My ARPA proposal: Eliminate Wyoming homelessness forever

Wyoming, like many states, expects the chronically homeless to become self-sufficient by jumping through conventional hoops.

To obtain and retain government-subsidized housing, state residents must receive treatment for any mental health and/or substance abuse problems. If physically able, they are expected to work.

All of this is much easier said than done when someone is living on the street without the security of housing and enough food to survive. Imagine the difficulty of keeping therapy appointments or scheduling job interviews if one is sleeping on a park bench or behind a dumpster.

Meanwhile, other Wyoming residents are newly homeless, almost certainly the result of losing their jobs and housing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. These individuals and families need immediate shelter.

Gov. Mark Gordon has challenged residents to make proposals as big and bold as possible for Wyoming’s $1.1 billion share of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act. He calls his strategy “survive, drive and thrive”: Determine what the state needs to survive, and what can be done to better drive to a future where all of Wyoming can thrive.

Here’s my big, bold proposal: A $20 million Wyoming trust fund to end homelessness, using the “Housing First” model that has been so successful in other states.

Wyoming has considered numerous plans and initiatives to combat homelessness over the years, but a lack of revenue has always been the primary obstacle. ARPA could provide the seed capital needed to tackle this long-standing problem.

Why establish a trust fund? Because the governor has stipulated that ARPA funds should not be used to start new programs. Wyoming needs an effort that can meet immediate needs but also build for the future, ensuring stability for the long-term goal of ending homelessness.

Why $20 million? I would defer to the state’s social services and financial experts to determine the necessary size of the fund, but this amount would be less than 2% of the total ARPA funds. I think Wyoming should designate at least that relatively small portion of this infusion of federal money to solve a chronic problem that has been exacerbated by COVID-19.

The trust fund would be a public-private partnership, with a concerted effort to promote donations from individuals and foundations. The state would leverage additional federal housing dollars that become available.

As the new programs reduce expenditures for law enforcement, county hospitals and emergency shelters, local governments would be able to help replenish the trust fund. Housing First programs in other states have realized such savings from having fewer homeless people incarcerated or in need of emergency healthcare.

Housing First differs from other approaches that require the chronically homeless to free themselves of psychological and addiction problems, get a job and meet other requirements in order to access housing. Its guiding principle is that having a place to live is the foundation for improving one’s life, so the program provides unconditional, permanent housing.

There are two common Housing First models. One, called permanent supportive housing, provides apartments to individuals and families with chronic illnesses, disabilities, mental health issues and substance use disorders who have experienced long-term or repeated homelessness. If they have jobs or become employed, participants pay up to 30% of their income per month for rent.

The second model is rapid re-housing, which provides short-term rental assistance and services to people who become homeless due to a temporary personal or financial crisis.

The National Alliance to End Homelessness points out that supportive services are offered and case managers help each client, but “services have been found to be more effective when a person chooses to engage.”

Wyoming is a conservative state where many people — including state lawmakers — strongly believe that a person on the lower rungs of the economic ladder should pull themselves up, with minimal help from the government. Their philosophy goes that nothing should be handed to anyone with no strings attached, including an apartment.

But another red Western state, Utah, has a Housing First program that has been a runaway success, reducing its number of chronically homeless people by 91% in the past decade. During that same period, homelessness has increased by 213% in Wyoming.

Before Utah’s Housing First pilot project in Salt Lake City in 2005, the state spent more than $19,000 annually, including jail and healthcare costs, to care for each chronically homeless person. Today, the state spends $7,800 a year to house and provide a case worker to a formerly homeless person.

Why does this innovative approach work so well? Here’s the conclusion reached by “Our Wisconsin Revolution,” a group that is working toward a Housing First program in LaCrosse:

“People experiencing homelessness are often dealing with severe trauma, abuse, and health issues that they have not had the support or resources to work through. Moving in and out of shelters daily without a place to call their own with a sense of permanence, and requiring them to go cold turkey to obtain safety, does not provide the necessities to deal with these issues.”

The Urban Institute studied the five-year experience of a Denver Housing First program launched to break the homelessness-jail cycle. It succeeded in reducing the number of arrests for participants by 40% compared to those who were still homeless.

“People experiencing homelessness, especially those forced to live outside, are more likely to interact with police and to face citations, arrests and incarceration for low-level offenses like loitering or sleeping in parks,” the organization reported. “The criminalization of homelessness puts people at risk, and it puts the onus on police and jails to respond to homelessness – a problem they aren’t equipped to solve.”

Gordon’s ARPA “strike team” has advanced many worthy projects. All told they add up to $3 billion, and I encourage you to check them out at the governor’s website. Gordon and legislators will have a tough time paring these proposals and others submitted by the public down to the $1.1 billion for uses the state of Wyoming will adopt.

I believe Wyoming needs to restore a significant amount of money to the Department of Health, which has seen its budget cut by at least $200 million in recent years. I know that the governor’s goals include attracting and retaining more families and young people in Wyoming, and growing the economy by adding value to the state’s businesses and core industries and recruiting new ones. It’s a sensible economic approach.

There must also be funds available for outdoor recreation, enhancing wildlife populations and strengthening the state’s water infrastructure, to name just a few categories the governor listed.

But I believe creating a trust fund to end homelessness meets several of Gordon’s criteria for ARPA funding. There will be a substantial, long-term return on the investment, which will save money compared to the status quo. Using the Housing First model will be sustainable and not add to the state’s ongoing financial expenditures.

The trust fund will benefit people by providing one of the most basic human needs: a safe place to live. If Wyoming is truly looking for a program that is essential for people to “survive, drive and thrive,” this is it.