Roughly one percent of all residents in the District of Columbia are homeless, the highest per capita rate in the country. While we have a responsibility to get engaged, and volunteering at soup kitchens and shelters is a noble cause, it is not the ultimate solution. In order to correct the flaws in the system that keep many people from finding and keeping a home, both the local and federal governments must make ending homelessness a priority.
Though it is tempting to think of the homeless as that aging single man bundled up on the corner, in truth the homeless population is quite diverse. According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, over one third of the more than 5,500 homeless in the District are families. Even among the individuals, many are women and youths out of orphanages, a reality that many volunteering Hoyas are shocked to experience first hand, according to former co-chair of Hoya Outreach Programs and Education Robert O’Rourke (COL ’07).
Student programs like HOPE and the community service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega are crucial to supporting the homeless on a night-to-night basis, but relying on them as a solution is like putting a Band-Aid over a bullet wound. A long-term approach to reducing homelessness will require attacking the issues that make it difficult for people to find and keep homes, starting with the city investing in more low-income housing.
“The rising cost of housing and a lack of supply and access to affordable housing is by far the greatest cause and solution to homelessness,” Nell McGarity of the National Alliance to End Homelessness said. If the city invests in more affordable housing and provides permanent subsidized housing, it could cut the DC homeless population in half, according to Michael Stoops, Acting Executive Director of the National Coalition for the Homeless.
Reform should not stop there. Many homeless need treatment that they simply cannot afford. According to NAEH, about 25 percent of the homeless population had a serious mental illness last year, while nearly half had an alcohol use problem. Psychological and counseling services should be expanded.
Still, organizations such as NAEH and NCH remain optimistic that homelessness can be ended within a decade, but only with federal attention and financial backing. In 2006, the federal government spent about $1.9 billion on homeless programs. But the current budget focuses on faith-based organizations—only about $30 million goes towards housing assistance. To end homelessness in the District, the federal and city governments should commit more resources to cheaper housing projects and medical treatment for the other half. That’s the only way to move beyond a Band-Aid solution.
