How Houston Found a Solution to Homelessness

[@MRiitta]

Houston is now a real and wonderful example to the rest of the US that homelessness can be eradicated even in the US. No excuses any more. It's time to end help that doesn't help and start giving what is effective to get the people out of the misery life as soon as possible.

[@pebetetete]

Homelessness is business. Business is first in America.

[@CoryAmesYT]

totally agree.

[@CoryAmesYT]

@@pebetetete cynical

[@ackermack92]

Great topic and video. I’ve lived in the Houston area since 2017 and have been impressed with the way homelessness has improved. It’s still has its issues and hot spots to be sure, but it not nearly at the levels you see in a place like Portland or Phoenix.

[@CoryAmesYT]

Yeah, it seems like Austin can't get a handle on it either.

[@quercus6052]

If the homeless in Portand and Phoenix hear about housing first won't they be interested in moving?

[@CoryAmesYT]

​@@quercus6052 no. they wouldn't be able to show up to the city and just get housed tomorrow. The local agencies know pretty well who is on the street and they build relationships with them to see who might be a good candidate for housing first or who might need to be helped the earliest.

[@LittleTalksWithMyles]

It's encouraging to see such positive outcomes from compassionate policy-making. Thank you for sharing this success.

[@CoryAmesYT]

agreed. 👍 thanks for watching!

[@etienne8110]

Who could have guessed that building affordable housing would solve homelessness... Genius.

[@CoryAmesYT]

i don't think you watched the whole video.

[@shirleywilhelm1495]

They should do something about it in San Antonio Texas instead of building ANOTHER STADIUM FOR THE SPURS. They built one that's not enough?

[@CoryAmesYT]

Hmmm, I hear ya. But at the same time, there's a lot of different functions & roles cities need to serve. That same thing could be said about a lot of stuff.

[@annem7806]

Austin decided on a soccer stadium on city owned land that had been earmarked for low cost housing. Tired of them coming thru our apt complex.

[@CoryAmesYT]

@@annem7806 oh

[@flotinodibeppo6534]

Damn... I agree with housing first whole-heartedly but if Houston is the example of success I can't imagine how bad is the rest of the country must be..

[@CoryAmesYT]

are you in houston?

[@flotinodibeppo6534]

@CoryAmesYT yessir

[@flotinodibeppo6534]

I'm not trying to be a party pooper...I promise...but if there really was a 60% reduction in the homeless population since 2011 its more likely the result of people dying from the extreme weather and for the city to take credit for the drop in numbers is gross..I wish it was the case but it's business as usual

[@CoryAmesYT]

@@flotinodibeppo6534 do you have any sources on that? That's quite the claim and would be strange for Houston to be 'covering up' something like that when countless cities are coming to Houston to learn about the progress. Really it's just 10s of thousands of people dying from extreme weather events? I have a lot of trouble believing that.

[@rothn2]

We need to fix the building codes in other cities so we can just build cheaply like they do in Houston

[@CoryAmesYT]

i'm sure! it seems like the principled learning from Houston is not about the tactics (codes, housing, etc.) but rather that all these different players came together to then start solving the problem seriously.

[@helloxo666]

I’m gonna be honest it’s tough in Houston. In order to be considered homeless you have to be seen living outside for an extended period of time. There’s a place called tent city or something like that it’s actually right next to a “shelter”(I’ll explain). You have to be seen living in tent city basically. So let’s say you have no where to go, no housing nothing but you have had somewhere to stay but it’s not permanent. You aren’t considered homeless then. So in order to be actually considered homeless you have to really suffer. It doesn’t matter if you’re poor and have nothing if you have help from any individual that helps you not sleep outside on the concrete, you are out of luck out of help. There are a variety of programs you can look into but it’s lots of work and if you are homeless and have no resources how do you get around? I’m certain Houston is doing good things but access to those things for people can be hard at times unless you’re willing to put yourself into dangerous situations. That’s the problem. In order to qualify you have to almost nearly experience things you shouldn’t have to just to get help. You shouldn’t have to move in with roommates you don’t know or family that doesn’t help or care about you. That’s the problem.

[@CoryAmesYT]

that sounds like a problem

[@idrissamorehouse322]

that's great that the soon to be mayor had a personal interest BUT HOW in the heck did she get her constituents on board - it was either a story of the right time and place OR they actually figured out the FINANCIAL BENEFITS of actually solving homelessness - I thought you were gonna break down the details = POLITICAL WILL = COOPERATION BETWEEN MANY PEOPLE WITHIN THE BODY POLITIC --- DETAILS PLEASE!! FEEL GOOD RHETORIC ABOUT DOING THE RIGHT THING DOESNT MODEL ANYTHING TANGIBLE FOR OTHER CITIES TO GET IDEAS FOR NEW ACTIONABLE IDEAS ?!

[@CoryAmesYT]

PLEASE DON'T SEND THIS VIDEO TO OTHER CITIES TO WATCH! IT'S NOT READY YET!

[@tossancuyota7848]

honetly theres a real simple solution to homeless ness its called find a temporary land to house them and make a division team that would find them an entry level job based on their experience and knowledge , we have this before method before in the philippines in the early 90;s 80.s we almost literally have zero homeless that time everyones well fed homed and have extra for savings even though pays arent exactly on the level of minimum that time , if people have enough purchasing capability itll move the economy on its own without the need for politicians cause they;re the main vulnerability in the cog

[@CoryAmesYT]

oh, okay

[@christophh2081]

Subscribed and unsubscribed in one day. I live in Houston 30 years. It is has declined into a hellscape after Parker left office. This is the new Portland.

[@CoryAmesYT]

all good, thanks for giving my work a try. 👍

[@raymondcasso7966]

Maybe they see the newborns as taking their jobs???

[@CoryAmesYT]

I don't know, but not sure I think any of that is productive.

[@raymondcasso7966]

@CoryAmesYT i think its silly to think that a newborn could work let alone take ur job.

[@CoryAmesYT]

@@raymondcasso7966 yes, certainly!

[@jukelohnson5095]

Yeah, they tired that in Cali. The junkies didn’t want it.

[@Michelle-s2z6l]

Im pretty sure they required that they take medication first to get housing.

[@CoryAmesYT]

oh

[@jukelohnson5095]

@@Michelle-s2z6l I can’t say for sure, but if your argument is that they’re better off outside, injecting fentanyl between the webs of their toes, rather than having a roof over their head and receiving managed methadone and antipsychotics, then I’m not sure what your point is.