Today, the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Executive Director Kevin Roberts, Ph.D., will take part in a roundtable discussion with HUD Secretary Ben Carson on the federal government’s response to homelessness.

“New federal data shows that the previous administration’s homelessness policy, known as Housing First, has not worked despite the promise that the program would end homelessness as well as a 200% increase in federal spending to address homelessness over the past decade,” said Roberts. “The Texas Public Policy Foundation is supportive of the efforts to change failed homeless policy to support those facing homelessness with access to the treatment they need to identify and address the underlying issues that led to their homelessness and thereby ending the cycle permanently.”

This week, the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness released a new strategic plan to reduce homelessness which focuses on the dignity of work, mental health, affordable housing, prevention, population specific programming, racial disparities, alternatives to criminalization of homelessness, and the importance of national emergency readiness.

“In a Nation as prosperous as ours, we can work together to lift our neighbors up off the streets and eradicate the threat of homelessness,” said HUD Secretary Ben Carson. “Evidence shows us that current federal programs and policies intended to address homelessness need some serious improvement. The changes presented in the new USICH strategic plan should be implemented quickly so that we can reverse the trends we are seeing in homelessness across some American cities today and lead people back to self-sufficiency.”

Participants of the roundtable include:

  • The Honorable Ben Carson – Secretary, Housing and Urban Development
  • The Honorable Chip Roy– U.S. House of Representatives (TX-21)
  • Robert Marbut– Executive Director, U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH)
  • Alan Graham– Founder and CEO, Mobile Loaves and Fishes
  • Kevin Roberts, Ph.D.– Executive Director, Texas Public Policy Foundation

To watch the event via live stream, please visit:

https://www.texaspolicy.com/multimedia/article/hud-discussion-on-federal-governments-response-to-homelessness

Photo by Matt Collamer on Unsplash