The Homeless Czar weighs in on Fort Collins’ homeless initiatives

Philip Mangano goes by many names: First is his official title, executive director of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness. Some shorten that to call him the “Homeless Czar.” But perhaps most aptly, he’s also referred to as an abolitionist, a man on a mission to not only ease homelessness in America, but to eliminate it entirely. Regardless of the title, they are all apt ways of describing the man who has traveled from working on a Boston soup line over 22 years ago to occupying the government’s highest office on efforts to diminish homelessness.

Throughout it all, his goal has been to get people off the streets— permanently.

Mangano has used the clout of his position ambitiously since being appointed in February 2002 by President Bush. He’s led a revolutionary, nationwide campaign to change how efforts to treat homelessness are defined. In fact, he despises words like “treat,” “diminish” and “maintain;” to him, such words, however well-intentioned by advocates for the homeless, are the biggest obstacle in effectively reducing homeless rates. The only way to beat homelessness, Mangano said, is to build a movement to end it once and for all. Given that, he may well have acquired the nickname “Trailblazer” if the Secret Service hadn’t already assigned it to George W. Bush.

Mangano’s abolitionist metanarrative has been effective, resulting in nationwide reductions in homelessness. In practical application, it revolves around the numbers-driven premise that it costs more in shelter and medical costs to allow a homeless person to drift in and out of social services as opposed to setting them up in permanent housing and bringing medical resources to them.

In an interview with Fort Collins Now, Mangano cited a San Diego study conducted in the late '90s by the University of California at San Diego as proof. San Diego had a chronic homeless problem that became an increasing epidemic from the '80s through the '90s. The city, a mecca for tourism, saw the problem as a blemish but figured it'd be too costly to fix it, so learned how to live with it in the interest of fiscal frugality. But by the late '90s, the problem had grown to such proportions that the city decided to test whether its cost theory was correct.

Researchers followed 15 homeless people around for 18 months and recorded how much those individuals cost the state in tax dollars by drifting in and out of medical facilities, police stations and shelters. What they found surpassed all expectations.

"The first finding was that the cost of the 15 people randomly ricocheting through emergency rooms, police stations and shelters cost the city and county $3 million, an average of $200,000 a person in 18 months. It shocked the public, policy makers and elected officials," Mangano said.

The second and more tragic finding was that after the $3 million had been expended and poured into the people's lives, they were in the same state and condition as at the beginning of the study—"ready to cycle through again the next year."

Mangano said the dumbfounding reality was that the city could have "placed them in ocean-side penthouse condos with sweeping views and concierges" attending to their every need 'round-the-clock and it would have cost less money than allowing them to remain outside, sucking money out of well-intentioned services with no positive results. Since then, he said that 65 other studies around the nation have revealed the same findings.

"The cost of random ricocheting is $35,000-$150,000 a person per year. The cost of housing them with support services ranges from $13,000-$25,000 a year," Mangano said.

The numbers have given Mangano a formidable platform for arguing that not only can homelessness be abolished—not unlike slavery—but that it would save the states and federal government billions of dollars if it were.

As a result, Mangano has been successful in attracting Democratic and Republican officials nationwide who have been lured by the premise that housing the homeless first and bringing services to them will save a bundle of money. Numerous cities around the country, including Denver, have, with Mangano’s recommendation and guidance, formulated 10-year-plans to end homelessness.

Fort Collins is one of them.

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Fort Collins is looking to forge its own 10-year-plan to make homelessness extinct. To serve as an informational blueprint toward that end, UniverCity Connections’ Homelessness Initiative Task Group assembled research experts, city leaders and shelter workers to compile an extensive report comprehensively detailing the size and demographics of Fort Collins’ homeless population. It took a little over six months to complete.

The report, titled Building Blocks to Ending Homelessness in Fort Collins: A Community Blueprint, was led in research by Dr. Jamie Van Leeuwen of Denver’s Road Home, the capital city’s own manifestation of a 10-year-plan, which has seen a 36 percent reduction in chronic homelessness since it was instituted four years ago.

