Homelessness declines as new thinking fuels 'giant untold success'

[groundloop]

Source: Christian Science Monitor

A radical change in how states address homelessness has fueled a 17 percent decline in homelessness since 2005 – a trend that has withstood financial panic, a foreclosure crisis, and the Great Recession.

The new data come from the National Alliance to End Homelessness, which sees the recent success as the "giant untold story of the homelessness world," according to Stephen Berg, vice president of policy and programs.

The shift comes as the prevailing wisdom that homeless individuals need to get a handle on other social problems in their lives before they can receive housing gives way to new thinking. In recent years, many states have started to flip that idea and have adopted what’s known as a “housing first” approach.

“Instead of trying to fix all the problems that homeless people have while they are homeless, [housing first] gets them into housing right away, then they end up taking care of a lot of other problems from a stable home,” Mr. Berg says.

Read more: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2014/0528/Homelessness-declines-as-new-thinking-fuels-giant-untold-success

---

This is a very interesting article, definitely worth the time to give it a read.