Guest Editorial by Mike Coffman
'Housing First' Won’t Solve the Homeless Crisis
More than 650,000 Americans experienced homelessness on any given night in 2023—a 12 percent increase since 2022. Chronic homelessness is also worsening, with more than 143,000 people homeless for at least a year in 2023—an all-time high.
I’ve been the mayor of Aurora, Colorado for five years. In my first term, I went undercover and lived among people experiencing homelessness in Aurora and Denver for a week. I wanted to understand why Colorado’s homeless community was growing and how my city could best help.
The leading policy approach to homelessness, and the one that attracts the lion’s share of government funding, is “Housing First.” Essentially, it prioritizes placing individuals into permanent housing as quickly as possible without addressing other issues like untreated mental illness or drug addiction.
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