Keeping abreast of what's happening in housing around the world – Utah.
Have you heard of Sam Tsemberis ? –
He knows how to solve homelessness.
Here's what has been said about him.
He has been hailed as a truly great
innovative thinker, and has been compared to Thomas Edison.
'He doesn’t at first seem like an
innovator who has had national impact. But few thinkers today are in
greater demand. The process of innovation is often
one of mystery. Where does an idea come from? How do innovators find
it? What makes them different from everyone else fumbling around in
the dark?'
'Sam Tsemberis has unfurled a model
so simple children could grasp it, so cost-effective fiscal hawks
loved it, so socially progressive liberals praised it.'
And what did Sam do to warrant all this
hyperbole?
How did he solve homelessness? He
simply housed people. That's how.
'It’s that simple',
he said. 'Give homes for the homeless, and you will solve
chronic homelessness.' People have found his approach 'totally
off the walls radical'. They can't stop talking about it.
Yep, he just houses people, no
questions asked.
What's more, Sam's solution has also
saved the state of Utah and New York City truckloads of money. They
are more than happy with Sam's radical approach.
'We committed,' said Utah’s Gordon
Walker, explaining how his state succeeded at eliminating
homelessness — and saved millions. 'It was costing us in state
services, health-care costs, jail time, police time, about $20,000
per person. Now, we spend $12,000 per person.'
New York was also spending a
staggering annual $40,500 on every homeless person with mental health
issues. Sam Tsemberis' approach is inspiring policies across the United States.
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Here in Australia we already have a
housing model that houses people according to need and without
judgement, a housing model based on compassion and social inclusion.
Its called PUBLIC HOUSING and
it's a cost effective,
human-rights based model that works very well - if only the
politicians would come to their senses and embrace it fully, instead
of starving it of funds and flogging it off to be converted into
other housing models which will in fact increase homelessness and
cost the taxpayer so much more.
It would seem that once public
housing is gone, time passes and people completely forget that such a
sensible housing model ever existed.
And it takes people like Sam Tsemberis, an
outsider, to come along and show people how it's done.
It's not rocket science. It's common
sense.
Good on ya Sam. You've certainly got our vote.
