Utah's Solution to Chronic Homelessness

clintl

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Not what exactly what you'd expect from a conservative state. But it's apparently working spectacularly well, cutting chronic homelessness by 91% over 10 years while saving money at the same time. Their strategy - get the homeless homes first, then work on getting them employed.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/utahs-strategy-homeless-give-them-homes-n352966

And the more I think about it, the more this strategy really makes sense, too.
 

rugcat

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Not what exactly what you'd expect from a conservative state. But it's apparently working spectacularly well, cutting chronic homelessness by 91% over 10 years while saving money at the same time. Their strategy - get the homeless homes first, then work on getting them employed.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/utahs-strategy-homeless-give-them-homes-n352966

And the more I think about it, the more this strategy really makes sense, too.
Having lived in the Salt Lake area for much of my life, I have always thought it's an interesting place. Salt Lake City itself is quite liberal, kind of like Austin is compared to the rest of Texas.

But more than that, Utah is a very conservative place – but it's not crazy conservative. Sure, they elected Mike Lee Senator, but nobody likes him – they just won't vote for a Democrat. They may hate Obama care, but they're looking at ways to expand insurance coverage for the poor. They may be anti-immigration, but they're also looking for ways to provide work permits so that immigrants don't have to be illegals.

The homeless solution is a very progressive way of looking at it. However, there is a drawback – it deals quite well with the chronic homeless, but the number of homeless in general, i.e. those who've lost jobs etc., has remained fairly constant over the years.