U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Scott Turner said the "Housing First model is a failed model," outlining a shift toward "treatment first" on homelessness.
Housing First is a homeless assistance approach that prioritizes giving people experiencing homelessness permanent housing as a platform from which they can pursue personal goals.
Turner spoke Wednesday on Newsmax's "National Report" with hosts Eddie and John, as housing advocates held a national day of action. The hosts discussed rallies, in which advocates called for more affordable housing, stronger homelessness prevention programs and an end to policies that criminalize homelessness.
Turner on Red Tape and Home Prices
Turner said the administration's top priority on affordable housing is deregulation. "The median home price is $400,000 and $100,000 of that is in regulation. That's not sustainable," he said. He also pointed to a HUD regulatory best practices report as a "playbook" for state and local governments.
Turner said HUD took down the Affirmatively Further and Fair Housing Act, which he said made the agency "a National Zoning board," and a Biden-era determination on the International Energy Conservation Code that he said added up to about $30,000 to the cost of building a single-family home. He added that President Donald Trump signed two executive orders, one to reduce barriers to building affordable housing and one to bring "the hometown lender back to the table."
Turner said the administration is working to increase the supply of homes and bring costs down.
J.P. Morgan analysts said in a recent podcast that the U.S. faces a structural shortage of about 1.2 million homes and that housing affordability is near its worst level since the global financial crisis.
Turner on Homelessness
Turner said the Housing First model was meant to eradicate homelessness, but homelessness "has gone up 100% since 2013" despite record funding. He said the root causes are mental illness and drug addiction, and that success means getting people "housed, get them treated, and get them back to a life of self-sufficiency." He said success is not measured by units filled or money spent, and criticized people "dying inside of a homeless industrial complex."
In June, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced more than $700 million in funding for mental illness, addiction and homelessness. It includes a $96 million program called STREETS, which funds eight communities to build coordinated treatment and recovery systems for homeless people with substance use disorders, serious mental illness or both. Programs receiving STREETS funding may not use housing-first approaches.
Advocates Rally for Housing
The National Coalition for the Homeless — a national network of people consisting of those who have experienced homelessness, and activists, advocates as well as service providers working to end homelessness — held its second annual Housing NOW! National Day of Action on Wednesday. It urged officials to protect housing and reject the criminalization of homelessness.
In Cincinnati, the Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition marched from Piatt Park to City Hall, reported FOX19. Josh Spring, executive director of Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition, called for ending the focus on "luxury development over the basic needs of regular folks." The group cited the National Alliance to End Homelessness to warn that nearly 100,000 people could be at risk from federal housing funding changes.
