Statement on the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness’ Strategic Plan
On Tuesday, October 20, 2020, the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) released a new strategic plan entitled Expanding the Toolbox: The Whole-of-Government Response to Homelessness.
This report (hardly a plan) plays on harmful stereotypes and undermines best practices. For example, it attacks Housing First, an effective, evidence-based model attributing the recent rise in homelessness to a mischaracterization of this harm-reduction model. The report also asserts that the federal response on homelessness should focus on reducing dependence on benefit programs (using the loaded term welfare) and implementing “preconditions or service participation requirements.”
Work requirements in the Medicaid program resulted in a loss of coverage and decrease in affordability, proving that preconditions serve as barriers to improving health and contribute to the downward spiral of poverty. This approach in housing is neither trauma-informed nor evidence-based and characterizes housing as a privilege rather than a human right.
The report also does not address the essential need to restore federal support to make housing affordable for poor people. The massive retreat from this federal commitment in the 1980s is the single largest reason for the increase of homelessness that began immediately following these budget cuts.
Bobby Watts, CEO of the National Health Care for the Homeless Council, says, “Recent actions of the administration stand in stark contrast to many of the priorities highlighted in this report, such as dismantling racism. Actions speak louder than words, and the actions indicate where the administration’s real priorities lay on this issue.”
While the administration’s policy choices invalidate some of the report’s stated priorities, the Council supports elements of the report at face value. We, too, support a focus on prevention: we could institute universal health care such as a Medicare-for-all system, for example, uprooting the cause of 67% of personal bankruptcies and other destabilizing health conditions that so often lead to homelessness.
We, too, support innovation: the federal government could endorse Medical Respite Care as a crucial intervention for people experiencing homelessness. And we, too, support racial equity: governments could decriminalize homelessness and invest in housing and behavioral health services in equitable ways instead.
As health care leaders in the national movement to end homelessness, we cannot ignore how recent actions of the administration put the health and safety of our clients at risk and increase poverty and homelessness. We need a clear plan to undo harmful changes undertaken, and viable strategies to pave an equitable path forward. Neither are provided in this report.