HANDING a homeless alcoholic the keys to a free furnished flat may seem
foolish, unfair or both. That was certainly what Ted Clugston, the mayor of
Medicine Hat, a Canadian town of 61,000, used to think—but experience has
changed his mind. No-strings housing offers have helped bring the town within
sight of a goal it set itself five years ago: to end homelessness by 2015. At
the time over 1,000 people passed through its homeless shelters each year, many
between spells on the street. If the municipality succeeds, it will be the first
in North America to do so.
...
In 1992 Sam Tsemberis, a professor of psychiatry at New York University,
started a programme that turned that sequence on its head. Pathways to Housing
gave rough sleepers furnished flats in poor districts. Medical care, treatment
for addiction and help in learning to cook, pay bills and so on were offered,
but not required. After five years 88% remained housed.
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