Housing First Aff

Plan text: The United States should guarantee the right to

housing by using the housing first approach.
 Inherency
First- the solvency advocate- Housing first is the most
strategic way to solve for homelessness
NAEH 16
[National Alliance to End Homelessness, United States organization that provides data and research to
policymakers, Housing First, http://www.endhomelessness.org/pages/housing_first , 2016]

Housing First is a[n] homeless assistance approach that prioritizes providing people experiencing
homelessness with permanent housing as quickly as possible and then providing voluntary
supportive services as needed. This approach prioritizes client choice in both housing
selection and in service participation. Housing First programs share critical elements: A focus on
helping individuals and families access and sustain permanent rental housing as quickly as possible;
A variety of services delivered to promote housing stability and individual well-being on an as-needed
and entirely voluntary basis; and A standard lease agreement to housing as opposed to mandated
therapy or services compliance. While all Housing First programs share these elements, program models vary
significantly depending upon the population served. For people who have experienced chronic homelessness, long-term services
and support may be needed. For most people experiencing homelessness, however, such long-term services are not necessary.
The vast majority of homeless individuals and families fall into homelessness after a housing or personal crisis. For these
households, the Housing First approach provides them with short-term assistance to find permanent housing quickly and without
conditions. In turn, such households often require only brief, if any, support or assistance to achieve housing stability and individual
well-being.

Second solvency advocate- empirics and studies

THN 17
[Texas Housing Network, non-profit membership-based organization helping Texas communities prevent and end homelessness,
2017, Housing First, http://www.thn.org/]

It is becoming increasingly obvious that the Housing First model is one of the most effective ways to
end chronic homelessness today. Countries such as Canada and Australia have already
embraced this schema, and they are witnessing incredible results. Rather than letting the most costly
and vulnerable populations die on the streets, Housing Firsts ideology dictates that those experiencing
chronic homelessness should be permanently housed as swiftly as possible. Canadas recent At Home/Chez
Soi study clearly demonstrates the benefits of reliance upon permanent supportive housing. In the study, program
developers placed half of the participants experiencing homelessness into transitional housing programs while the other half was
placed in permanent supportive housing. Compared to the individuals who participated in a traditional transitional housing program,
the researchers discovered that those people who were placed in permanent supportive housing were more likely to have remained
in housing after one year. Further, those participants placed in permanent supportive housing reported that their emergency service
consumption had decreased drastically. Lastly, and perhaps less tangibly, the Housing First participants reported
a higher living satisfaction than their counterparts. The conclusions of this four year study completely
derailed the previous notion that emphasis on sobriety and transition was the most effective
way to assist populations experiencing chronic homelessness.

Third, the squo. Current mindsets that housing shouldnt come

first needs to change in order to solve for homelessness
Covert 14
[Bryce Covert, 2014, Economic Editor at ThinkProgress, It Would Actually Be Very Simple To End Homelessness
Forever, https://thinkprogress.org/it-would-actually-be-very-simple-to-end-homelessness-forever-
d6f15852b2ec#.ftk0zqiim]

The original focus was on creating a plan to help someone with

mental illness or substance abuse before getting her in housing, as
well as a reliance on the shelter system, explained Jerry Jones, executive
director of the National Coalition for the Homeless. If you go back a few years, it was an emphasis on creating a
consensus plan on the local level, he said. If you went back 10 or probably 15 years, there was more of an
emphasis on transitional housing. By now, if theres one thing that nearly
everyone working to end homelessness agrees, its that we know how to
do it. Its just a matter of making it reality. The focus is singular, as Rachel Myers, executive
director of the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance explains. People are homeless for different reasons and
one thing that everyone whos
have different kinds of needs, she said. But

homeless needs is a home. There are three ways advocates are

going about pursuing this. The first is by changing the mentality
around homelessness to focus on housing first. Previously, advocates
thought it best to try to address issues dogging the chronically homeless such as mental health and substance
abuse before getting someone into housing. Now theyve flipped that on its head so that the focus is simply getting
someone in a stable housing situation before addressing other issues. Laura Zeilinger, executive director of the
United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, the federal agency dedicated to homelessness, explained,
The communities really implementing housing first are

having the most progress.

We need to change our mindset that housing should be the

last step to moving out of homelessness if we want to realize
that lack of housing is the root cause of many health issues
and crimes that the government has to pay for anyways.
Advantage Areas
 Cost
Housing first is cost-effective in two ways.

