Gov. Gavin Newsom is shifting control of the Juvenile Justice Division to the California Health and Human Services Agency, away from the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, with the goal to better identify and address early childhood trauma to prevent future incarceration. This same rationale should be extended to the exploding problem of homelessness.
California employs a one-size-fits-all policy for homelessness known as “housing first.” But as we have learned through our work at Saint John’s Program for Real Change, the largest residential program for formerly homeless women and children in Sacramento, homelessness is a complex issue. It requires a tailored approach.
Under housing first, men, women and their children are treated identically. They are provided housing as the solution to their homelessness. A house does address the symptoms of homelessness, but it does not address what led them there, including the childhood trauma that many struggling with homelessness have faced.
Nor is it a viable solution for their children, many of whom already have suffered significant trauma. Under the housing first model, programs that require sobriety or engagement in life-improvement services are ineligible for government funding.
Women struggling with homelessness confront many of the same issues as women who are incarcerated: trauma, addiction, dysfunctional relationships and lack of education.
They need to be treated with the same gender-responsive, trauma-informed approach. The unique needs of their children also need to be considered.
To read more of Dawn Davison, Scott Kernan & Michele Steeb, Special to CALmatters, article, please click here.
Dawn Davison, a Saint John’s board member, is a former warden of the California Institution for Women, dsdavison10@gmail.com. Scott Kernan is former secretary California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, sk@scottkernan.com. Michele Steeb is chief executive officer of Saint John’s Program for Real Change, msteeb@saintjohnsprogram.org. They wrote this commentary for CALmatters.
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