In my last CEO Corner, I posed the question: How do we hold both the essential defensive work we must do AND look to a better future? I focused on what we have learned in the past year about defense: when we need it, how to execute it, and who needs to be at the table.
Today, I want to think about the future of our field. Because I don’t think our future is the dark place this Administration and other groups want it to be. But nor do I think the future we want to see is made up of the systems and programs we have today.
It is strange to have been doing this work as long as I have, and to have had the positions I’ve held. To have helped build programs that on one hand I’m very proud of, and on the other hand, I know full well they don’t meet the current needs anymore. It can be difficult for any of us to step back and critically examine what we have built together and recognize that we need some different, more sustainable and equitable infrastructure to continue meeting the real and evolving needs of people who are experiencing the trauma of homelessness, and that can also prevent folks from losing their housing in the first place.
And sometimes people are shocked when they tell me this, and I respond, “you’re absolutely right.”
This is especially challenging to do when we are not certain how to envision a healthier and happier future.
Acknowledging that we have been building imperfect systems as best as we can with the tools and resources available to us, isn’t evidence of weakness. Learning from trial and error and the mistakes made along the way also isn’t evidence of failure. And defending those programs so that we have something solid to build from in the future isn’t evidence of a lack of vision. All these things can be true at the same time, and managing them is part of what it means to be a leader right now.
I think that as leaders, we must always try to envision a better, happier, healthier future. We must imagine a future in which these challenges are resolved, even if we don’t know how to get there at this moment. But we do have to know where it is that we are going.
When I think about our future, I focus on these really important pieces of the puzzle:
- Homeless systems cannot function separately from other systems anymore. We have operated on our own for too long. We need quality services – not just temporary treatment but services that can be integrated into neighborhoods and lives, and that help prevent homelessness or housing loss in a crisis.
- Housing is the way up and out, and that means major investments in deeply affordable housing infrastructure and the mechanisms like rental assistance that allow very low-income households to afford rent.
- Access, justice and equity mean we must think outside of the box: how can we innovate around resources and approaches that we do not currently have? Around the globe other countries are implementing mechanisms that help close the gap between wages and housing costs. They are innovating approaches like social housing, capital stacks and land trusts. How can we bring those ideas here, and revise them to work in our context without leaving anyone behind?
- And in a world where we have new infrastructure, what should the crisis response system look like? How do we take all of what we have learned since the passage of the McKinney-Vento Act in 1987 and create a system that will quickly meet the needs of people who experience housing instability, mental health crises, homelessness or addiction before they wind up in unsheltered locations?
So, for those of you wondering if the litigation we are pursuing means that the Alliance is only interested in preserving the status quo, the answer is: no.
What we are interested in is ensuring we don’t lose the progress we have made as a field over the last 40 years, that people who are currently in housing don’t lose it on the whim of a government that has shown us that they don’t care about poor and homeless people, and that we have a way to test new strategies and solutions that are centered on the needs of the people we serve so that – hopefully – we meet our mission of ending homelessness.
And the question then becomes: Where can we test innovations and move the needle in these areas? We think the answer is in key states that are willing to partner with us.
Stay tuned for part 3 of this series where I explore how we are thinking about the work we intend to do with states.
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