The day after announcing he would step down May 15 as executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, Phillip Mangano was in Cambridge, Mass. meeting with the Dalai Lama. Two days after he leaves, he will be in Tacoma, Wash., delivering a commencement address at the University of Puget Sound and receiving an honorary doctorate for his efforts to help end chronic homelessness.
That coast-to-coast finale nicely symbolizes the role Mangano has played over the last seven years as a cross-country proselytizer for the Housing First strategy. That approach prioritizes housing and individualized supportive services for the most vulnerable and disabled homeless – and stresses the importance of developing local 10-year plans to guide the effort.
“I was honored to serve for the first 100 days of the Obama administration,” Mangano told Street Sense, “but seven years is a long time to be here, and it’s time for new ideas and new leadership.”
In announcing his departure, Mangano summarized the Council’s legacy as “More resources than ever before – decreases in street and chronic homelessness – unprecedented political will – and unprecedented research and planning.”
Most important, he asserted, were the Council’s efforts “to move the dialogue and response from good intentions and well-meaning programs to innovative solutions informed by cost studies and cost/benefit analyses documenting the economic impact of homelessness.” The findings of those studies, Mangano said, have had an impact on the political will to adopt effective programs that can end, not just manage, homelessness.
Although he lauded the accomplishment of a nationwide 12% reduction in overall homelessness between 2005 and 2007, and a 30% decline in chronic homelessness, Mangano recognized that the recession would create new challenges for his successor.
He takes satisfaction in that fact that, unlike the empty office and cardboard boxes he found when he began in March 2002, his successor will start with an extremely competent staff, an independent agency, a bigger (if still modest) budget, and a set of field-tested strategies for fighting homelessness.
“I’ve tried to instill a sense of hopefulness,” Mangano said. “A lot of good things have been done; and I do not doubt that the new administration will continue the trajectory.”
Quoting Einstein’s observation that “In the midst of difficulty lies opportunity,” Mango said of the current recession “You can hide under your desk and wait for the bad times to go away, or you can look for the opportunities.”
He listed what he sees as three current opportunities: The stimulus package funds targeted for homelessness, the drop in housing costs, and the new resources in President Obama’s proposed budget. “Ironically,” he observed, “there are more resources on the table for addressing homelessness than ever before.”
To illustrate his point, Mangano referred to a $19 million item in the president’s budget for additional permanent supportive housing in Washington, D.C. “It’s a good thing the city has a 10-year strategic plan in place and a supportive mayor,” he said.
He mentioned his own efforts to encourage the Bush administration to launch “a specific initiative around housing and supportive services in the nation’s capital, in full view of members of Congress.” He believes that a successful rapid rehousing program in D.C. could inspire Congress to fund more such efforts across the country.
“I’m proud of the Obama administration for targeting more permanent supportive housing,” he declared, and expressed hope that Capitol Hill would sustain the president’s budget. And, he added, “I’d encourage Congress to up it.”
