Hello and welcome to the political orphanage, a home for plucky misfits and problem solvers.

I'm your host Andrew Heaton, and today's episode is part two of our special on homelessness.

What are its causes and how do we alleviate it?

Last week I did a deep dive on the policy side of homelessness, paying scrutiny

attention to macroeconomic policy like housing, zoning, and mental health,

plus a dollop of time travel,

but mostly big picture stuff.

How do we use the levers of government to minimize homelessness,

or often as not, simply to refrain from exacerbating it through idiotic programs.

Today we're going to go the other direction.

We're going to go local, granular, interpersonal.

We're going to speak with Alan Graham, the founder of Community First, which I think is the most innovative solution to homelessness in our country,

and importantly, one which could be replicated in pretty much every major city in this and other countries.

It's groundbreaking. It's a model that I really hope gains

traction. So before I bring on Mr. Graham, I want to explain why I think his

program is not just altruistic, because there are already plenty of charities and people

laudably contributing their time and money to the less fortunate but why it's

specifically innovative. It seems to me that the material side of homelessness, the stuff, the money, the homes, is part of the solution, but it can't be all of the solution.

For example, if you've ever struggled with addiction,

where you're close to someone who struggles with addiction,

then you know firsthand it's not something you can wipe away through straight up cash infusions.

There's no monetary threshold you can pay to make addiction disappear like you can a flat tire.

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