Lens on Salem Weekly

A homless resident of CANDO

Revised: December 2018

By Sarah Owens and Michael Livinston

In February 2016, with two weeks to go before the first meeting of the Mid-Willamette Homeless Initiative Task Force, Salem Weekly ran a feature titled "Can Salem Build a home for its homless" (sic), accompanied by a photographic trope of a hirsute, middle-aged addict living on the street, signaling that the focus of concern would be the demographic that so bothers downtown businesses.    

We'll start with the best bits.  First, it was good to see any local media attempting to inform on such issues.  Stories about poverty tend not to generate a lot of ad revenue.  Which may be why, aside from the "homeless resource guide" published in September 2016, Salem Weekly had not run an article about homelessness since 2009.  Second, the print edition had a really nice photo of Audrey Schackel. 

Audrey Schackel upper right corner

Unfortunately, however, the article was not very informative.  It might even be mis-informative.

For instance, introducing "Housing First" (HF) as a proven strategy without explicit reference to chronic homelessness is probably misleading.

People who are chronically homeless have experienced homelessness for at least a year – or repeatedly – while struggling with a disabling condition such as a serious mental illness, substance use disorder, or physical disability.

HF is a low-barrier, supportive housing model that emphasizes permanent supportive housing and has been around since 1988.  It's basically a policy choice to conserve resources by keeping the chronically homeless out of emergency rooms and jails.  Its success is directly related to the high failure rate of the traditional "housing ready" approach with the chronically homeless, and the high costs of maintaining chronically homeless persons on the streets through emergency services and institutions.  

But, unless a person has a disabling condition such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, recurrent major depression, PTSD or addictive disorders, that person does not need supportive housing, and it's not appropriate or cost-effective to provide it.

So, it's particularly misleading for the article to cite a four-year study as "show[ing] that moving homeless people into permanent housing quickly improved their lives and saved taxpayer money" without pointing out that the study was limited to homeless persons with chronic medical problems.   

It's true that Housing First principles can be applied to other populations, but its success with those populations has not been proven to the extent it has been proved to work for the chronically homeless.

The article claims "Salem Agencies Support the Philosophy", because T. J. Putman says the Salem Interfaith Housing Network "follows a Housing First model."  We think this is misleading for two reasons: 

SIHN member churches take turns hosting one of four families for a week at a time, once a quarter, in church facilities.  The adults must be sober, pass a background check, and participate in services.  If you know anything about Housing First, that is not Housing First.  For more, see "Sleeping in Church", 6/5/16, by Sarah Rohrs, here.

There is just no evidence that Salem agencies, in 2016, support the Housing First model.

The article implies under the heading, "PNW Innovates", that sanctioned camping and un-insulated sheds are somehow consistent with Housing First principles.  Again, this is misleading.  HUD does not recognize such accommodations as shelter, much less housing, nor should anyone else. 

The article closes with one last contradiction: 

[S]ome [people experiencing homelessness] will never want to be sheltered because of medical and personality qualities, an inability to comply with guidelines, and the requirement of some programs that participants be substance-abuse free and have no criminal record.  

The statement implies that the Housing First model will not be effective for such people.  But, people who will never want to be sheltered because of a medical qualities or program requirements are exactly who benefit from the Housing First approach.