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What Is Housing First?

In plain English

An approach to homelessness that prioritizes providing permanent housing to people without preconditions like sobriety, employment, or treatment compliance. Research shows that giving people stable housing first makes it far easier to address the issues that contributed to their homelessness.

The Full Explanation

Related Policy Positions

See how the Common Good platform addresses the issues connected to this term.

Homelessness

653,104 people were homeless on a single night in 2023 — a record. It costs $35,578/year per person in emergency services. Permanent supportive housing costs $12,800. Finland is the only country that reduced homelessness. They used Housing First. It worked.

Housing

Housing costs have doubled in a generation. We're going to build the homes America needs and protect renters from predatory landlords.

Mental Health

160 million Americans live in a mental health shortage area. The average delay from symptoms to treatment is 11 years. Insurers deny mental health claims at 2–10× the rate of medical claims. Parity was signed into law in 2008. It has never been enforced.