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Opinion: Missouri shouldn’t follow California’s failed homelessness playbook

Missouri spends millions of dollars every year on programs that are supposed to address our state’s growing homeless crisis. But what do we have to show for all that investment? There are more people living on our streets and the conditions in homeless camps are deteriorating, with parts of the state resembling the worst parts of San Francisco and Los Angeles. Something needs to change. 

That’s why I introduced HB 2614 to ensure that our homelessness spending is focused on moving people off the streets, getting them the care they need, and rebuilding their lives. 

Rep. Bruce DeGroot

Solving the homelessness crisis requires clear accountability and incentives. First, we need to hold cities accountable for moving people from sidewalk and park camps to shelters, treatment centers, or supervised camping areas away from neighborhoods and city centers. Just a few weeks ago, a fire broke out at an encampment under an I-70 overpass that took the life of a homeless person. Businesses near a downtown St. Louis homeless camp closed their offices after public beatings, a shooting, and a murder happened within weeks of each other. Cities that permit living on the streets are neglecting their responsibility to protect and serve all residents — both homeless and housed.  

Banning street camping is not about moving the homeless to jails. Instead, camping bans empower law enforcement officers and social workers to get people suffering from mental illness and substance abuse the help that they might otherwise refuse. And with three-quarters of the homeless suffering from severe mental health illness, and another three-quarters addicted to drugs, this is the help they desperately need to be pushed into. We know what happens when these bans are not enforced — four homeless people die every day on Los Angeles’ streets. 

But too many cities refuse to take this sensible policy approach at the expense of public safety. That’s why HB 2614 places requirements on state homelessness funding that penalize cities that fail to clean up their streets. Any city not enforcing a camping ban that also sees increasing homelessness will not be eligible to receive additional state funding for their failing homelessness policies. 

Alternatively, a city that does enforce a street sleeping ban and has better outcomes for the homeless is eligible for bonus funding. A nonprofit or city-managed service provider that reports a decrease in the number of days someone is on the streets, in jail, or in the hospital can receive up to 25 percent of their base funding as a reward. 

We need to hold government-funded providers accountable for outcomes that contribute to safe streets and recovery. It is important that we fund treatment programs and emergency shelters to ensure the most at-risk individuals get the help they desperately need. My legislation directs cities and nonprofits receiving state funds for housing-first programs to now use those funds on substance abuse and mental health treatment, along with short-term housing options. 

The housing-first approach has been shown to be a massive, expensive failure. The U.S. has built more than 200,000 new permanent housing units for the homeless over the past two decades, but homelessness has increased by nearly that amount over that time. San Francisco has built enough permanent units to house every single chronically homeless individual in the city back in 2011. In the decade since, the number of people on the streets has doubled. 

The state should not continue to double down on costly programs that are not generating results. We know from California’s failed experiment that the best way to help the homeless is not to leave them sleeping on the sidewalk or in public parks, but to invest in mental health treatment and substance abuse programs. If we’re going to make progress on solving homelessness, Missouri needs to take a new approach.