First, the harms. Not providing housing leads to extreme costs

that could otherwise be solved using housing first
Cooper 15- cites
[Ryan Cooper, national correspondent at TheWeek.com, Solving Homelessness is Easy. So Why Dont We Just Do It?,
http://theweek.com/articles/575133/solving-homelessness-easy-why-dont-just]

The people you see out on the street, panhandling and sleeping in doorways, are almost always part of the small hard core of chronic
homeless people, about 10 percent of the homeless total. These are the people the New York Police Department is complaining about, and
they're typically older people with serious addictions or mental illnesses. Such people are very expensive for the state.
Homeless shelters cost a lot, and people on the street are constantly being picked up by the
police and getting sick from being out in the elements. Shelter beds, jail cells, court time, and repeated
emergency room visits (if not time in intensive care) add up to truly spectacular bills. Utah found that
it was spending $20,000 per year per chronically homeless person fully 60 percent of the total
spending on homeless overall, despite them being only a tenth of the total. In New York, the figure is more
like $40,500. Practically, this means that you could spend a lot of money on concentrated social services for the chronically homeless, and
still come out ahead financially if it keeps them off the street. So when Utah tried just handing such people their
own apartment in a program called Housing First (though participants do have to pay $50 or 30 percent of their
income, whichever is more), and combined that with regular attention from social workers, hey presto the state decreased chronic
homelessness by 91 percent.
(If they say that since Utah is already doing housing first so therefore we dont need the plan just say that one state
is not enough, and that we need national attention)

Prefer my evidence because their evidence will only take into account the costs of
providing housing, but their evidence will fail to compare those costs with the ones
that they cause, which is through social services that constantly have to be added
onto a states bill simply because of the lack of housing.

Homelessness increase mental health issues, crime rates, and

drug use.
APA no date (does not need date bc not describing recent issues0
American Psychological Association, Effects of Poverty, Hunger and Homelessness on Children and Youth, http://www.apa.org/pi/
families/ poverty.aspx
Unaccompanied youth are often more likely to grapple with mental health (depression,
anxiety and PTSD) and substance abuse problems. Many runaway youth engage in sexually
risky behaviors (sometimes for their own survival), which pla ces them at risk of HIV, other
STDs and unintended pregnancies. Also, emerging research has shown that
GLBT homeless youth are 7 times more likely to be victims of violent crime.
Thus by providing housing the costs of many services the state has to provide, such
as health care and temporary shelters will be slashed substantially.

Second, other costs will pay for themselves and costs very
little money, empirics from Utah. All that is needed is a
national action for housing first
Carrier 15
[Scott Carrier, American author, Peabody award-winning radio producer, and educator, Room for Improvement, 2015,
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/02/housing-first-solution-to-homelessness-utah]

In 2005, approximately 2,000 of these chronically homeless people lived in the state of Utah, mainly in and around Salt Lake City.

Many different agencies and groupsgovernmental and nonprofit, charitable and religious
worked to get them back on their feet and off the streets. But the numbers and
costs just kept going up. The model for dealing with the chronically
homeless at that time, both here and in most places across the nation,
was to get them "ready" for housing by guiding them through
drug rehabilitation programs or mental-health counseling , or both.
If and when they stopped drinking or doing drugs or acting crazy, they were given heavily subsidized housing on the condition that

they stay clean and relatively sane. This model, sometimes called "linear residential treatment" or "continuum of care,"
seemed to be a good idea, but it didn't work very well because relatively
few chronically homeless people ever completed the work required to become "ready," and those who did often could not stay clean

or stop having mental episodes, so they lost their apartments and became homeless again. In 1992, a psychologist at
New York University named Sam Tsemberis decided to test a new model. His idea was
to just give the chronically homeless a place to live, on a
permanent basis, without making them pass any tests or
attend any programs or fill out any forms. "Okay," Tsemberis recalls thinking,
"they're schizophrenic, alcoholic, traumatized, brain damaged. What if we don't make them pass any tests or fill out any forms?

They aren't any good at that stuff. Inability to pass tests and fill
out forms was a large part of how they ended up homeless in the
first place. Why not just give them a place to live and offer them free
counseling and therapy, health care, and let them decide if
they want to participate? Why not treat chronically homeless people as human beings and members of
our community who have a basic right to housing and health care?" Tsemberis and his associates, a group called
Pathways to Housing, ran a large test in which they provided apartments to 242 chronically
homeless individuals, no questions asked. In their apartments they could drink, take drugs, and suffer mental breakdowns, as long
as they didn't hurt anyone or bother their neighbors. If they needed and wanted to go to rehab or detox, these services
were provided. If they needed and wanted medical care, it was also provided. But it was up to the client to decide
what services and care to participate in. The results were remarkable. After five years,
88 percent of the clients were still in their apartments, and the
cost of caring for them in their own homes was a little less
than what it would have cost to take care of them on the street.
A subsequent study of 4,679 New York City homeless with severe mental
illness found that each cost an average of $40,449 a year in
emergency room, shelter, and other expenses to the system, and that getting those individuals
in supportive housing saved an average of $16,282. Soon other cities such
as Seattle and Portland, Maine, as well as states like Rhode Island and Illinois, ran their own tests with similar results. Denver found

that emergency-service costs alone went down 73 percent for people put in Housing First, for a savings of $31,545 per person; detox

visits went down 82 percent, for an additional savings of $8,732. By 2003, Housing First had been embraced by the Bush

administration.
 Crime/Homelessness
First, the harms. 15% of the population is homeless, or
564,708 people
Social Solutions 16- cites NAEH Study done in 2016
[Social Solutions, 2016, 2016s Shocking Homelessness Statistics, http://www.socialsolutions.com/blog/2016-
homelessness-statistics/]

