155. Homelessness is a Housing Problem with Gregg Colburn

Original Drawing by Tori Haynes

Today we are joined by Gregg Colburn who co-wrote “Homelessness is a Housing Problem”. Colburn also shares with us his findings about causes of homelessness, his views on the situation, and some solutions that could remove the problem.

Timestamp Outline 

2:31 Homelessness is a Housing Problem by Gregg Colburn and Clayton Page Aldern

4:44 With your background in real estate and Aldern’s background as a data scientist and neuroscientist, how did your partnership with Aldern come about?

5:44 Before talking about the problem of homelessness, what is the magnitude of homelessness (area with maximum homelessness? Level of problems? How has it increased over time?)

7:04    “The narrative at that point was that we were going through a recession….this is part of an economic downturn, and as soon as the economy picks back up, homelessness will go away... there was an economic expansion during the 1980s, economy takes off, employment takes off, but homelessness doesn’t go away.” GC

9:15    What happened in the 80s? How did the numbers grow from a steady number to 600,000 to a few million today?

10:08    “The point of the book is to say, ‘why is homelessness congregating in extreme in certain cities in the United States?’” GC
How does coastal rich cities compare to other cities in terms of their homeless population?

14:09    What is the reason that we have such high concentration of homelessness in these big cities?
Causes on the individual level and causes on the community level

17:15    “Homelessness thrives amidst affluences, not amidst poverty.” GC
Discussion about how housing affects homelessness as a structural problem and what counts as a structural problem
“Coastal cities have a common denominator that they have population growth, they have very inelastic housing supply, people tend to more there, vacancies go down, rent goes up, and that affects our most vulnerable people in our community.” GC

23:30    “You can’t expect the Amazon employees to get paid less or live 50 miles away. They’re not going to do that, so they’re going to influence the market.” VP

24:31    The Musical Chairs analogy

28:27    What policy initiatives and government involvement can help with the problem of homelessness?
“Our city has to become denser. We have to change our land use; we have to accommodate more people in our cities.” GC

33:32    “The shorthand of the math is… we have to A. Build more housing when there is a demand, but B. That has to be supplemented with proactive housing subsidies of various kinds depending on need. Those two put together should make for a reasonable condition.” VP

36:21 Why are we in this situation even in a “liberal” city like Seattle? Why doesn’t change come about?

38:50 House in Wallingford in the 2016 election political sign – GC’s classroom example
“If you are opposed to multi-family housing, you are for homelessness.” GC

41:33 Regulatory frameworks: what is the issue? Is it cumbersome regulatory frameworks connected to the amount of time it takes or is it the numbers (how many permits or zoning)? Or both?
“If we continue to do the same thing over the next 10 years, we’re going to thing 2024 was the glory days. It’s going to continue to get worse.” GC

44:46 What do you think about transit-oriented development in this context?

49:29 “I believe that one of the great mistakes we made as a nation was creating a housing system that became the primary source of wealth creation.” GC

51:46 Would you broadly say a more rental-based housing relationship is better than an ownership model?