☆ Homelessness expert: Expect other cities to “follow suit” with SJ's Housing First reforms (4/4)
Image by Dai Sugano
SF homeless advocate Tom Wolf unpacks the factors (from local to state to national) influencing San Jose's proposal to funnel PSH funds to interim housing. And why he expects Housing First doctrine to loosen across the nation—perhaps in other Bay Area cities. An Opp Now exclusive.
Tom Wolf, Recovery Education Coalition founder:
Last fiscal year, San Jose City Council also voted, unanimously, to diminish funds for PSH. The fact that they're doing it again is not surprising. First, SJ's under the gun to move as many homeless people as possible from the waterways (to recover water quality), or incur substantial state fines. That's the original motivation for Mayor Mahan's pivot to interim solutions: they remove people from the street faster. Second, it's just not fiscally feasible to accommodate Santa Clara County's 10,000 people experiencing homelessness in new permanent housing (which costs $1 million/door in the Valley). Third, the changing political climate is a factor. Even in recent weeks, there have been dramatic changes nationally in what's funded, what zoning restrictions are allowed, etc. And this affects cities like SJ through a trickle-down of funding from federal to state, county, and then city.
All of these things put together creates a scenario in which the best possible—and only realistic—strategy is Shelter First (which includes interim shelters, tiny homes, safe sleeping sites, etc.). It's encouraging to me. This viewpoint has a lot of momentum now.
I think Housing First still plays a role in this and won't go away. At a minimum, I expect it to be reformed at the federal level in the next four years to allow for things like recovery housing, drug-free requirements, and other measurable standards that they currently consider barriers to housing. I also expect faith-based organizations (which normally run sober environments) to be made eligible for federal grants. Even now, Congress is considering a “Housing Plus” bill that would require 30% of new Permanent Supportive Housing receiving subsidies to be drug-free. With that said, I'm not sure what the state and Santa Clara County will allow.
It's important to note that Mayor Mahan's doing in SJ is being looked at closely by other municipalities, whom you can expect to start following suit. There's a growing recognition—in SJ, in San Francisco, even in Los Angeles—that some of what we're doing with housing the homeless isn't working. There are a lot of politicians talking a good game but few taking action. Mayor Mahan is definitely taking action, and he has my full support.
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