Trump Forces D.C. to Get Real About Homelessness

He’s right to treat it as a problem of mental illness and bad behavior, not one of housing and inequality

By Devon Kurtz. He is director of public safety policy at the Cicero Institute. Excerpts:

"In the largest survey of homeless Americans ever conducted, only 4% cited high housing costs as the primary reason they were homeless. Significant majorities said they had mental-health issues, had used illegal substances and had been to jail or prison for extended periods."

"Almost 3% of America’s homeless population dies on the street each year. Between 2011 and 2020, overdose deaths among homeless people increased by 488%, rising to just under 1% of the homeless population annually."

"horrible violence associated with homeless encampments, in which homeless people often victimize other homeless people."

"homeless people were about a dozen times as likely as average Americans to be victims of serious crimes, but they were hundreds of times as likely to be perpetrators."

"in as many as eight states, more than half the people living on the street are registered sex offenders; nationally, the median is 1 in 5."

"One homeless encampment in Austin, Texas, produced 655 tons of trash in a sprawling underpass tent city."

"a recent systematic review by an interdisciplinary group of researchers found no evidence that shelters in the U.S. have elevated rates of violence compared with the street. Prisons are far safer than the streets, with a mortality rate less than one-tenth that of the homeless population."

"for Americans from high-crime neighborhoods, prison reduces age-adjusted mortality by as much as 57% compared with peers living in the general community."

"providing subsidized housing with no required sobriety or treatment, can actually increase violence"

"the Housing First group had a 50% higher mortality rate than the control group."