In Utah, chronic homelessness could soon be a thing of the past

A row of homes.
(Image credit: David McNew/Getty Images)

Over the last 10 years, the number of chronically homeless people in Utah has dropped dramatically — down from 1,932 in 2005 to just 178 in 2015. The decline started once the state decided to try something new: Giving homes to the homeless.

"We call it housing first, employment second," Lloyd Pendleton, director of Utah's Homeless Task Force, told NBC News. "It's a philosophical shift in how we go about it. You put them in housing first ... and then help them begin to deal with the issues that caused them to be homeless." The chronically homeless — defined as a person who lived on the streets for more than a year, or four times in three years, with a debilitating condition — make up 10 percent of the state's homeless population, but use more than 50 percent of its resources.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.