Not just brick and mortar — the changes 2 experts say Utah needs to reduce homelessness

SALT LAKE CITY — To effectively reduce homelessness, there needs to be seismic changes in the approaches taken. That was the message of Randy Shumway and Joseph Grenny at a recent Solutions Utah town hall.

Shumway, founder of Cicero Group and Utah Homeless Services chairman, and Grenny, a bestselling author, businessman and co-founder of The Other Side Academy, spoke to an audience of University of Utah students and Utah community members on Thursday about what they think needs to happen in order for homelessness to be addressed.

Utah, like other states, has seen an increase in the number of people experiencing homelessness for the first time, according to a report from the state's Office of Homeless Services. In 2023, 9,838 Utahns experienced homelessness for the first time, an increase of 9% from 2022. Four percent more people experienced homelessness multiple times in the year.

A decade ago, Shumway said, 14% of people experiencing homelessness were considered chronically homeless. Right now it is over 27%, he said, adding no matter what we do, the percentage will hit the mid-30s in the next few years.

"Once a person becomes chronically homeless, society historically has experienced low single-digit success in helping them recover," he said. "We are going to change that in Utah."

Definitions, metrics of success and methods of helping all need to change, he said. Instead of seeing the solution as brick and mortar — building more shelters — he argued it has to be more holistic.

"This is not a bed crisis; this is a human crisis," said Shumway. "And we have to, therefore, take a human first approach." The focus of their remarks at the town hall was more on a strategic approach than a physical facility.

That, Shumway said, was intentional.

Shumway: The macro view

Trauma is a better word to describe what people experiencing homelessness are going through, said Shumway. Once someone starts living out on the streets, the amount of trauma they experience is "substantially worse," he said.

On the streets, people face physical assault, sexual exploitation and drugs, Shumway said. "We have to come to their rescue."

To do that, success needs to be defined differently, he said.

"As a state of Utah, we are no longer defining success as mere food and shelter," said Shumway. "We are defining success as helping each and every individual realize the dignity that is inherent in each of us."

Shumway said we need to start by bringing physical and mental health care to where people are. A successful model for this would involve bringing health care to people on the streets — he said this would result in higher participation in treatment.

In addition to this kind of treatment, he said there needs to be consistent compensation for caseworkers.

Also, Shumway said, we have to "kindly, humanely and very consistently enforce the law." He said there is a drug problem in Salt Lake City that needs to be addressed.

"There's no investment in the world that will overcome the petri dish that is built around lawlessness," said Shumway.

When Shumway was at a shelter the other day, he said there was a drug deal happening on the other side of the fence. He said he ran and started yelling at them, and they took off.

"I was mad because you're coming to the location where people are coming for rescue, and you're coming and exploiting them," he said. "That's not right." Shumway said shelters need to be drug-free zones to protect people who go there for healing.

So, what are the legislative priorities that Shumway wants to see achieved?

• The Salt Lake City police department consistently enforces the law.
• An integrated, statewide "Know by Name" system with an individualized care plan.
• A centralized campus.
• Allow for mandatory shelter, treatment and involuntary commitment when people pose high risk to themselves or others.
• Criminal justice reform focused on lasting recovery.
• No drugs allowed at shelters, transitional and permanent supportive housing.
• Accountability for subsidized housing programs through outcome-based funding.

Grenny: The micro view

While Shumway spoke about sweeping changes, Grenny drilled down to more of a micro level. He's the co-founder of The Other Side Academy and The Other Side Village.

The Other Side Academy is a nonprofit organization that runs a residential program with transitional services for qualified students, including people experiencing homelessness. It's a therapeutic community that focuses on peer mentoring and counseling, leadership training as well as vocational training. The Other Side Village is a planned tiny home community for people coming out of experiencing chronic homelessness.

Grenny said he thinks when it comes to homelessness, "we've diagnosed the problem in a way that is condescending, that is bigoted and that is deeply, deeply flawed."

When we drive past unsheltered people experiencing homelessness, Grenny said we define the problem and then also come up with a very simple solution. He doesn't think this works — and he also thinks the nonprofit sector is broken.

Nonprofits have both donors and clients, said Grenny. And nonprofits tend to end up deferring to the donors. A market system allows companies to die if they are not working well because customers can leave, he said. Nonprofits are different because donors can write checks to keep them around.

Then, Grenny said, we also define the issues with homelessness incorrectly. He said we see them only as an asset problem — a problem that can be fixed if you give other an asset like a car. But, he said, it's better to treat it like a human problem.

"If someone's going to freeze to death, you fix that. If someone's going to starve to death, you fix that. But beyond that, you ought to be very cautious about how your intervention will affect human behavior, human choice and whether you're actually deepening the problem," he said.

Read the entire story at Deseret.com.

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