“It’s Complicated” | 

Is Homelessness Inherently “Complicated” Like Everyone Says? | 

No. In the effort to understand the problem of homelessness more clearly and find solutions that are effective, stripping away my assumptions and preconceptions about the problem has been very helpful in my 17 years in this work. One poignant example is wrestling with the accepted narrative that homelessness is complicated.

Ultimately, after all these years, I have concluded that there is nothing particularly complicated about homelessness and, as such, it is not particularly complicated to solve. It takes money and will, yes. But it’s not complicated.

We have a housing system that rewards housing those of us who have the financial means to afford it or have a relationship that can provide it. This system works for over 99% of us, but there are some whose misfortune results in them not having the financial resources or relationships to afford a home. That’s when homelessness occurs. So far, very simple.

For instance. Let’s look at two individuals. The first has a serious mental health condition that prevents him from working but is housed. The second has the exact same condition but is homeless. What explains the difference? Well, we can logically assume that the first person has some resource that makes his home affordable. Maybe he lives with a relative, or a relative supports him. Maybe he came from wealth. Maybe he got lucky and was awarded a housing voucher. The second individual does not have a resource that makes the rent affordable. In other words, if we were able to make the rent affordable, both would be housed.

Let’s remember, both people have challenging mental health issues. Addressing complicated pathologies is difficult and very important, but that doesn’t mean meeting their housing need is complicated. Instead, we just need a resource to make the rent affordable (and if needed, housing support to promote stability) and then both would be reliably housed. That is the simple approach.

This is not just theoretical. There are 50 million people in our country with a diagnosed mental health condition, 10 million with an extreme mental health condition … and there are “only” about 1 million homeless folks in the country. So almost everyone with a mental health condition, even an extreme mental health condition, is housed.

So, if homelessness is actually simple, how come we can’t solve it?

We can! In a perfect world, we would be able to understand and provide the intervention a person needs to find an affordable home. That might be a bus ticket to live with her parents or help with a rent deposit if she’s working. It might be rental assistance if she cannot work or rental assistance and wrap around supportive and clinical services if she faces the most challenging conditions. This explains why the VA has made so much progress reducing Vet homelessness in the past 15 years (55% reduction!): They are funding the simple approach. And of course, all the issues that can make anyone’s life complicated are far easier to address if a person is housed.

But as you may have guessed, All Roads is not working in a perfect world. The country is short six million affordable housing units, to begin with. We do not have enough resources to meet the need, but with help from the Cities of Boulder and Longmont, Boulder County, the State and of course, you, we are fighting as hard as we can to bring resources to our clients that simply and reliably address homelessness. Our focus is always on what gets people into a home and that’s why our outcomes are so much better than just a handful of years ago.

So, the next time you hear someone suggest that homelessness is complicated, join me in realizing that people and life are indeed complicated, but there is a proven solution to homelessness that is ultimately quite simple.