BOSTON, MA - In Massachusetts, Gov. Deval Patrick is seeking to end homelessness. His plan calls for $10 million in new expenditures that would shift the state's response from mainly relying on shelters to first trying prevention. If successful, the state would be left with a chronically homeless population of only a few thousand people. Targeting this group with permanent housing and services is apt to cost far less than the repeated hospitalizations they typically require. The task would be manageable. (Many of the homeless are mentally ill.)
Inspired by his Commission to End Homelessness, the governor also wants to identify the more able people threatened by homelessness, and to intervene before it happens. In addition, he would create more affordable housing, a project he first embraced last year. Emergency shelters would become a last resort. The problem with this sensible approach is that its costs would be paid upfront, against the backdrop of a looming budget shortfall of more than $1 billion. Even if the plan worked well and saved money in the long run, at present, it represents a difficult commitment.
In varying degrees, most states face increases in homelessness, as housing costs continue to outstrip household incomes. The need for modest rental housing is particularly acute. In Massachusetts, about 10,000 families enter the shelter system each year, and the lack of affordable rentals is one of the main reasons why.
Gov. Patrick deserves credit for confronting the issue, but few states are likely to resolve it on their own. Building affordable housing is simply too costly. And the housing market is too dominated by federal policies (especially, lately, failed oversight). Over the past two decades, the federal low-income-housing-tax-credit program has encouraged some very effective public-private partnerships, which have added to the affordable-housing stock. But to truly meet Americans' needs, the program should be expanded, and probably should include subsidies for the lowest-income renters.
Though the federal government has largely gotten out of the housing business, the subprime mortgage crisis has created new impetus for it to act. Programs to stem foreclosures could certainly help prevent some homelessness (including among renters). But they should be made widely accessible.
In the current climate, it seems unlikely that Gov. Patrick can address homelessness as vigorously as he would like to. But at the very least, he can put a structure in place that might begin to carry out his proposals. He can also ask the federal government for greater flexibility in putting the tax-credit program to work. For too many families, the cost of living in the Bay State has grown beyond reach. A plan to forestall homelessness can keep some from sinking into the mire of shelter life, and worsening their prospects even further.
Source: Salem News