End Homelessness Now With Housing First
"Housing First" permanently houses homeless people immediately. Congress has six trillion dollars a year to spend, every year. We need to use a very small portion of that to end homelessness in the United States. We gave one-hundred and twenty billion dollars to Ukraine in the last two years; with plans to give them even more. We only needed twenty billion to end homelessness in the United States. Congress gave almost ten billion dollars to Israel recently; with plans to give them even more. We should be using that money to address problems right here like homelessness, poverty, and hunger in the United States. The money is there, congress has six trillion dollars to spend, every year, on whatever they want. We need emergency funding from congress to resolve this national crises.
Finland has absolutely no homeless people in the entire country because they have "Housing First". The state of Utah has adopted the "Housing First" model at the statewide level. I support "Housing First" and will apply it at the national level. The "Housing First" approach focuses on getting homeless people into stable homes before addressing mental health, substance abuse issues, and other needs. The City of Montebello in Los Angeles County, has another good program to house homeless people. They have built thirty, sixty-four square foot, tiny homes, to immediately house homeless people. Programs Like the one in Montebello might work but the real solution is "Housing First" like they have in Finland and in Utah.
Immediate Permanent "Housing First"
According to the city of Fullerton website, the city of Fullerton, in Orange County, California, has approximately 2,000 unoccupied housing units. At least 200 homeless people live in Fullerton, California; according to Curtis Gamble, an advocate for homeless people in the city of Fullerton. How can we have 200 homeless people in the same city that has 2,000 unoccupied housing units? We need, maybe, ten percent of those unoccupied homes to immediately end homelessness in the city of Fullerton. I believe in "Housing First" at the national level. I will bring funding from congress to permanently house homeless people immediately. Then address any mental health or substance abuse issues after we we permanently house everyone. "Housing First" will also reduce the level of crime nationwide.
