Housing first: ‘Very few consequences’

Many old hotels and motels have been purchased to house those who are homeless and provide “services.” Unfortunately, this rarely makes for changed lives. Most (not all) clients don’t want counseling; they’re unable/unwilling to do the work mandated. I know this: I’ve been a counselor in the Washington state mental health system for 30 years.

Tent-city squalor follows them indoors, with garbage strewn on the floors, food ground into carpets, linens ripped, stained or missing. The plumbing is constantly clogged with hand towels, clothing, food, etc. TVs, microwaves and other appliances are frequently destroyed, often deliberately. Drug and alcohol abuse abounds, unchecked.

The idea that housing facilitates the work of change is valid, but most clients are not working toward change. There are very few consequences for actions. Even constructive criticism, e.g., commenting on the harmful effects of someone’s drug abuse, is avoided, as it’s now considered inappropriate to damage clients’ delicate sensibilities, which would violate their human dignity. This is all very unhelpful.

Bottom line: “Providing services” is not a panacea and the attached costs are but the down payment on a massive, continuing outlay of public funds with much less to show for it than one would hope.

Cindy M. Black, Seattle