While it is self-evident that ending homelessness requires housing, it often turns out that when the homeless are provided housing that homelessness is not their their primary problem. Instead, formerly homeless people in housing often pursue “personal goals” that do not improve their quality of life. And since in many instances the housing first approach does not focus on dealing with the spiritual/moral issues a person is facing, the new housing often serves primarily as a platform for demonstrating the problems of why the person became homeless in the first place.

The problem of homelessness is like all of the problems our society is facing today; a problem of liberalism. For liberalism at its heart is a rejection of God. Which, of course, is the foundation of all of our problems.

The current trendy rejection of God when it comes to homelessness is a concept called “housing first.” This approach “prioritizes providing permanent housing to people experiencing homelessness, thus ending their homelessness and serving as a platform from which they can pursue personal goals and improve their quality of life.”

While it is self-evident that ending homelessness requires housing, it often turns out that when the homeless are provided housing that homelessness is not their their primary problem. Instead, formerly homeless people in housing often pursues “personal goals” that do not improve their quality of life. And since in many instances the housing first approach does not focus on dealing with the spiritual/moral issues a person is facing, the new housing often serves primarily as a platform for demonstrating the problems of why the person became homeless in the first place.

Never being one to pass up an opportunity to reject God’s counsel, the Austin City Council has taken two recent housing first actions on homelessness. The first was earlier this year when it ended a ban on camping in public spaces (except at City Hall), apparently under the belief that allowing camping on the sidewalks of downtown Austin would lead to the end of homelessness.

When that didn’t prove to be politically popular–in part because of assaults by the homeless, the city partially reinstated the ban and decided to spend $8 million on a somewhat rundown Roadway Inn and turn it into what some have dubbed the Homeless Hotel.

I work on Congress Ave. in downtown Austin. And while the recent actions of the city council have exacerbated the problems with the homeless downtown, the presence of the homeless downtown are nothing new. A couple of shelters and related services have made downtown a gathering place for the homeless for some time. So has the presence of a large number of workers, shoppers, and tourists with cash to spare for homeless beggars.

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