Los Angeles provides tragic reminder that ignoring homelessness cannot continue

Last week, LAPD Officer Sean Dins revealed that the Kenneth Fire — one of six blazes plaguing the Los Angeles basin — is under criminal investigation.

A homeless man, allegedly an illegal immigrant, was subdued by residents just minutes and miles from the source of the fire. Witnesses reportedly saw him waving a blowtorch while shouting: “I’m doing this.”

The man was later taken into custody on a felony probation violation charge due to insufficient evidence, and he seemed to harbor an intention to harm the community—an intention that was as obvious as the inner demons he battled.

With that and reality in mind, there are 13,909 fires related to homeless people in the Los Angeles area, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. That’s nearly double the number reported in 2020.

Man arrested near LA fires may be illegal immigrant: ICE SOURCES

This juxtaposition underscores the enormous and escalating risks to public safety posed by our nation’s homelessness policy (Housing First), which refuses to accept the stark truth: Mental illness and substance abuse disorders often accompany homelessness Those who return.

Strong advocates for Housing First include Governor Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Los Angeles County Supervisor Mitchell, who presided over the most destructive and costly wildfires in history and the nation’s States, counties and cities with the worst homelessness problems.

Fires raged, killing people and destroying communities. It’s time to face the undeniable truth: Housing First has failed as the primary solution to homelessness.

People experiencing homelessness face dense and often intertwined challenges, including underemployment or unemployment, lack of a high school diploma, lack of support networks, and domestic violence particularly against the female population.

They continue to struggle primarily with mental illness and addiction, despite erroneous federal data.

During my 13 years as executive director of the largest homeless program for women and children in Northern California, it was documented that 77 percent of women suffered from drug addiction and 60 percent suffered from mental illness. Within the broader homeless population, the federal government claims the number is 37 percent, but the UCLA Policy Lab found that’s not true… 78 percent of chronically homeless people struggle with these issues.

Los Angeles wildfires: Homeowners confront man they think is arsonist, celebrities fuel firebug theory

Faced with these challenges, many homeless people resort to criminal activities as a means of survival. Conversely, criminal behavior can also lead to homelessness.

Fifty-five percent of the women in my program had criminal records. Estimates range from 20-70% of the total homeless population. The 70% estimate is more likely based on frontline experience and the wider context (where premature admissions to prison and prison releases have surged, while rehabilitation efforts have declined).

The good news is that most people experiencing homelessness can develop the resilience and skills needed to transform their lives and overcome these complex challenges. I have witnessed thousands of cases and my faith remains unwavering.

However, under the National Housing First approach, this profound transformation has not and will never happen.

Passed in 2013, Housing First is a public policy approach aimed at providing permanent housing to homeless people as quickly as possible.

It’s a great soundbite that’s hard to argue with… at least at first.

This means that U.S. taxpayers are responsible for providing lifelong housing (in the form of permanent housing) to all homeless individuals without any requirements such as sobriety, participation in treatment services, or pursuit of employment.

Los Angeles reels from spending hundreds of millions to combat worsening homelessness crisis

Shelters, transitional housing programs, and treatment services with structured rules are effectively obsolete. Their funding was eliminated to expand the number of “permanent, unconditional housing vouchers.”

Most nonprofits that serve the homeless have succumbed to the federal government’s approach, as the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is the largest funder of homelessness.

President Obama promised that Housing First would eliminate homelessness within a decade. Yet, 11 years later, the number of homeless people in the United States has soared to its highest level ever and homelessness deaths have increased. 238%.

California, the only state to fully adopt Housing First (in 2016), now ranks among the worst in the nation.

Adding to these poor results is the quiet release of the only long-term study on Housing First, which shows it is ineffective and often fatal. Over the 14 years of the analysis, nearly half died by the fifth year, and only 36% still had a home after the fifth year.

Fires raged, killing people and destroying communities. It’s time to face the undeniable truth: Housing First has failed as the primary solution to homelessness.

The Free Up Foundation develops a “people-centered” public policy framework based on real-life experience and an understanding of the complexity and resilience of human beings.

The incoming Trump administration should adopt the following Free Up framework:

1. Eliminate Housing First as the nation’s only solution to homelessness.

2. Redefine success from “placement” to helping people reach their full God-given potential.

3. Provide rebates for temporary housing programs that instill a sense of community, responsibility and growth. This should include regulated shelters, transitional housing programs, and approved camps, all of which contribute to the effective delivery of treatment services. (Only 10-20% of homeless people may need “lifetime subsidized” housing.)

4. Fund and require (as needed) treatment services, including mental health and substance abuse counseling and employment training.

5. Ban unsanctioned encampments, which often have problems with crime, drugs, sexual abuse and are increasingly a source of fires.

6. Reengage faith-based and law enforcement communities who have been ostracized by HUD becoming the homeless executive.

7. Measure and report successful progress regularly. Fund and reward success.

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Over the past decade, Americans have recognized the authority of the far left to address homelessness. Overall, the more an area embraces Housing First, the more homeless it becomes and destroys everything in its path — homeless people, taxpayers, public space, and public safety.

Free Up’s “people-first” framework will promote individual productivity and public safety while restoring normalcy and returning billions of dollars to taxpayers each year.

Click here to read more from MICHELE STEEB