How Utah Will Soon End Chronic Homelessness

Though a recent congressional report announced recession-driven rises in poverty rates in 46 states, Utah is coming close to achieving its 10-year goal of eliminating chronic homelessness. The solution of the state is simple: give homes to the homeless.

Deseret News reports a drastic 69 percent fall in chronic homelessness ("people who have experienced homelessness once within the past year or have had three episodes of homelessness in four years") in the past five years.

A similarly optimistic statistic was issued by the 2011 Comprehensive Report on Homelessness, which reported a 26 percent drop in Utah homelessness since 2010.

The plunge in numbers is credited to Utah's “Ten-Year Strategic Action Plan to End Chronic Homelessness--a proposal aiming to complete its goal of eliminating chronic poverty by 2014 through a series of "Housingworks" programs.

The model allows homeless citizens freedom in their use of the system. The homeless are given access to their own apartments, while the state provides job training and offer social services, including substance abuse programs, to help residents assimilate to a steady job and social life.

Though the housing isn't free (tenants use 30 percent of their state-facilitated income for rent), it is affordable and permanent.

Where many transitional housing programs offer state-subsidized residences for a fixed period of time, Utah's offer of lasting housing provides stability and safety for the chronically homeless. Nor is the housing contingent on a contract with the state to undergo rehabilitative programs or counseling--the state simply requires residents to be, "good stewards of their personal and shared housing areas and maintain good relations with other tenants, case managers, and property managers."

The annual Point in Time Count estimates 3,114 homeless people live in Utah now, and estimates that an overwhelming 14,351 people will experience homelessness in the state throughout 2011, reports the Daily Herald.

Despite those seemingly astronomical figures, homelessness in Utah is at a four-year low.

The rate has dropped so significantly that the Midvale winter homeless shelter may be able to close in coming years--allowing its almost $1 million budget to be allocated to other homelessness services, reports the Salt Lake Tribune.

Utah Lt. Gov. Greg Bell spoke at a homelessness summit in Salt Lake City Wednesday, said he was "amazed" by the strength of Utah's commitment to erasing homelessness, according to the Tribune. "The costs and inputs were worth it, because the outcome was awesome," he said.

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Comments

[Neenerpuss]

12:14 AM on 10/03/2011

Utah cures homelessness with $79 bus tickets to California.

[NJLiberalMom]

07:21 PM on 10/02/2011

Well done, Utah!

[pammiethekid]

04:49 PM on 10/02/2011

great essay on the thinking behind this;
http://www.gladwell.com/2006/2006_02_13_a_murray.html

[Polar Shift]

08:33 PM on 10/02/2011

pammie, F&F for a wonderful in-depth story on a common plight and its' REAL solution! TY!!

[pammiethekid]

09:02 PM on 10/03/2011

thanks! I cannot recommend Malcolm Gladwell enough. Whenever I read his essays, which are available in many of his collected paperbacks now, I feel grateful that I am alive while he is writing!

[swilson113]

01:09 PM on 10/02/2011

Amazing and well done. Great things happen when common sense and dollars align without political histrionics.

[Frank David Nall]

01:59 AM on 10/02/2011

Deseret News reports a drastic 69 percent fall in chronic homelessness ("people who have experienced homelessness once within the past year or have had three episodes of homelessness in four years") in the past five years.

this is a punch in the gut to the baggers. Can't have americans given a chance to succeed.

[Buster Nitchski]

10:56 AM on 10/02/2011

So true. I was thinking the same thing - this must be utterly jaw-dropping to the right. Spending money on homeless people?!! Blaspehmy to contemporary conservative ideology...and precisely why they are wrong.

[huevos07]

04:31 PM on 10/01/2011

This will never be seen in Conservative media, it undermines the Regressive desire to punish the poor.