On Aug. 21, Fort Collins Mayor Doug Hutchinson and Van Leeuwen held a press conference to unveil the report, and the two were joined on-stage by a special guest: The Czar himself— Philip Mangano.

Mangano praised Fort Collins' initiative in compiling the report, saying that the local community has done a great and rare thing by addressing the problem of homelessness before it becomes a local epidemic.

"I'm proud to be in your city today," he said at the conference. "Many cities that are so beautiful and affluent as yours could be in denial about poverty. You should be so proud to be a citizen of your great community. Your intent is to make it a livable and beautiful community for every citizen."

Mangano went on to say that Fort Collins is now part of a “national conspiracy” to end homelessness. He said that the methods of "maintaining" homelessness over the last 25 years haven't been working, and that in the last seven years—since he began spearheading government efforts on homelessness—efforts have shifted not toward treating but abolishing homelessness.

"We need to have an abolitionist point of view," he said. "This is a mission of abolition. Just as your grandchildren will go to underground railroad (museums) to see what slavery once was, in their travels they'll come to Fort Collins to visit the shelter museums to see what homelessness once was in this community.

"How proud they'll be when they see pictures of this day when you committed to end a social wrong."

Hutchinson threw his support behind the new initiative by becoming one of nearly 400 mayor and county officials across the country to sign the America's Road Home Statement of Principles and Action, which was co-convened last October by Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and has been adopted by the U.S. Conference of Mayors and National Association of Counties.

"The hardest part of solving a problem is finding it,” Hutchinson said. He went on to express enthusiasm for the report, which he believes has successfully mapped out the homeless problem in Fort Collins, making it easier to know the tools and efforts needed to address it.

"This sets a very solid foundation to build on. It's a tremendous step, a springboard and a foundation," he said.

One of the major and surprising findings of the report is that 60 percent of Fort Collins' homeless population are families, not the stereotypical single male. The great irony is that though these families comprise the majority of local homeless, they're the least visible. Officials hope the report will help give them tools to find those families and get them off the streets.

The report also lists 10 recommendations for how Fort Collins can take the data and translate it into effective action; recommendations include determining how many new units of permanent and supportive housing are needed to shelter the homeless population, and to develop coordinated plans with local medical and detox centers to close gaps in connecting the homeless to services.

Online Reading The Homelessness Initiative report can be downloaded for viewing at http://www.univercityconnections.org/16/Homelessness%20Initiative/. Community homeless advocates, UniverCity task force members and policy makers intend to use the report to create the city's own 10-year-plan to abolish homelessness.

Speaking with Fort Collins Now, Mangano said that when he met with Chris Kneeland (who convened the Homelessness Initiative Task Group), Hutchinson and City Manager Darin Atteberry, he was impressed to see the enthusiasm that was expressed for taking the data from the homelessness report and converting it quickly into an applicable 10-year-plan.

"They were particularly enthused about the rapid rehousing innovations that target the homeless and provide them housing. Their enthusiasm was sparked by an innovative idea that was good for homeless, the community and the tax payer—a trifecta we don't usually get in public policy," he said. "Their enthusiasm was matched by an intelligence that just seems to be in the gene pool of this community. Everyone I've met, whether it was Chris Kneeland, who has been the champion of this issue, or Jim Sprout (chairman of First Western Trust Bank), or Gordon Thibedeau (head of the local United Way), there's an impressive array of community stakeholders who understand not only the moral and spiritual reasons but also the economics and strategy.”

With the most visible cities participating in a 10-year-plan being sprawling or stacked urban hubs like New York, Chicago, Denver and Los Angeles, it might seem like Fort Collins is a rarity among cities its size falling in rank behind Mangano’s vision. But the Homeless Czar said that’s not the case; cities similar in size to Fort Collins, though less visible, are actually more typical of areas committing to end homelessness. Not only that, but most of the cities face the same homeless makeup that Fort Collins does, with the majority being "hidden homeless" families.

