In late December of 2024, Part 1 of the Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) was released by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). This report contained Point in Time (PIT) counts, which is the method by which the homeless population is estimated. The 2024 PIT counts were an 18% increase from 2023, which was itself a record increase of 12% from 2022 (HUD Exchange, 2024a; HUD Exchange, 2023). Despite the claim made by Barack Obama in 2013 that the current approach of “Housing First” would end homelessness by 2023, PIT counts have increased every year for the past 10 years (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 2024). With more money being devoted to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that provide homelessness services year over year, the issue is not with the amount of money NGOs receive, but rather how they spend it. Senate Bill 399 would require an audit of these service providers in order to ascertain their success or failure in prioritizing self sufficiency for those seeking to exit homelessness.
Funding Failure
The Austin city council is once again patting themselves on the back for a tremendous nonachievement. Without any change in strategy to serve the homeless population of the city, officials have decided to continue throwing money at the problem and hope that, this time, $350 million over ten years is the charm. The Council touts...