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HUD official calls for a shift from ‘housing first’ to treatment-focused, results-based approach
Summary
At the Acres Home event, HUD Secretary Turner called the housing-first model a failure since 2013 and urged funding and policies that pair housing with treatment and wraparound services, citing national homelessness figures and anecdotal experience.
At the same Houston event announcing generator installations, Secretary Turner used part of his remarks to critique the "housing first" approach to homelessness and argued for a different policy emphasis focused on treatment and measurable outcomes.
"The housing first model is a failed model," Turner said, arguing that since 2013 outcomes have not matched expectations despite increased funding. He cited national figures, saying "when you have over 745,000 people homeless on one single night and you have nearly four billion dollars in funding, you're running the wrong play." Turner said HUD and local partners should pursue a "paradigm shift" that pairs housing with treatment for mental illness and substance-use disorders and funds results, not just units.
Turner recounted a personal family example to illustrate his point: he described finding a relative who was homeless and in need of wraparound services. He said the family placed that relative in a housing program for veterans with services and that the combination of housing plus services helped the relative live the last three years of his life "in dignity."
Turner did not announce a specific HUD policy change at the event; he framed the comments as a statement of principle and an argument for a different approach to homelessness interventions. The transcript records his critique and the administration's stated intent to prioritize outcomes and services, but it does not contain a concrete, enacted rule or new funding stream tied explicitly to the remarks.
