Can the housing crisis be solved? We know that a social problem must be addressed interdependently, using both individual agency and collective action. In this section we will consider and evaluate some of the interventions and strategies communities are using to address homelessness.

4.6.1 Supporting Students

As we consider the lives of college students, what kind of solutions work? In one example, a coalition of colleges and nonprofits banded together to create housing options in response to the housing instability of COVID-19. Colleges Portland State University, Portland Community College, and Mount Hood Community College along with the nonprofits College Housing Northwest, Native American Youth and Family Center, and New Avenues for Youth created a new program: Affordable Rents for College Students (ARCS). This program provides rental assistance for college students enrolled in their programs.

 Even if you don’t attend one of these colleges, your college is likely to provide support for meeting students’ basic needs. You can talk to your instructor or student services to learn more about these programs. This curated grouping of articles and videos, “It Seems Impossible” — Homeless, Low-Income Oregonians Navigate Basic Needs in College, explores meeting basic needs, including housing, for Oregon’s college students. The articles are particularly useful because they are translated into Spanish.

4.6.2 Updating the Fair Housing Act

Housing distribution was historically discriminatory towards minority groups regarding social identities such as people of color, sexual orientation, gender and sex, country of origin, and disability. The Fair Housing Act passed in 1968 and banned sale, rental, and other housing practices that indicated preference or discrimination based on race, color, religion, or national origin. In 1974, it was amended to include sex, and in 1988 to include people with disabilities and people with children. While in 2016, a rule by the Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD) insured equal access to Community Planning and Development programs regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status, nonconforming gender individuals may find it difficult to access services as this rule applies to one specific program (and not to other public or private programs).[1] To date, the Fair Housing Act does not include gender identity or sexual orientation. Only a handful of states have made it illegal to discriminate based on sexual orientation and gender identity and that creates a challenge for LGBTQ+ families and couples.[2]

Figure 4.15 Many years of social activism, including protests, contributed to the creation and passage of the Fair Housing Act. Figure 4.15 Image Description

The Equality Act passed in 2019 by the U.S. House of Representatives that would amend the Civil Rights Act to “prohibit discrimination on the basis of the sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition of an individual, as well as because of sex-based stereotypes.” This Act was sent to the Senate in May 2019, but has not been taken up for consideration as of August 2022.

4.6.3 Addressing Houselessness: Housing First

A relatively new and innovative approach to addressing houselessness is the Housing First model. Simply put, the idea is that if people have stable housing, solving other problems becomes more likely. Having a secure home, consistent access to schooling, transportation, and support services means that people can be more successful in addressing overlapping issues such as mental health, addiction, and seeking employment. Housing First is a direct challenge to the sin and sick narratives discussed in section 4.4.

Please watch the 3:47 minute video in figure 4.16 for a quick rundown on Housing First principles.

Figure 4.16 Housing First: Principles Into Practice – Animated Overview [YouTube Video] Watch this 4 minute video to learn the five key principles of the Housing First Model of housing services.

Many communities and housing service providers have adopted the Housing First approach. Utah’s Housing First approach is a model for how these services can be made available. Through the collaboration of many local organizations and donations from local churches, real permanent semi-communal housing is provided, along with services such as counseling. A true success story, “Grace Mary Manor in Salt Lake City is a permanent affordable housing facility for 84 chronically homeless individuals with a disabling condition.” (Clifford, NPR, 12/2015) Through programs like this, Utah was able to decrease their houseless population by 91 percent. (McEvers 2015)

At the time of this writing (August 2022), the state of Oregon hosts a web page dedicated to Permanent Supportive/Supported Housing Resources, which contains some of the federal government’s resources about Housing First.

4.6.4 Community Efforts

Individuals and communities are taking initiative to improve neighborhood livability by increasing resources that benefit families, such as informal libraries, green spaces, and art houses. For example, in Chapter 6 we will look at how Black Lives Matter organizing has mobilized resources for community care and mutual aid that prioritize the wellbeing of residents in under-resourced communities.

The U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness has determined criteria and benchmarks for communities to achieve the goal of ending chronic houselessness. Standards are important because they help us identify what we are working toward. These criteria are summarized as follows:

1. The community has identified and provided outreach to all individuals experiencing or at risk for chronic houselessness and prevents chronic houselessness whenever possible.
2. The community provides access to shelter or other temporary accommodations immediately to any person experiencing unsheltered chronic houselessness who wants it.
3. The community has implemented a community-wide Housing First orientation and response that also considers the preferences of the individuals being served.
4. The community assists individuals experiencing chronic houselessness to move swiftly into permanent housing with the appropriate level of supportive services and effectively prioritizes people for permanent supportive housing.
5. The community has resources, plans, and system capacity in place to prevent chronic houselessness from occurring and to ensure that individuals who experienced chronic houselessness do not fall into houselessness again or, if they do, are quickly reconnected to permanent housing.

These goals are considered met when the benchmark of maintaining these criteria has been met for 90 days. Though likely not achievable, the goal of zero houseless individuals in a community is aspirational. (US Interagency Council on Homelessness 2016) While these standards are admirable, without sufficient affordable housing units, communities will not be able to meet these benchmarks.

In April 2022, Organizers with Portland Neighbors Welcome convened the first YIMBY (Yes In My Backyard!) Conference in support of their stated mission:

We believe that every neighborhood in our city should be open and available to people with diverse backgrounds and incomes, and that every person who wants to sleep indoors at night should be able to. We support policies that can deliver an abundant supply of homes that are affordable to rent or buy at every income level and every household size, and ensure that all tenants can live without fear of eviction or displacement. We advocate for those land use, housing, and transportation policies that will make Portland a fairer and more sustainable city.

If you want to be inspired about what is possible, take a look at these recordings from the conference.

Understanding, acknowledging and repairing past injustices are critical steps toward making homes equitably available to everyone. Tenets unions are working to empower renters and reduce evictions. Housing advocates, many of whom have been unhoused, are lobbying for more funding for affordable housing. Nonprofit housing service providers are continuing to develop and deliver trauma informed services that support the social and emotional needs of people striving for housing stability. In addition, community-based efforts resource and support residents of historically marginalized neighborhoods. Each of these interdependent solutions contributes to making housing safe and stable for all.