Why We Need to Take a Radical New Approach to Homelessness

What we’re doing isn’t working, but Singapore has a unique solution.

80 percent of Singapore’s population lives in beautiful, modern public housing. Photo of Singapore by author

After my siblings and I inherited two rental properties from our mother, we made a decision many people would consider foolish. We decided not to sell the properties, but to allow the current renters to remain there for a paltry $350 a month.

Our mother had never raised the rent, because her two elderly renters couldn’t afford to pay more. If we sold the houses, the women would likely be evicted. It wasn’t profitable to continue allowing them to live there, but we didn’t want them to be homeless.

After discussing it, we concluded our mother would have wanted them to stay for the remainder of their lives, so that’s what we decided to do.

But not every landlord can afford to rent property at a loss, and not every tenant can afford reasonable rent or mortgage payments. Homelessness, exacerbated by lack of affordable housing, substance abuse, and poverty, has led to tent cities, homeless encampments, and legal challenges that stall efforts to remove encampments from public property.

Homeless encampments and attempts to deal with them