Readers React: Why no program for homeless people will work without housing first

To the editor: The heart-wrenching report, “Driven from an Anaheim tent city, a couple struggles with addiction and the realities of Orange County’s homeless,” brought us into a world where dislocation, isolation and grinding poverty challenge the survival of people experiencing homelessness every moment of every day.

It doesn’t have to be this way. The research unanimously points to one solution for homelessness: housing first.

When people have access to a supportive, affordable home, their mental and physical health improve. They can enjoy the fundamental right of privacy and rebuild their lives. Moreover, providing people with affordable homes actually costs less than warehousing them in shelters or leaving them to deteriorate on the streets.

Yet Orange County’s dire shortage of affordable housing leaves most people with no viable pathway out of homelessness. This county — one of the wealthiest in the nation — can and must do more to meet the needs of its most disabled and economically vulnerable residents.

Eve Garrow, Pasadena

Julia Devanthéry, Los Angeles

Garrow is the ACLU of Southern California’s homelessness policy analyst and advocate; Devanthéry is the group’s Dignity for All staff attorney.

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