Completing the Triad of Solving the Homeless Crisis

 By: Daniel Bloomfield

Mental illness and drug addiction rehabilitation will not solve the homeless crisis if affordable housing is unavailable. Oregon has all the ingredients for the perfect recipe for a homeless crisis. 71% of homeless people report having a disabling condition, mental illness and drug addiction being tied at number one spot for the most commonly reported at 38%. Both the number of people reporting mental health issues and illicit drug use in Oregon are above the national average. While it leads the nation in those two root causes of homelessness, a third factor contributing to homelessness cannot be ignored: housing affordability. 

According to a study published in 2022 conducted by Gregg Colburn and Clayton Page Aldern, cities with higher housing costs see more homelessness than cities with higher poverty rates. This is a big problem for Oregon, which ranks dead center on the national average for income levels—defining the median—but has the eleventh highest housing costs in the United States. A 2022 legislation added $500 million to help solve the crisis, 43% of which will go to housing and rehabilitation. Unfortunately, the bulk of that 43% will go to nonprofits who either provide temporary shelters, which perpetuates homelessness, or permanent housing vouchers, which encourage underemployment. 

So, what can be done? Instead of allowing private organizations masquerading as charities to profit off the homeless crisis, the money should be going to training and employing rehabilitated peoples and empowering them to afford housing independently. Examples of organizations that do this are out there, like Central City Concern and the Blanchet House. Such organizations should be given priority over private contractors who pay employees $70 per hour to sweep homeless camps, a wage more than double the average income. The funding is there, but the leadership to properly guide the direction of the funding is lacking. 

We can throw all the money in the world at rehabilitation services for mental and addiction, but without affordable housing, the existing systems will continue to perpetuate the same cycles of homelessness.