Scott Turner’s Op-Ed Ignores Facts, Attacks Housing First, and Misrepresents Root Causes
President Donald Trump’s administration has promised to shift the paradigm about homelessness in America. In doing so, it has continuously spread falsehoods that make it more difficult for people who are homeless to get the help they deserve.
A recent op-ed penned by Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner for Fox News is replete with examples of the falsehoods the Trump administration is asking Americans to believe about homelessness.
In the op-ed, Turner mischaracterizes the root cause of homelessness as a mental health and substance abuse issue. He adds that faith organizations should play a larger role in homeless services, despite evidence that some of these organizations discriminate against the LGBTQIA+ community. He also lambasts Housing First as an “ideology” that has no evidence of leading to “good outcomes.”
Turner’s argument also relies on the fearmongering that lives at the heart of many Trump policies. For example, he argues that people feel unsafe because homelessness is “wreaking havoc” on American cities. Therefore, Turner argues, cities should increase policing of homelessness.
These arguments artfully ignore decades of evidence showing that housing combined with supportive services is the best way to end homelessness. Instead, Turner advocates for punitive policies that would perpetuate homelessness and increasingly harm people who lose their homes.
Root Causes of Homelessness
One of the most damaging falsehoods in Turner’s op-ed is his mischaracterization of the root causes of homelessness.
“Those root causes are addiction and untreated mental illness,” Turner’s op-ed reads in part. “And they’re on full display in our cities. Sprawling encampments, public drug use and random violent attacks wreak havoc in the major cities Americans call home. Every day, overdoses claim lives and the most vulnerable fall victim to violence.”
Homelessness is a housing issue. Full stop. When housing costs increase, the lowest-income earners become more likely to be cost-burdened, meaning they pay more than 30% of their monthly income on housing expenses. Increasing cost burdens for low-income households are the top contributing factor to someone becoming homeless, according to research from UC Berkeley.
According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, America has a shortage of more than 7.3 million affordable homes for its lowest-income earners. The shortage of affordable homes is highest in states with large homeless populations, such as California, New York, and Texas.
Federal data also shows that mental health and substance abuse issues play a small part in the overall issue of homelessness. The latest Point in Time Count shows just 18% of people who are homeless have a severe mental illness, and just 14% suffer from a substance abuse issue.
Moreover, homelessness is not caused by addiction and mental illness. There are people who suffer from addiction and mental health challenges who live in homes. So, what is the difference between the two groups? One can afford housing while the other cannot.
Persistence of Homelessness
The number of people who are homeless in America continues to grow, and research shows the trend is due to chronic underinvestment in homeless services and affordable housing. However, Turner argues that the growth of homelessness is actually due to Housing First policies.
“How did we get here?” he asks. “Through failed leadership that demanded blind fealty to ‘Housing First’ – an ideology that promotes fully subsidized housing, forever, with zero strings attached.”
Nothing in Turner’s characterization of Housing First is factual. For starters, Housing First is not an ideology; it is a bipartisan policy strategy. The strategy was developed during the George W. Bush administration and was expanded under successive Republican and Democratic administrations.
Second, describing it as an “ideology” could lead one to conclude that the success of Housing First is an opinion when there are dozens of studies that have measured positive outcomes from the strategy.
For instance, a review of 26 Housing First studies found that the programs decreased homelessness by 88% and improved housing stability by 41%. The studies also showed meaningful reductions in hospitalization and days in jail, both of which reduce the cost of addressing homelessness on taxpayers.
There are numerous examples of governments using Housing First strategies to meaningfully reduce homelessness. The Department of Veterans Affairs used Housing First to reduce veteran homelessness by 52% over a decade. Houston, Texas, used Housing First to reduce its local homeless population by nearly 60%. Denver used Housing First to reduce its unsheltered homeless population by 45% in two years.
Instead of continuing to invest in Housing First strategies, Turner argues that America needs to adopt “proven effective strategies” to address homelessness, like job training and treatment.
However, research shows neither of these strategies is as effective as Housing First. Access to stable housing increases participation rates in job training and addiction counseling services, according to research from The Urban Institute. Therefore, stable housing should be the first step in an individual’s recovery journey, not the last.
Faith-Based Funding
Turner also argues that America needs to provide more funding for faith-based organizations that serve people experiencing homelessness.
“Another tragic failure of progressivism’s response to homelessness has been the systematic exclusion of faith-based organizations,” Turner wrote. “That policy changed when Americans elected President Trump, because this administration recognizes that the very first organizations to serve the homeless in this nation were Christian ministries – and that they continue to be core partners in this mission to this day.”
Undoubtedly, some faith-based organizations have made significant strides to help unhoused people. However, there are also faith-based organizations that discriminate against LGBTQIA+ and gender-nonconforming individuals.
Turner’s claim that progressives practice “systematic exclusion” of faith-based organizations is pure fantasy. President Joe Biden’s administration approved hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for faith-based organizations through Continuum of Care and Emergency Solutions grants.
The Biden administration did enact rules requiring faith-based organizations to ensure their programs serve people of all faiths and gender expressions. While those rules angered some faith organizations, the justification for the rules is clear. The federal government should not be funding organizations that violate state or federal anti-discrimination rules.
Now Is the Time to Demand Compassionate, Effective Policy
Now is not the time to be silent about homelessness. Unhoused people deserve safe and sanitary housing just as much as those who can afford rent or mortgage.
Poverty and homelessness are both policy choices, not personal failures. That’s why we need you to contact your officials and tell them you support legislation that:
- Streamlines the development of affordable housing
- Reduces barriers for people experiencing homelessness to enter permanent housing
- Bolsters government response to homelessness
Together, we can end homelessness.