“Like most West Coast cities, San Francisco has shunned investing in ‘shelter’ because shelter doesn’t work. Sure, it protects you from the elements, but it rarely leads to anything more constructive. Hunkering down on a cot in a congregant setting with strangers snoring next to you is hardly conducive to solving complex life challenges.”

Ever read a sentence or a paragraph that literally seems to jump up off the page so forcefully that it takes you aback? In one salient paragraph, Elizabeth Funk summarized the biggest problem with shelters.

This quote is taken from Funk’s recent editorial in the San Francisco Chronicle, “Yes, there’s a solution to unsheltered homelessness in California. It’s called interim housing.” Funk is no stranger to the homeless issue. After serving on the Board of Directors of LiveMoves, the leading homelessness services agency in Silicon Valley, she pivoted during the pandemic to building interim housing for homeless people across California as CEO of the nonprofit DignityMoves.

There are two new kids on the block: interim housing and stabilization housing. There is some overlap, but interim housing mainly focuses on the unhoused without accompanying mental health issues, whereas stabilization housing focuses more on homeless people with addictions and mental disorders. Both take the homeless directly from the street to temporary housing: not shelters, but actual rooms with closet space, kitchenettes, and–most importantly–a door that locks. The idea was born out of the nascent “housing first” movement. Summed up in a phrase, it reads: housing first, figure out everything else–rent, health crisis resources–after.

There is logic and method to this seeming madness. As I’ve pointed out before, if you give someone a roof over their heads, even before they address their mental, financial, and physical health issues, you give them a chance to build a foundation in line with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs from which to do all of that. Instead of worrying about where they’re going to sleep, whether they’re going to be able to sleep, or will they be assaulted by other homeless people or are they going to be hassled and arrested by the cops, the focus can be on dealing with addictions, getting a job, getting support services and permanent housing. And getting some actual sleep.

Does it still sound too good to work? That may be the case; this is terra incognita and the data aren’t in yet. But the idea is gaining traction in San Francisco and Chicago; the latter is busy restoring the Diplomat Hotel in Lincoln Square to focus on stabilization housing. Although there has been some community opposition in Chicago’s Ward 40, based on the Diplomat’s previous history as a crash pad for addicts, those who know and work with the homeless see it as a hopeful alternative.

“We have people in our ward already, who live here, who grew up here, were born here, who, through no fault of their own, now have problems that their families, myself included, cannot solve. I’m 81 years old, and I love these people. But I cannot help them. This sort of program, if it is feasible and if it works, is something we need.” –Maureen Carroll, 40th Ward resident, said Rev. Lindsey Joyce, co-president of ONE Northside, a social justice coalition of over 100 community organizations and residents from seven North Side neighborhoods.

“I wish we could provide stabilization housing for anyone who needed it, forever. But I know that’s not politically possible to do. We know what to do. It’s a matter of having the courage and will to do it…People who experience homelessness are the housing experts. And they’ve told us, time and time again, that what they need is housing and wraparound support.” (https://www.chicagomag.com/chicago-magazine/november-2024/the-hotel-for-the-homeless/)

The beauty of interim and stabilization housing is that it can work anywhere that public land and property are available. A cluster of tiny houses can support a community of hundreds on a few acres. So you don’t need a city the size of San Francisco or Los Angeles to give it a try. All you need is some vacant land or vacant property. And, of course, the will to try something new instead of implementing the same old non-working “solutions” and expecting different results.

As always, the question of cost arises. The Chicago project called the Haven, has raised $20 million dollars–half from the federal government, half from the city. In San Francisco, Senator Josh Becker has introduced Senate Bill 1395, which would fast-track funding for interim housing and cut through red tape to get it built quickly without compromising safety. The rule should be that if a program costs less than hospitalization and incarceration, and it does not offend human dignity, enact it. Putting the unhoused in jail, even for a few days, costs thousands of dollars a day. It is cruel and unusual punishment. Being incarcerated strictly for being homeless should never be an option.

I’ll give the last words to Elizabeth Funk: “The trauma of surviving on the streets, even for a few weeks, changes most people — forever. They need a better waiting room.”