Homelessness is a Housing Problem by Gregg Colburn and Clayton Page
Aldern is a must-read for anyone working in the housing continuum
space. Since stepping off of Raleigh City Council in 2022, I became
heavily involved in our community's homeless response system. Having
this book as my guide made it easy to rebut anyone who thinks it's
impossible to end homelessness, and instead offer them a sensible
solution.
As a total spoiler, the thesis of the book is in the title: to solve
our homelessness problem in this country, we need to address housing.
In the first half of the book, Colburn and Aldern set-up and knock
down every individualistic and landscape argument for why certain
communities have high rates of homelessness. Think homelessness is a
problem of poverty, unemployment, mental illness, drug use, or race? Wrong. Think homelessness is a problem of weather, politics, or an
abundance of services? Wrong. And their arguments are all backed up
by data, charts, and specific examples.
Homelessness is a problem of housing supply. The good news is
that it's a problem we can solve. Colburn and Aldern
argue that housing has to keep up with growth and that growth doesn't
happen in a vacuum, it is actively stimulated or restricted by
governmental policies and programs. Which means people can change zoning and development ordinances to allow for more housing and
more housing types.
Finally, the authors end the book with how communities can address
homelessness, which includes: changing the perception of the problem
(see the first half of the book), ensuring sufficient resources
(dollars at all levels of government), and fixing our systems (so
individuals move more quickly out of homelessness or avoid it in the
first place).
Eric Braun and I are hosting this month's CITYBUILDER book club. We
hope you come for the book review and conversation, and stay to explore how
our local communities are responding in real time.
Join CITYBUILDER Book Club
📘 Homelessness is a Housing Problem by Gregg Colburn and Clayton Aldern
📅 Wed Oct 28th 12:00pm - 1:00pm
📍 PRESS Coffee Crêpes Cocktails
400 Hillsborough St suite 108, Raleigh, NC 27603, USA
👉 RSVP here
Nicole Stewart has built two decades of leadership across
Raleigh's civic, philanthropic, and nonprofit sectors. She served on
Raleigh City Council as an At-Large member and Mayor Pro Tem, directed
engagement at the A.J. Fletcher Foundation, and spent eighteen years
at NC Conservation Network, ultimately as Development Director. She
co-founded The Beehive Collective, which put $200K+ into Raleigh
nonprofits over a decade, and currently serves as Past Chair of the
Wake Continuum of Care.
