The Future of Housing First

At Beacon, we believe that every person has worth and dignity. While it’s not always easy to live by that principle, we try to provide care, support, and opportunity for everyone who crosses our path. We also believe that everyone deserves a home – even those who struggle to live in one.

For more than a decade, Beacon has been at the forefront of an effort to live by these values through our permanent supportive housing program, sometimes described as Housing First or Crawford Homes.

What Makes This Program Different

Permanent supportive housing does something unique. It provides homes and care for people who once would have lived out their lives on the street, in the woods, or other places humans are not meant to live. Every single person who qualifies for the program has a disability (usually multiple disabilities) and has been homeless for a long time because of those challenges – what we call chronically homeless.

Here’s a sobering fact: the average age of death for a chronically homeless person is 47 years old. Without support, they typically die homeless and alone.

Two Articles That Demand Our Attention

Two recent articles have put permanent supportive housing in the spotlight, and both deserve our attention.

First: A National Threat

The first is from the New York Times entitled, “Trump Seeks to End Supportive Housing for the Chronically Homeless.”

You can read it here.

This would be catastrophic – both locally and nationally. More than 300,000 people live in these programs nationwide, and more than 250 right here locally. We’re talking about  children, veterans, people with walkers and wheelchairs and oxygen tanks—all potentially back on the streets.

If you think we have a serious homeless problem now, this would make our current situation look easy. I encourage you to raise your voice against this. It’s the kind of  problem we won’t fully grasp how awful it is until it happens.

I am hopeful these programs will survive the final budget, but it will absolutely take all of our voices to make it happen.

Second: Local Challenges

Dave Askins at the B Square Bulletin wrote “Crawford Apartments supportive housing reaching ‘critical action point’—one-third of units in 2 buildings noncompliant.”

You can read it here.

You might be surprised to know that I support this article. It does an excellent job laying out the details of a complex situation. I encourage you to read it.

I also support it because we’ve been hoping for change for years. My hope is that this article and the City’s involvement will help turn the property around.

Clarifying Beacon’s Role in Crawford Apartments

Here’s what you might not know: Beacon doesn’t own Crawford Apartments and we are not the property manager. We are the main service provider, but much of what needs to be fixed at the apartments is outside our role or capacity.

You also might not know that just over half of our permanent supportive housing residents live at Crawford Apartments. Many of our program participants live quite successfully in other apartment complexes throughout the city and county.

That said, Crawford Apartments’ success is crucial – it is an essential and irreplaceable resource.

We’re grateful for the City of Bloomington’s intervention and especially hopeful that it will improve conditions in the ways that residents so very much deserve. We are completely committed to doing our part, actively partnering with both the city and the owners/property management to ensure Crawford Apartments is a safe and beautiful home for people who truly deserve it.

What About the New Beacon Center?

Some have asked if either of these concerns would impact the new Beacon Center. Here is what is most important to know:

Building the Center: Neither issue would affect our capacity to build the new Center. Our federal funding for the Center is secure, and we hope to have all major funding sources in place by the end of this year.

Operating the Center: The potential funding cuts in the first article could dramatically affect our ability to provide housing in the new Center — that’s definitely a concern. Our most recent housing grant has been renewed and we are fully funded until at least September 2026, with an approved extension through September 2027. With advocacy, hopefully this will not become an issue, but if it does, we will have to adapt.

Avoiding Crawford’s Problems: We have very intentionally designed solutions into the new facility to prevent the property management issues we’ve seen at Crawford. For example, we will have controlled entrances, 24/7 staffing, primary care and mental health care partners with offices onsite, and live-in residents to provide security and maintenance. Supporting people with serious struggles will never be easy, but we’ve been very smart with the new design.

The future of Housing First depends on all of us. Whether it’s advocating against harmful budget cuts or supporting local solutions, your voice matters in ensuring everyone has a place to call home.

Written by Rev. Forrest Gilmore, Executive Director, Beacon, Inc.