America has historically taken a piecemeal approach to the problem of homelessness, funding a patchwork of social services rather than coordinating to deliver systemic solutions, Jennifer Frank told a panel of state lawmakers.
“You can’t solve homelessness with services,” she said at a joint hearing of the House and Senate Democratic Policy Committees, held Friday in the Polite Council Chambers at Lancaster City Hall. “You solve homelessness with housing.”
Frank, a Millersville University professor of social work, was one of five experts and advocates invited to speak to the panel, co-chaired by state Sen. Katie Muth, D-Montgomery, and state Rep. Ismail Smith-Wade-El, D-Lancaster. It was convened to examine policy in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Grants Pass decision, which upheld an ordinance banning outdoor camping in Grants Pass, Oregon.
Since that ruling, more than three dozen cities have passed measures cracking down on outdoor homelessness, and others are poised to follow suit, said Eric Tars, Senior Policy Director of the National Homelessness Law Center, speaking to the committee members via Zoom.
Homelessness has soared in communities across the United States, as post-pandemic conditions put further stress on housing markets that were already tight. In Lancaster County, homelessness is up 13.5% over last year, according to January’s Point-in-Time count.
The end of June marked the closing of the sole low-barrier shelter in Lancaster, which had provided up to 80 beds over the 2023-24 winter season. Those beds will not be replaced until December, with the expected opening of an 80-bed shelter at Otterbein United Methodist Church.
Tars’ organization is advocating for state legislation (PDF) that would bar municipalities from following Grants Pass’s lead. Under it, homeless individuals would have the right to live on public property “without discrimination” unless shelter is available and has been offered. Nor would municipalities be allowed to ban begging or food distribution or sleeping in cars on public property; nor could they search, seize or dispose of property just because it was left in a public place.
Using police powers to address homelessness by clearing encampments and arresting people is counterproductive, Tars and other witnesses argued on Friday. It’s already hard to build trust, said Sterling Johnson, an organizer with Philadelphia Housing Action and board member of the Philadelphia Community Land Trust, and enforcement actions just make it that much harder.
In Lancaster, citing safety and hygiene issues, officials recently cleared out the population that had been congregating around the County Government Center and in Binns Park. Those individuals are now widely dispersed, making it difficult or impossible for social workers and street medicine practitioners to reach them and help them, said Dr. William Fife Jr. of Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health.
He described working with patients whose housing precarity led to devastating impacts on their health. One example: A woman who lost control of her diabetes when she fled an abusive housemate and ended up homeless and jobless. She ran up more than $2 million in medical expenses and ultimately died, he said.
“Lack of housing was at the heart of her illnesses,” Fife said. “… If she was able to put that money into housing, she could be living in one of the most opulent homes here in Lancaster.”
Frequently, municipalities try to make homelessness someone else’s problem, panelists said, adjusting zoning to keep affordable housing from being built and declining to fund shelters. Meanwhile, as housing costs rise, real estate investors are finding ways to flip properties and terminate affordability covenants, said Wiley Cunningham, a colleague of Johnson’s at Philadelphia Housing Action. That allows them to evict lower-income occupants and bring in tenants who can pay far more.
What can be done? Make it easier for grassroots organizations to obtain properties and government funding, Johnson said. Stop providing real estate and granting tax credits to developers that sell off low-income housing. Increase funding for housing subsidies and for medical and wraparound services for unhoused people.
Fund eviction prevention programs, Frank said. Open more shelters and consider creating safe outdoor encampment areas. Rebuild an inventory of rooming houses and single-room occupancy units, which provided low-cost housing options until they were largely eliminated from the 1970s onward.
More broadly, she said, raise the minimum wage and stop letting companies pay their workers too little to live on. Support unions and workers rights. Simplify and strengthen the social safety net. Consider establishing a universal basic income.
Last year, Frank was part of a team that studied homelessness in Binns Park. Among other things, the resulting report (PDF) documented a disparity of opinion between people who knew the homeless individuals personally and prioritized their welfare; and people without that direct involvement, who tended to worry more about the about the park’s cleanliness and safety for the public at large.
The “great irony,” Frank said Friday, is that “if we would take proper care of people, clean public spaces would result. It might take a while, but if people had a place to go, and they had permanent housing, we would have both of those benefits.”
