Thread by @fkarnas1

An Open Letter to the New Executive Director of the USCH

Dear Dr. Marbut
Congratulations on your appointment to the role of executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. You are about to embark on a role that has the potential to change the lives of

hundreds of thousands of men, women and children. As one who served in that role for five years, I know a bit about the work which you are about to undertake, and I have watched as each of my successors in both Republican and Democratic administrations has elevated the role of

the Council and increased its impact. They have accomplished that by adhering to evidence-based practices and pressing for needed resources. So, as you enter this new role, let me suggest you do the same, and let me offer you some additional unsolicited advice from my 36 years

of working on homelessness issues.
1. Let’s start with a basic fact. The root cause of homelessness is poverty driven by racism and greed. This reality has to be both acknowledged and addressed. Homelessness is a systemic problem, not a personal issue. No more blaming the

victim.. You might start your new role by suggesting to your new boss that he stop fueling the fires of class and race.
2. Cities are never going to bring an end to homelessness by themselves. The macro economic and social forces pushing people into homelessness are too great

for localities to push back against on their own. Presidential budgets that regularly propose drastic cuts to critical housing, human services, health, behavioral health, and employment programs, if implemented, only serve to fuel the pipeline to poverty and homelessness

and increase human suffering. It seems quite obvious that you won’t accomplish the basic component of your job description, ending homelessness, through regular proposals to ax key funding streams. Again, you might mention that to your boss.
4. There are many pathways to

ending homelessness. There is room for legitimate debate about the best tools to end homelessness and current policies elevating one sub-population over another but, as the term suggests, ensuring access to a home might be a good way to start ending homelessness. Let me

suggest that significant investments in subsidized housing for very low income families and individuals would have a dramatic impact on reducing the number of persons on the street. And, for most of those living on the street, simply providing housing they can afford will end

their homelessness forever. For others, ensuring access to physical and behavior health care, employment opportunities and other supports will give them the foundation they need for stable and productive lives.
5. Of the thousands of homeless people I have met over the years,

not one chose to live on the street if given a humane alternative. But, absent that, but many have rationally chosen the streets over unsafe, over-crowded mass shelters. Too often, shelters only hide homelessness. They do very little to end it. There may be a place for short

term, humane bridge housing, but opening new mass shelters is simply a way to make it look like the problem has gone away at the expense of both the unfortunate souls consigned to that environment and the taxpayers.
6. No matter the intention, homeless campuses are ridiculously

expensive, stigmatizing, inhumane in scale and almost always detrimental to the neighborhoods in which they exist. Don’t waste one more dime that could be spent on housing to build campuses to warehouse homeless people
7. And finally, criminalization of people whose only crime

is to not be able to afford housing is a sin. Criminalizing those who wish to provide food and clothing to those in need is a sin. Yes, it is that simple. It is a sin. Stop the sinning!
I will confess that it took me some time to learn some of these lessons. I am thankful

for those have guided me along the way. You, too, should heed their guidance.
You have a tough job in a difficult environment but a lot of folks are counting on you. Please do the right thing.