For many cities, solving homelessness is an ongoing challenge. So, what does homelessness look like in
2016? The following statistics are alarming: 564,708 people in the U.S. are homeless. According to a
recent report, over half a million people were living on the streets, in cars, in homeless shelters, or in subsidized
transitional housing during a one-night national survey last January. Of that number, 206,286 were people in families, 358,422

were individuals, and a quarter of the entire group were children. 83,170 individuals, or 15% of the homeless
population, are considered chronically homeless. Chronic homelessness is defined as an individual who has a
disability and has experienced homelessness for a year or longer, or and individual who has a disability and has experienced

at least four episodes of homelessness in the last three years (must be a cumulative of 12 months). Families with at least one

adult member who meets that description are also considered chronically homeless.As the National Alliance to End

Homelessness explains, While people experiencing chronic homelessness make up a small number of the overall

homeless population, they are among the most vulnerable. They tend to have high rates of behavioral health problems,

including severe mental illness and substance use disorders; conditions that may be exacerbated by physical illness, injury, or

trauma. 47,725, or about 8% of the homeless population, are veterans. This represents a 35% decrease since 2009.

Homeless veterans have served in several different conflicts from WWII to the recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Washington, D.C., has the highest rate of veteran homelessness in the nation (145.8 homeless veterans per 10,000). 45% of

homeless veterans are black or Hispanic. While less than 10% of homeless veterans are women, that number is rising. 1.4

million veterans are at risk of homelessness. This may be due to poverty, overcrowding in government housing, and lack

of support networks. Research indicates that those who served in the late Vietnam and post-Vietnam era are at greatest risk

of homelessness. War-related disabilities or disorders often contribute to veteran homelessness, including physical

disabilities, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury, depression and anxiety, and addiction. 550,000

unaccompanied, single youth and young adults under the age of 24 experience a
homelessness episode of longer than one week. Approximately 380,000 of that total are under the age
of 18. Accurately counting homeless children and youth is particularly difficult. The National Alliance to End Homelessness

explains, Homeless youth are less likely to spend time in the same places as homeless people who are in an older age
range. They are often less willing to disclose that theyre experiencing homelessness or may not even identify as homeless.

They also may work harder to try to blend in with peers who arent homeless. 110,000 LGBTQ youth in the U.S. are
homeless. This is one of the most vulnerable homeless populations. A substantial number of young people who identify as

LGBTQ say that they live in a community that is not accepting of LGBTQ people. In fact, LGBTQ youths make up 20% of

runaway kids across the country. Family rejection, abuse, and neglect are major reasons LGBTQ youth end up on the streets.

Additionally, homeless LGBTQ youth are substantially more likely than heterosexual homeless youth to be victims of sexual

assault and abuse. LGBTQ homeless youth are twice as likely to commit suicide compared to heterosexual homeless youth.

Fifty percent of the homeless population is over the age of 50. These individuals often face additional health and safety

risks associated with age. They are more prone to injuries from falls, and may suffer from cognitive impairment, vision or

hearing loss, major depression, and chronic conditions like diabetes and arthritis.

The right to housing is an obligation and increases faith in the

law.
ABA 13
[AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION, Report on the Right to Housing, 8/12/13,
http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/homelessness_poverty/resolution117.authcheckdam.pdf]
The Legal Community has an Import ant Role to Play in Implementing the Human Right to Housing Despite the nations commitment
to human rights ideals, its practices have often fallen short. Families continue to face foreclosures, many as a result of predatory
lending practices, but even as homes without families multiply, families without homes cannot access them. Many tenants pay more
than 50% of their income toward rent, putting them one paycheck away from homelessness. Without a right to counsel in
housing cases, renters must often choose between pushing for basic repairs or facing unjust eviction. When widespread
poverty goes unattended, despite the sufficiency of a countrys resources, respect for legal institutions will
ultimately be undermined.20 The legal community has a duty to pro vide these families with
justice, yet we can only do so much in the nations current legal environment. In this instance,
access to justice requires us to advocate for change. That advocacy comes in the form of this resolution,
calling upon our government at all levels to implement the human right to housing as a
necessary component of ensuring the basic hum an dignity of every individual.

Housing first solves for chronic homelessness

USICH 17
[United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, independent federal agency within the U.S. executive branch
that leads the implementation of the federal strategic plan to prevent and end homelessness, 2017, Housing First,
https://www.usich.gov/solutions/housing/housing-first]

Housing First is a proven approach in which people experiencing homelessness are offered
permanent housing with few to no treatment preconditions, behavioral contingencies, or barriers. It is based on
overwhelming evidence that all people experiencing homelessness can achieve stability in
permanent housing if provided with the appropriate levels of services. Study after study has
shown that Housing First yields higher housing retention rates, reduces the use of crisis
services and institutions, and improves people's health and social outcomes. Housing First is an
approach that can be adopted by housing programs, organizations, and across the housing crisis response system. The approach applies in both
short-term interventions, like rapid re-housing, and long-term interventions, like supportive housing. For crisis services like emergency shelter
and outreach, the Housing First approach means referring and helping people to obtain permanent housing.