Closing the Front Door

The majority of people who enter the homeless assistance system receive help and exit the system relatively quickly. But no sooner do people successfully exit the system than they are replaced by others. This is why the number of homeless people does not go down. If we are going to end homelessness we must prevent people from becoming homeless—we must close the front door to homelessness.

Most homeless people are clients of a host of public social support systems, often called the "safety net." Others are the wards of programs in the criminal justice system or the child welfare system (foster care). Together these programs and systems are called the mainstream system. In a way, homelessness is a litmus test - it can show whether the outcomes of the mainstream system are positive or negative. Insofar as their clients or wards end up homeless, the programs have bad outcomes.

Generally speaking, these mainstream systems, while large in terms of scope and funding, are over-subscribed and under-funded relative to their responsibilities. It is not surprising, therefore, that they are quick to shift responsibilities and costs elsewhere, when they are able. The homeless assistance system provides one such opportunity. To the degree that homeless programs take responsibility for a whole host of very poor people, the mainstream system does not have to. However, the homeless system is not large and well-funded. It can meet immediate needs, but it cannot prevent people becoming homeless, and it cannot address their fundamental need for housing, income and services. Only the mainstream system has the resources to do this.

To end homelessness, the mainstream programs must prevent people from becoming homeless. A sample of the major programs that could be expected to help prevent homelessness follows:¹

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
Mental Health Performance Partnership Block Grants
Social Services Block Grant
State Children's Health Insurance Program
Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant
Community Health Centers
Community Services Block Grants
Medicaid
Community Development Block Grant
Home Investment Partnerships Program (HOME)
Public and Indian Housing
Section 8 Rental Certificate and Voucher Programs
Section 811 Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities Program
Job Training for Disadvantaged Adults
Welfare to Work Grants to States and Localities
Supplemental Security Income
Veterans Benefits
Veterans Medical Centers
Youth Employment and Training Program
Job Training for Disadvantaged Youth
Veterans Employment Program

Others with which poor people also interact, but which have a lesser impact, are:

Ryan White Care Act
Emergency Food Assistance Program
Food Stamp Program
Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)
Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant
Housing Opportunities for People With AIDS (HOPWA)

In order to Close the Front Door to Homelessness, we must prevent homelessness. This can be done in two ways. The first is to demonstrate that although shifting responsibility for homeless people to the homeless system may seem to be cost efficient, it is actually more costly over all. For example, sending parolees to shelters rather than half-way houses may seem cost efficient. However, it can increase recidivism, and result in use of other costly systems such as hospital emergency rooms.

The Illinois Department of Corrections has invested funds in housing for parolees under the theory such stabilizing housing is less costly than recidivism.

Second, we can reward systems for improving their outcomes, as measured by homelessness. This could be done by providing incentives to programs which reduce the number of their clients or wards who become homeless. Conversely, it could be accomplished by penalizing these systems when a client becomes homeless.

The State Legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts adjusted the contract of the State's managed care provider to require a reduction in discharges to shelters. Failure to reduce such discharges will result in financial penalties in the reimbursement scheme. Hospital social workers now seek housing for those being discharged from the hospital.

In the past, homelessness prevention focused primarily on stopping eviction or planning for discharge from institutions like jail or mental hospitals. These are important, but we must take a more comprehensive view.

¹ Homelessness: Coordination and Evaluation of Programs Are Essential. Report to Congressional Committees, United States General Accounting Office, February, 1999.

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