Solving homelessness will take regional approach
Bethlehem has found a solution to help curb homelessness in our region. The answer makes sense, puts dollars toward solving a problem, and isn’t new. I am so glad the time has
finally come.
Why are people homeless? Answers usually range from symptomatic (e.g., homelessness is tied to mental illness) to structural (social policies of the 1970s and ‘80s led to increased poverty) to opinionated (people are lazy). These answers are not the root cause. Fully housed people may also have a mental illness, be victims of bad policy and not have jobs.
The affordable housing crisis is dire. The Lehigh Valley is short on housing inventory for every income group, effectively pricing out low-income families. In Bethlehem, it took 18 years (2000-18) for two-bedroom rent to double. Since 2018, rent has doubled again, this time in less than four years. When new housing projects are announced, none provides adequate low-income homes. If we’re looking to solve the homelessness crisis, we first need to provide some affordable options.
When housing is available, a leading strategy called “housing first” works to get individuals into stable and permanent housing. Quickly placing people into homes is the most obvious way to curb homelessness. The approach should be always coupled with case management services to help individuals and families remain stably housed. Blending housing with case management builds relationships between nonprofit partners, like New Bethany Ministries, and property owners. Along with better landlord communication, we also work to stabilize health, food needs, child care, transportation and job security.
Examples of housing first are evident across the Lehigh Valley through a partnership of organizations that form the Regional Homeless Advisory Board. The partners all offer a continuum of care, a network that tracks individuals as they become unhoused and places them with case management, and housing search expertise. Unfortunately, the system won’t work if there is a lack of affordable alternatives or adequate funding for housing-focused nonprofit organizations like ours.
One inventive solution of the housing first model is temporary supportive housing or transitional housing, offering the dignity and respect of independent living. Families don’t seek to live in transition; they need a place to call home. Temporary supportive housing, operated by nonprofit organizations, carries a short-term lease (nine to 18 months). The host organization works closely with family social and health needs while searching for a permanent home. I can think of 11 homes in my lifetime that I considered temporary and only two or three that felt permanent. None of them was transitional; all were as much a home as the others and housed me for over a third of my life. Temporary housing requires a lease, which can sometimes happen quickly but never happens overnight. So, where to go if you need shelter tonight? What is the overnight solution to homelessness?
Bethlehem recently proposed a plan to build more than 50 overnight shelter units. The Lehigh Valley region has no emergency drop-in shelter open 12 months of the year. Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton all have emergency cold-weather shelters servicing those unhoused from November through April. Last year they took in, conservatively, 109 people. That’s 109 individuals with no shelter from May through October and limited access to case management services. Bethlehem seeks to change that.
Building shelters alone won’t solve homelessness. It removes people from the elements and provides running water, some food and emergency supplies.
But the plan before Bethlehem City Council does much more than build a shelter — it creates a point of entry into the continuum of services, moving people from street to emergency shelter to permanent housing. In Bethlehem alone, there are over 50 transient individuals and families staying in various hotels while local organizations work with them to find adequate, affordable housing. Emergency shelter units will remove pressure (and money) from hoteling to placing ownership of the issue squarely in the hands of nonprofit homeless service professionals.
Bethlehem is offering a regional solution to homelessness that will reduce long-term costs for emergency and temporary housing, grow one-on-one casework, and move people into stable housing faster. This is not a “build it, and they will come” solution that will increase homelessness. It is a “we’re already here, so let’s get housed” solution. None of it can happen without the physical infrastructure of temporary and emergency shelters to keep people safe and close to services.
And because people are not tied to any one city, it will take support from more than just Bethlehem.
It’s imperative that other municipalities across the region, big and small, join the movement and be part of the solution.