BOULDER, Colo., Jan. 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Institute for Cultural Evolution, a nonprofit think tank with a mission to help American culture overcome its political polarization, today announced its policy proposal on the issue of Homelessness in the U.S.

“We are failing to care for our neediest people, and their continuing deprivation and despair stands as a testament to our national hypocrisy,” said Steve McIntosh, President at the Institute for Cultural Evolution. “America’s unhoused population continues to increase, and neither progressive ‘Housing-First’ programs, nor traditional ‘Treatment-First’ approaches, are adequately addressing this problem. To tackle the homelessness crisis, we need to pursue a variety of distinct solutions gleaned from both the left and right.”

According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) 2020 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress, 580,466 people were counted as homeless during the 2020 Point-in-Time count, representing a 2.2% increase over 2019. This marks the fourth consecutive annual increase in homelessness, following sustained reductions between 2010 and 2016.

The Institute’s policy proposal focuses on the following five overlapping solutions:

1. Increase affordable housing stock through federally sponsored “low regulation zones”

2. Provide residential refuge and asylum for severely mentally ill and those with severe addiction

3. Distinguish between people who are “temporarily unhoused,” “severely mentally ill,” and “chronically homeless” to serve the specific needs of each group

4. Strike a “grand bargain” between local communities and service resistant chronically homeless people

5. Implement “backpack funding” to honor the preferences of chronically homeless people
   

McIntosh continued: “The current U.S. population of more than half a million homeless people consists of many subgroups, each with diverse needs. Each homeless person has a unique story that ideally requires a customized assistance plan. The process of tailoring assistance programs to meet specific needs should begin by first distinguishing between three broad categories of homeless people: the temporarily unhoused; the severely mentally ill; and those who are ‘chronically homeless.’”

View the full proposal on the Institute’s flagship political magazine, The Post-Progressive Post at https://post-progressive.org/issue-position/homelessness-in-the-u-s/.

To learn more about the Institute for Cultural Evolution nonprofit, please visit https://www.culturalevolution.org.

About Institute for Cultural Evolution
The Institute for Cultural Evolution is a nonprofit 501c3 think tank based in Boulder, Colorado. The Institute’s mission is to advance a new developmental political perspective, which can help solve America’s hyper-partisan polarization. To learn more, please visit: https://www.culturalevolution.org.

Media contact:

Amanda Lee
ARL Strategic Communications
Amanda.lee@arlpr.com