Austin's 'Community First' Answer to Homelessness Deserves Attention
An excellent New York Times article on the Community First Village outside Austin, Texas demonstrates a crucial move in deconstructing mass homelessness in America over the next decade. It makes me happy to see that so many of the ideas we discussed on Oakland, California’s homeless advocacy working group in 2015 have become a reality in another city. Such affordable micro-housing units with shared cooking and bathroom spaces, particularly if subsidized, could have done much to alleviate Oakland’s exploding homelessness epidemic.
What the article has to say is far more important than my following comments, but I present them nonetheless.
The protagonist, Mr Graham, overcame the entrenched “not in my backyard” attitude one would encounter anywhere, which is the greatest obstacle to solving long-term homelessness America's cities. Community First has made tremendous headway in reducing the numbers Homeless people, improving life for thousands. Neighboring property owners’ fears never became reality and their selfishness has been exposed.
Mr. Graham and his community prove that self-governance and a few basic rules can give residents real freedom while keeping activity within responsible boundaries. They have dispelling the myth that homelessness always leads to hotbeds of addiction and violence.
Mr. Graham rightly defined Homeless people’s greatest need: a sense of belonging and community. Combined with the establishment’s relatively low cost, Community First has attracted the grant support of many willing foundations while also winning over both local and state government agencies support. This demonstrates the importance of the multifaceted approach that has given Austin such success.
The faith-based “Loaves and Fishes” outreach that started the Community First movement is not the sort of religious organization that proselytizes or requires anything of the people they serve. It’s the volunteers themselves who bear the weight of what their efforts demand. They have simply put their heads and hands into the action of loving their neighbors, in whom they see the image of God.
I’m sure Community First faces its share of problems. But what they have accomplished for the city of Austin and its Homeless population deserves both recognition and repetition elsewhere.