Looking Globally to Solve Homelessness Locally

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past century, you would know that homelessness is a global issue. According to Yale Global, “no less than 150 million people, or about [two] percent of the world’s population, are homeless.” Of those 150 million people, forty-one thousand reside in Los Angeles, California (New York Times). Despite concentrated efforts to get the homeless off the streets, into homes, and back into society, the number continues to rise. Thus, begging the question, what are we doing wrong?

Actually, I don’t think the issue has much to do with “what are we doing wrong?” but rather, “what can we do better?” From a practical standpoint, Los Angeles is doing everything it can without drastically affecting its economy. For instance, the number one cause of homelessness in Los Angeles, and anywhere in the world for that matter, is the lack of affordable housing. Lack of affordable housing isn’t something you can fix overnight. Then again, neither is homelessness. So what do we do? Do we spend months, maybe years, trying to pass policies and legislation that provide affordable housing, or do we provide supportive housing such as permanent shelters? One solution is much more effective and can be implemented more quickly than the other. Can you guess which one? Supportive housing! Again, I bring this up to show that although Los Angeles is spending millions of dollars on supportive housing, a proven solution to homelessness, it continues to get worse. Why? To answer this question and hopefully solve the issue, let’s take a look at how our neighbors across the world are handling it, specifically Finland.

Permanent homeless shelters in Finland

In Finland, the number of homeless people has greatly decreased ever since their implementation of a housing-first approach. Housing-first is a recovery-oriented model that provides housing for homeless people as quickly as possible, then provides them with services and supports to aid in their transition to more permanent housing. In fact, Finland is the only country in Europe where the number of homeless people continues to decline. Shockingly enough, “four out of five people… make their way back into a stable life” (Kontrast et al.). That’s an 80 percent success rate! What makes the Finnish model stand out from other housing-first models is that in Finland, “support is tailored more individually around the needs of the resident, and this is made possible due to the higher standard of public social services” (Malinen). Obviously, this is an oversimplification of why the Finnish model is so successful. Nevertheless, it’s indicative of the fact that when executed properly, housing first is an effective solution to homelessness.

With that being said, what’s one thing that Los Angeles can learn from Finland. I’ll go first. Maybe it’s not so much about the amount of housing you provide, but rather, the quality of the services you provide with said housing.

Works Cited

1. “As Cities Grow, So Do the Numbers of Homeless.” As Cities Grow, So Do the Numbers of Homeless | YaleGlobal Online, 13 July 2017, yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/cities-grow-so-do-numbers-homeless
2. Cowan, Jill. “What Los Angeles’s Homeless Count Results Tell Us.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 12 June 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/06/12/us/la-county-homeless-population.html.
3. Kontrast.at, et al. “Finland Ends Homelessness and Provides Shelter for All in Need.” Scoop.me, 10 Nov. 2020, scoop.me/housing-first-finland-homelessness/#:~:text=In Finland, the number of,back into a stable life.
4. Malinen, Fanny. “Finland’s ‘Housing First’ Policy Proves That Homelessness Is Avoidable.” Equal Times, www.equaltimes.org/finland-s-housing-first-policy?lang=en#.YGp7exRKhH0.