Homelessness industry manages, doesn’t fix problem

Managing Surplus Life in the United States, homeless services don’t end homelessness; they manage it.

While the industry is dominated by nonprofits, there is money to be made, and we have accepted the reality that homeless services are professionalized, and offer career opportunities and — sadly — a certain security.

[...] many people I serve have high psychiatric needs and chronic health conditions, but I don’t buy into the notion — common in popular, policy and academic interpretations of homelessness — that these conditions are the primary cause of homelessness.

Framing homelessness as a pathology reinforces the legitimacy of the industry and places the blame for housing deprivation on the individual.

[...] all such efforts are temporary, because supportive housing, like the rest of the homeless industry, fails to confront the inequality, poverty, health care and other systems through which homelessness exists.

[...] the state of emergency and funds appear more aimed at masking the visible reminders of our disparate economic and social systems.

If homelessness and costs shift so that abandoning homeless to the streets is cheaper, should we stop trying to find them housing?

Advocacy that produces deep changes in how our economic system creates and responds to poverty, how we create housing, how people get the health care they need.

Tully MacKay-Tisbert studied applied anthropology at California State University Long Beach and works for an organization in Los Angeles that provides support to homeless and vulnerable individuals.