They don't see people in need, they see societal parasites milking the government teat for nothing. Christian Conservatives are obsessed with the Calvinist notion of Pre-determination. That is the poor were deemed by God to always be poor and nothing will bring them up from their lot, and those with means are chosen by God, and nothing will stand in the way of their path to Heaven. The people who claim Jesus as their Lord and Savior forget the Sermon on the Mount, they ignore "blessed are the poor, for they shall inherit the earth" or "On the last day, Jesus will say to those on His right hand, "Come, enter the Kingdom. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was sick and you visited me." Then Jesus will turn to those on His left hand and say, "Depart from me because I was hungry and you did not feed me, I was thirsty and you did not give me to drink, I was sick and you did not visit me." These will ask Him, "When did we see You hungry, or thirsty or sick and did not come to Your help?" And Jesus will answer them, "Whatever you neglected to do unto one of these least of these, you neglected to do unto Me!" What a Socialist.

[glockman]

06:28 PM on 10/01/2011

Not that I'm religious by any means, but when you were typing this, did you realize that Utah is a staunchly Mormon state with the Mormon religion heavily infusing their politics?

[huevos07]

06:46 PM on 10/01/2011

Yes. And it has nothing to do with what I wrote. Many think Mormonism to be non Christian. But, apparently, Mormons take the words of Jesus to actually mean something.

[fortressfountain]

03:52 PM on 10/01/2011

Homelessness would be less of a problem with liveable wages, good jobs and affordable housing.
There are not enough resources available-rich ceos and wall street executives are more valuable and deserve the millions they earn wreck balling the economy.

[chatnuptime1]

05:30 PM on 10/01/2011

Fortress the resources aren't scarce at all we have them in abundance. The problem lies in the fact that you have to buy that resource and you don't have the money. So it goes to the one that does. Scarcity is imposed by a free market to gravitate to those that can by means of their wealth get those resources.

Make no mistake about it poverty is induced by a stratisified society that sees wealth go to the minority, while the majority work for the wealth creation of the few. Even if you have money your still in debt because that money that you have comes with debt. True wealth by its definition does not come with debt. It comes by them creating debt by those that give wealth to others thru labor or product, and services. Hence so long as we practice get this for that you have a debt for the trade regardless of the type of transaction someone is going to be without that other item of trade to get this or that.

The truely loving form of human interaction is not use trade at all. But to supply a demand and recycle those items when you don't want them anymore so others can use it. Make them last longer rather then make them to break down. Make useful and productive things for our betterment for all to have.

[Polar Shift]

08:40 PM on 10/02/2011

chat, IT also is caused by a STRANGLEHOLD of cash flow on Main street, perpetrated by NON-lending banks. It is strange that the CURE for this is by simply LENDING at REASONABLE rates, but they claim 'uncertainty' as the 'problem'.

[chatnuptime1]

05:30 PM on 10/01/2011

Many Churches do this. It is called resource based economy. Cloistured societies practice this method within their communities. And thus the friction of human percieved value based on things is DOA they now value each other for who they are not what they have. This model erases poverty and elevates the human condition of self worth and competency.

[maxfax]

12:20 PM on 10/01/2011

Maybe an alternative to help out, let's start a corporate foundation whereby a corproation can "adopt a homeless person" and get a tax write-off from the government, think of the implications!

[sharon1122]

08:29 AM on 10/01/2011

If the research was done to find out who has been on the welfare gravy train and doesn't deserve to be there - take that money and help those that actually want the help to get back on their feet.

[chatnuptime1]

05:40 PM on 10/01/2011

I would rather start a large community enclosure from scratch that has everything a person needs to become self sustainable and have the homeless learn to become a productive member of that group thru training and rehabilitation with what they need as a given. Active participation, shared interest in the community to keep it going from farming to product creation for the rest of the community thru a resource based model that recycles itself. You are not only providing for yourself in this mannor but providing for each member of the group a level of comfort you want thru your hard work and industry.

One begins to see their own value and integerity in the group. While at the same time that one doesn't worry about the needs of life, home , food, security, love, fellowship, enrichment. We all have something to contribute to the whole that others would enjoy. That is lifes work. The engines of innovation in this model are sky high as resources like education, health and imagination are freed from the combersome mechanics of being able to achieve thru debt to buy it what it takes to make it in this world. Imagine the possibilities to mankind when we no longer short change the whole to satisfy the greed of the few?

