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People First: One Size Does Not Fit All
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Homelessness is a rapidly growing challenge throughout the United States.
HUD is the largest funder of homelessness. Its funding is largely distributed through counties and through an additional layer of bureaucracy created under Housing First called Continuum of Care boards (CoCs). More than 230 counties and CoCs across the nation followed HUD in adopting Housing First as their one-size-fits-all policy, including ECHO, the CoC that oversees Austin’s HUD funding.
Housing First was initially introduced by HUD in 2008 to address the chronically homeless those struggling with severe mental illness and addiction, largely the ones we see on the streets. The idea was to get them off the streets and into housing as quickly as possible as “the system” was incurring significant costs due to them living on the streets.
As a community, we have all been impacted financially, physically, emotionally, and/or socially by the pandemic. Without question, vulnerable populations experiencing homelessness in our community have been disproportionately impacted. According to the last point-in-time count conducted in early 2020 even before the impacts of COVID Long Beach saw a 7% rise in the number of individuals experiencing homelessness.
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Solutions have been proposed. Government programs exist. Stimulus checks, rent relief, food drives, and eviction moratoriums provide households with the temporary means to be able to feed their families, pay bills, and keep a roof over their heads. The recent Long Beach Recovery Plan also included federal funding to homeless services. This will not be enough.
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Ending the Hierarchy of Homelessness, Getting Everyone Housed
The number of military veterans experiencing homelessness in the United States was cut nearly in half between 2010 and 2016, the result of a focus on veterans’ homelessness by the Obama administration.
By Neill Coleman
The number of military veterans experiencing homelessness in the United States was cut nearly in half between 2010 and 2016, the result of a focus on veterans’ homelessness by the Obama administration.
February 2, 2021
In the midst of an opioid addiction crisis that has worsened dramatically, with drug overdoses spiking by about 18 percent during the COVID-19 pandemic, Oregon has moved to decriminalize the possession of all drugs, including heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, MDMA, oxycodone, and others. Now, residents in the state will be forced to deal with the consequences of the radical policy.
Prior to Measure 110, which initially passed on Nov. 3 with over 58 percent approval but went into effect on Monday, possession of Schedule I-IV classified drugs landed offenders with a Class A misdemeanor. Now while people who sell illicit substances will still face criminal penalties, the same consequences will not apply to the actual consumers. Users will now face a $100 slap on the wrist as well as a “health assessment” for addiction treatment services. Essentially, being caught with fatal narcotics in Oregon is now equivalent to a routine traffic ticket.