"The reason that's good news is that there are a number of cities the size of Fort Collins that are facing very similar issues," he said.

Mangano said that Springfield, Mass., is nearly the "exact size" of Fort Collins. It has the Basketball Hall of Fame there, making it a hub for tourists, and has a revitalized downtown area—much like Fort Collins. Springfield created its own 10-year-plan three years ago and has been implementing it for the last two years. Mangano said the city's seen a 20 percent reduction in chronic homelessness.

He encouraged Fort Collins officials—including task force members, the mayor and City Manager—take a "pilgrimage" to Springfield to get a glimpse of the future of homelessness in Fort Collins.

"Part of the idea will be you don't have to reinvent the wheel or go to ground zero," he said. "I think there's nothing better than for the architects (of Fort Collins' homelessness plan) to go see a similar plan. My sense is that Fort Collins is smart enough to understand the importance of visiting the future."

Mangano encouraged local social workers who have been laboring with “their sleeves up for years”, discouraged by incessantly rising homeless rates despite all efforts, that “reinforcements have arrived.”

He said that, humanitarian efforts, though admirable, have been proven inept if not framed within the strategic business model of housing first.

"If there's one thing that was learned it's that if good intentions, well-meaning programs and humanitarian gestures could end homelessness, it would have been history decades ago," Mangano said.

His position may not be popular with those who have worked on the streets for years, but Mangano knows something about working on the streets himself, and said that we cannot afford to be nostalgic about what didn’t work in the past. He deferentially said to those working on the “front lines” that "those who have served sacrificially will have an opportunity to realize their original vision of bringing it to an end.”

Coming back to his abolitionist theme, Mangano said that proceeding without the goal of ending homelessness within a numbers-proven business model is like people in slavery days being content with merely improving the quality of life for the slaves.

"But the abolitionists called the nation to a higher vision of what needed to be done," he said. “What we've discovered is that the business approach is the most humanitarian because it ends the long misery of our neighbors' homelessness.

"Based on the people already at the table I have no doubt Fort Collins will create a plan that will join other plans in being a model for cities its size across the nation."

The Report’s 10 Recommendations 1. Hire/appoint a project manager to guide the development and implementation of a plan to end homelessness to create a written document with measurable goals, objectives and outcomes that will assist the Fort Collins community in ending homelessness as it exists. 2. Determine how many new units of permanent and supportive housing must be developed to respond to the needs of every homeless man, woman and child in the community. Ensure that every unit created is connected with mental health, substance abuse, medical and employment services. 3. Determine how many units of daytime and overnight shelter are necessary to ensure that every man, woman and child has a place to go 24 hours a day. Address these shelter gaps through temporary means until enough affordable housing can be developed such that persons begin moving out of shelters and into homes. 4. Develop a coordinated plan with Poudre Valley Hospital, the Health District, Island Grove Regional Treatment Center, homeless providers and the Fort Collins Police Department to address existing gaps in detox to decrease costs and connect homeless coming out of detox into services. 5. Expand and coordinate outreach services and fund additional police services to work collaboratively in connecting the homeless with services and reducing unnecessary use of expensive emergency and jail services. 6. Create/identify a centralized dispatch number where homeless and members of the community can call to identify existing resources available for the homeless and to find out how to help the homeless as volunteers or donors. 7. Expand prevention services to reach out to the "hidden homeless" in Fort Collins and ensure that every person or family facing homelessness can access resources that will prevent them from becoming homeless in the first place. Other services must accompany prevention services as necessary (e.g. employment, treatment). Such expansion might offer a way for the faith communities to become more involved with their initiative. 8. Conduct a Project Homeless Connect to connect the homeless in the community with services and to connect the community with the faces of the homeless. 9. Coordinate a comprehensive community awareness initiative to educate the community about homelessness in Fort Collins. 10. Develop a fundraising plan that integrates support from the government, private sector, individuals and foundations to address the gaps that have been identified in the homeless plan. This effort will engage federal entities such as the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness to help advance the efforts of Fort Collins to respond to this important issue.