[MJinCanada]

01:51 PM on 10/02/2011

Maybe because it would cost more to investigate the people than it would to simply feed and house them?

Come on, you're asking for some sort of Jedi/clairvoyant/wisdom of Solomon perception of who is "worthy" and who has potential and so forth. It's not possible to make that judgement.

[golferlady]

06:52 AM on 10/01/2011

Finally a real solution with a good outcome to a sad and continuing problem in this country. And, it sounds as if Utah did it with compassion and without judgment. I was really impressed by the ingenuity shown by this state. Yeah, it is awesome!

[Iplayeasy]

05:59 AM on 10/01/2011

I would like to see the per capita results of homeless in Utah compared to other States. Since Utah has cold winters, many homeless migrate away in the winter time as it is much more difficult to survive homelessness in the cold. I think this program has merit in that it can help the chronically homeless develop a more socially compatable method of living with others and help them to learn to live in a more stable and communal environment. Most of them are already survivers of the hardiest sort, or they would have died long before reaching middle through old age. Those opposed to their tax money being used to give a hand up instead of just a hand out, can resolve that issue by just changing their mind and supporting the program, thus making it voluntary.

[al1pa]

05:09 AM on 10/01/2011

I have NO problem with those that want to take money out of their own pockets to aid anyone, but, I do object when I am being forced through taxation to support others. How about some compassion for those of us being taxed to death to support programs that put my life and opportunity to pervail in jeopardy. You can't take from the haves to give to the have nots, it just does not work. The haves have because they work or made good and wise decisions, while the have nots just want the haves to keep them.

[peach1436]

06:58 AM on 10/01/2011

Well said. Another problem is many of the homeless are like that for one reason. They want it that way.

[MadMrMagoo]

12:29 PM on 10/01/2011

Choice is learned as well. A homeless person was not born to believe that it was best to live like that. That is a decision based on a lifetime of experiences and decisions. To say that you can not stop homelessness or any of the other traits that make someone a "have not" because they want it that way instead needs to focus on why they want it that way.

[MJinCanada]

02:13 PM on 10/02/2011

Many of the homeless are mentally ill and make bad choices because of irrational fears. Schizophrenia, depression and Alzheimer's are just some of the reasons people end up on the street -- and they didn't CHOOSE to be ill.

Other people are homeless now because WALL STREET made bad choices that trashed their jobs and their retirement savings.

[cate58]

10:37 AM on 10/01/2011

"The haves have because they work or made good and wise decisions." Or they were born into the middle or upper class, lived in stable households, went to decent schools, grew up in safe neighborhoods, and don't battle mental health diseases. The statements above merely reflect the propaganda thrown around in the last 30 years that anyone can achieve anything despite the realities showing that only exceptional people overcome poverty, mental illness, negative environmental factors, etc. Try using some critical thinking skills instead of just regurgitating what you hear and read from conservative pundits only.

[bjammin]

04:34 AM on 10/01/2011

You mean commonsense solutions applied to complex problems actually work? That compassion for those less fortunate is actually a virtue?

NO! I deny your 'reality' and substitute my own. Punish them! Denigrate them! Outlaw them!

[drpmindmender]

04:33 AM on 10/01/2011

There are 49 state governors that should be making pilgrimages to Utah to learn how to copy this program in their own states.

[katsenne]

04:32 AM on 10/01/2011

This is a local solution to a local problem. I know homelessness is a problem that exists throughout our nation, but I'm not sure this solution would work throughout the nation. I hope each state seriously looks at this solution and other possible solutions and finds something that will work for them.

[Polar Shift]

08:58 PM on 10/02/2011

kats, No it isn't. It is clearly common sense, after 50 years of half-baked failures to REALLY help those who need it. Becoming a drug addict, or an alcoholic, or a victim of PTSD isn't a CHOICE. Most addicts have tried more than once to 'clean up', and failed. You obviously have no knowledge, experience, or humanity regarding these issues. I would gamble you think 'being gay' is also a 'choice'.