See Why ‘The Daily Show’ Couldn’t Find Any Homeless People in Utah

[Omaha Steve]

The state's revolutionary new program is changing the course for Americans who are down on their luck.

http://www.takepart.com/article/2015/01/08/daily-show-homeless?cmpid=tpdaily-eml-2015-01-09

January 08, 2015 By Shaya Tayefe Mohajer

TakePart News Editor Shaya Tayefe Mohajer is a journalist who has worked in many corners of the world for major news organizations.


It’s cheaper for the government to just give homeless people a place to live.

Between emergency-room visits, policing costs, and the other little-considered dollars and cents we pay to keep homeless people barely subsisting but alive and without shelter, $12,000 is a small price for low-income housing, according to officials in Utah who made a radical decision to do just that. That’s the bottom-dollar cost-benefit ratio—not accounting for the quality-of-life improvements for the homeless and their communities.

The Daily Show went to Utah to see how the experiment is working out, and here’s what it found:

Video: http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos/lntv3q/the-homeless-homed

[immoderate]

1. No, no, no, no, no!

Makes too much sense.

--imm

[Drunken Irishman]

2. Sadly, there are a lot of homeless in Utah.

Especially downtown. It's a great start - but you'll find a ton of homeless people here hanging out around the shelters, malls and other high-traffic areas.

[Cal Carpenter]

5. How do you know they are all homeless?

Just because someone is 'hanging out' somewhere (even a shelter, in some cases, as they often provide other services to low-income people) doesn't mean they don't have a place to sleep at night.

Have you talked to all these people and asked them?

[LadyHawkAZ]

7. Yes, I've talked to several

One today on the train.

I live in Salt Lake City. Yes, there really are quite a few homeless here.

[freeplessinseattle]

8. Yes, I know someone who just visited there

& he said he saw more homeless in downtown SLC than in downtown Seattle.

[LadyHawkAZ]

9. I have mixed feelings about the publicity this program has been getting.

It's a great idea, it's a fantastic idea, and I hope it succeeds and gets the funding it needs. But all the stories I have seen have carried this bright and happy tone about how we're "ending homelessness in Utah!" as if it's a done deal, and it's nowhere near. People sleep in the streets here, lots of them. We have 4 homeless shelters plus the overflow when it snows or freezes.

The overly optimistic tone just bothers me. Maybe it's just me, but it does.

[reddread]

10. straight up lies being sold while the issue festers

there is a HOUSING FIRST program in place being used by areas to fund fairly small housing units for about $11 million dollars.
What they end up with are single occupant rooms, assigned to several dozen selected applicants. In no way making a real dent.
At least in our town, with a little insight you can see who the developer and their connection to the mayor.
all perfectly legal, right?
that is whose problems are being solved.
sort of makes that puff piece look disgusting. which it is.

[reddread]

12. kick for Housing First as it was, and as it is

mother's milk from the udders of poverty's happy cows.

[LadyHawkAZ]

4. Amazing

Especially since I can walk out the door of where I'm sitting right now and find a round dozen just on this block.

Maybe I need a rosier pair of glasses.

[Cal Carpenter]

6. The housing first model is neither revolutionary or new

It is actually quite an obvious solution has had extremely high success rates wherever it has been tried. Better results for the people, less expensive for the city or state that implements it.

It's a shame we make things so much more difficult than they need to be.

Imagine that. Give a person who is homeless a place to live - not for a night, not for 90 days, but for the long term, and they aren't homeless anymore. Give them some supportive services without strings attached and they may actually have a decent life.

[reddread]

11. the problem is it was "appropriated" by the money go round

applied to small tenant high dollar projects that are a VERY expensive drop in the bucket.
apparently part of the budget goes to rosey press coverage completely out of sync with reality.