Here is my Skid Road project interview with Rev Rick Reynolds on March 6, 2017. ‘Rev Rick’ talks about how he became involved in street ministry and Operation Nightwatch, and what he has learned from his decades of work. One piece of wisdom he shares in this interview, included in my “Listening to Skid Road” 25-minute video (edited by Jill Freidberg in 2018), is this:
The housing first model really makes sense, and I think it takes a lot of convincing people who aren’t current in the science of it, or haven’t thought it through much. Well, even some of the people in recovery that I know sometimes feel as though the Housing First model rewards bad behavior. But I keep thinking there’s a lot of folks in housing that still struggle with mental health and addiction disorders. It’s a lot easier to deal with when you’re inside than when you’re sleeping in the jungle or in a sort of tenuous shelter situation.”
As Housing First continues to be blamed for the increasing number of people experiencing various forms of homelessness in Seattle, it’s important to listen to experts like Rev Rick. Also, it’s important to remember that Housing First requires ongoing, excellent supportive services, including behavioral health, ideally co-located in the housing. Those services are expensive and too often lose funding or experience high staff and agency turnover. Housing First, done right, works for many people experiencing chronic homelessness. But it is not a panacea, as we are seeing here in Seattle. We still need emergency and longer-term shelter options for people, and much better access to street-based, outpatient, and inpatient behavioral health services.