have been gobbling up housing stock, pricing out middle-class and lower-income residents. Making matters harder, eviction filings in Harris County are now soaring: they’re higher than they were before the pandemic...
Nearly a year after watching people being moved out of the encampment in the underpass, that was still the city’s message and I still had a lot of questions. I wondered about the uncounted couch-surfing families and youth; about the underpaid, overtaxed caseworkers who cannot provide enough help; about the landlords refusing to house tenants with vouchers, and people like Ms. Harris and her daughter, Blesit, judged not quite desperate enough for more permanent housing.
But mostly I wondered what individuals would extract from Houston’s example. Homelessness is a calamity millions reckon with each day — a calamity provoking a mix of rage, fear and powerlessness in the housed and unhoused alike. For me, the big reveal after a year was not that Houston had solved the problem. It hasn’t. There is no one-time fix to homelessness....
The other day, I talked to Ms. Harris on the phone... she has no housing voucher, and her lease will expire at the end of July unless she can come up with the $886 a month the continuum now pays in rent... Ms. Harris is housed. But she isn’t home yet. READ MORE (behind paywall)
It’s Time for America to Reinvest in Public Housing, Ross Barkan.
“The first step to addressing the country’s housing affordability problem is to repeal the Faircloth Amendment.... The primary problem with public housing was that the government didn’t provide enough funds to maintain the buildings and allow tenants to live with dignity.
What’s Between 30 Million Americans and an Eviction Tsunami?, Francesca Mari.
“Only government intervention can keep millions of Americans housed…. Most critically: For those properties that do hit the market, especially hotel and apartment buildings, we need a government-sponsored affordable housing acquisition fund and legislation that gives it first priority to scoop up properties.”
Housing Growth: Ezra Klein Interview: Annie Galvin
So one more question that relates to the environment. Alyssa asks, “How do you reconcile the need to build more housing for people with catastrophic biodiversity loss” that might come along with that effort to build?
Ezra Klein
So I don’t think those are in tension, really. A lot of the pressure to build more housing comes from people who want to see dense places zoned so you can build up. And I don’t think it’s the case that if we just made it easier to add stories to buildings in San Francisco, you would have any more biodiversity loss. The biodiversity in San Francisco proper is — it’s already pretty lost. (read more)
Want to Solve the Housing Crisis? Build More, and Build Higher, Jay Caspian Kang.
“How big should a city be? Edward Glaeser, a professor of economics at Harvard University, has spent much of his career thinking about that question. His 2011 book, “Triumph of the City,” makes the case that economic and cultural growth occurs when millions of people live in a compressed space where they can share ideas, compete with one another and solve problems together. This might seem like an uncontroversial statement, but as Glaeser points out, the growth rate of American cities varies widely.” (read more)
A Window Onto an American Nightmare, Nathan Heller.
“As the homelessness crisis and the coronavirus crisis converge, what can we learn from one city’s struggles?... Singletary got her apartment through a supportive-housing nonprofit called Abode Services.... It is democratic-egalitarian (open to anyone) and communitarian (balanced on personal connections).... the model could work at twenty times its current size.”
Only Washington Can Solve the Nation’s Housing Crisis, Lizabeth Cohen
America’s Cities Could House Everyone, if They Chose To, Binyamin Appelbaum.
“Our housing crisis is a symptom of America’s wealth, and its indifference.”
Comment:
Bill Konrady:
Wade Lee Hudson, it's been a while since I've tried to connect with this initiative. I am appreciating the clear language here and hope to stay focused on the updates and what is emerging. An important area of my activity is in network weaving, encouraging, self reflection, and small group activities. Maybe one day we will have a one-on-one. I live in Dakota Country. My wife Julie and I have our home in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Warmly
Wade Lee Hudson:
Bill, Great to hear from you. I posted your comment and this response on the homepage. Have your small group activities involved self-reflection? If so, I’d like to hear more.