Washington National Cathedral

The Sunday Forum: Critical Issues in the Light of Faith

The Very Rev. Samuel T. Lloyd III, host

“Homelessness abolitionist” Philip Mangano visits the Cathedral to talk with Dean Samuel T. Lloyd III about strategies to end homelessness. Mangano serves as executive director of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, a federal agency that coordinates efforts among twenty other agencies.

“How does a man find his way into making homelessness his life work?” asks Lloyd. Mangano traces his concern to watching Brother Sun, Sister Moon, Franco Zefferilli’s film about the early life of St. Francis of Assisi. “I had known about compassion and charity, but I had never known about companionship, the notion of being together in the breaking of bread in complete companionship with the poorest,” recalls Mangano. His life took a new direction at that moment. He volunteered on a bread line in Boston for three years and came to know many homeless people.

Mangano began to call himself an abolitionist through conversations with scholar Cornell West, which brought him to place the cause of ending homelessness in the unfolding story of human justice. Slavery, Mangano points out, was brought to an end in the United States despite perceived intractability.

The “long misery of homelessness” often comes about when poor personal decisions collide with poor public policy, Mangano asserts. He estimates that 670,000 Americans are homeless on a given day, and over two million in the course of a year. Deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill increased the homeless population decades ago. More recently, Americans are struggling with the “twin tornadoes” of job loss and mortgage foreclosure. Domestic violence and substance abuse also cause many people to lose their homes.

Mangano expresses a stark analysis. While many roads lead to homelessness, there is only one road out: a place to live.

Where does Mangano find solutions for ending homelessness now? The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness has changed the approach to the problem away from a model of “good intentions, well-meaning programs, and humanitarian gestures” that merely managed homelessness instead of defeating it. The agency now works not only within the federal government, but also with business, charities, and state and local government. “We’ve moved from simply having good intentions and well-meaning programs that didn’t get the job done, to adding a business frame, and a big part of that business frame is an economic frame,” Mangano says.

Cost-benefit analyses have shown that “homeless people are some of the most expensive people in our community, in randomly richocheting through health and law enforcement systems,” explains Mangano. Housing the homeless, he asserts, can actually save money in addition to reducing misery. Studies show that a single homeless person costs the public $35,000 to $150,000 per year. Rapid re-housing and delivery of social services, on the other hand, costs between $13,000 and $25,000 per person—and begins to restore self-sufficiency and human dignity. “It’s a question of stewardship, in a certain way,” Mangano summarizes. Both housing and services are needed: provision of housing only, or services only, sets up many homeless people to fail again.

Executive Director of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, Philip Mangano was recently named one of Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential People.” His mission is to coordinate the federal response to homelessness and foster partnerships between the public and private sectors to address that issue. Mr. Mangano has received worldwide attention for his focus on what he calls the “abolition of homelessness” and for applying business planning techniques to homelessness solutions.

About Philip Mangano

Executive Director of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, Philip Mangano was recently named one of Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential People.” His mission is to coordinate the federal response to homelessness and foster partnerships between the public and private sectors to address that issue. Mr. Mangano has received worldwide attention for his focus on what he calls the “abolition of homelessness” and for applying business planning techniques to homelessness solutions.