San Fransicko: Why Progressives Ruin Cities

by Michael Shellenberger

Utah garnered widespread media attention after state officials claimed a 91 percent decline in chronic homelessness because of its adoption of Housing First.50 The Los Angeles Times declared, “Utah is winning the war on chronic homelessness with ‘Housing First.’”51 Said NBC, “Utah is battling homelessness by giving the needy shelter first and then aiding them with job placement, and it’s working.”52 Housing First provides housing without conditions. There is “no empirical support for the practice of requiring individuals to participate in psychiatric treatment or attain sobriety before being housed,” wrote founder of Housing First Sam Tsemberis.53 Kushel agreed. “You hear people saying things like, ‘You can’t just house people who have addiction problems.’ You can, and you must.”54 The George W. Bush administration made Housing First federal policy. It helped cities and states create plans to end chronic homelessness in ten years through permanent supportive housing, and provided money after they had done so. By 2009, more than two hundred cities and states had done so.