I was listening to a NYT Daily podcast episode about the homelessness problem in Houston. They were one of the few places that was getting this money and actually producing real results, mostly through housing-first policies. Housing-first means giving homeless a place to stay as a first step so that they can actually get their lives together.

When the woman running the program was asked what she thought made her program succeed so much compared to all the other cities getting federal funds for similar programs she gave an answer that was painful to hear. To paraphrase, most programs getting the money don’t seem to really be interested in helping homeless people. There are many cities that put so many restrictions on the program for the types of homeless who could be helped that no one qualified. It takes an administrator and team that actually believe in the goal and mission to get results. Simply pushing money and paper around doesn’t solve problems.

If you’re interested in this subject I highly recommend finding the NYT podcast episode about it.