Warehousing People Is Not a Housing Policy

Warehousing people in shelters is not a housing policy. But that's exactly what decades of misplaced investment have created. In this episode of Homeless Unfiltered, we sit down with Gary P. Jenkins, CEO of Urban Pathways, and Pascale Leone, Executive Director of the Supportive Housing Network of New York. Gary has lived experience with homelessness and worked his way up through New York City's Department of Social Services to become its Commissioner. Pascale leads statewide advocacy efforts that this past year included seven rallies, fights to protect HUD funding, and a meeting between domestic violence survivors and state legislators that resulted in an $18 million increase for supportive housing. We talk about why shelter maintains homelessness instead of ending it, why investments keep going to the wrong places, and what it actually takes to change policy when the system feels impossible to move. 00:00 - Warehousing People Is Not a Housing Policy: Intro Clips 03:01 - Gary P. Jenkins: From Homeless Shelter to NYC Commissioner 03:57 - Pascale Leone: A Life Shaped by Advocacy and Housing Justice 06:05 - New York City's Homelessness Crisis and Right to Shelter 10:02 - Why Shelter Investment Fails and Housing First Works Better 11:09 - How Decades of Disinvestment Created Today's Housing Crisis 14:23 - Affordable Housing Collapse in Upstate New York and Beyond 17:22 - Dignity in Housing: Why Quality Matters for Unhoused People 19:40 - Gary's Journey From Commissioner to Nonprofit CEO Advocate 21:10 - How to Advocate for Housing When You Feel Like Giving Up 25:55 - NYSSHP Victory: Survivors Win $18 Million for Housing Program 28:01 - What Works in Advocacy: Lessons From a Former Commissioner 31:48 - Charity vs. Advocacy: Why Policy Change Ends Homelessness 36:03 - Funding Advocacy: Why Every Grant Needs Ten Percent Allocated 38:04 - Gary's Book "Never Give Up" and Advice for Unhoused People 39:35 - What Gives Gary and Pascale Hope for the Future of Housing More: From Encampments to Homes: How Dallas Is Solving Homelessness https://youtu.be/iG4afD_ycLk?si=Ka-2mM-rFh2Q14Y6 The Evidence on Homelessness Is Clear. Why Isn’t It Being Solved? https://youtu.be/3WK-XJzryb0?si=_GpXFt7jBqGnS5zE Homeless People Left Outside With Nowhere to Go https://youtu.be/7K3kiXpVHvw?si=jGobWpceC1yry1yM Executive producer: Mark Horvath Producer/editor/cinematographer: Alex Gasaway https://www.youtube.com/alexgasaway Associate producer: Erin McGinnis Created by: Alex Gasaway and Erin McGinnis YouTube Podcast https://shorturl.at/XciIu Apple Podcast https://apple.co/4cckQ86 Spotify https://spoti.fi/3XyM98c ================================== Subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/c/invisiblepeople?sub_confirmation=1 Invisible People’s website: http://invisiblepeople.tv Support Invisible People: https://invisiblepeople.tv/donate Sign up for our newsletter: https://invisiblepeople.tv/email Invisible People’s Social Media: https://www.youtube.com/invisiblepeople https://twitter.com/invisiblepeople https://www.instagram.com/invisiblepeople https://www.facebook.com/invisiblepeopletv https://www.tiktok.com/@invisiblepeopletv About Invisible People There is a direct correlation between what the general public perceives about homelessness and how it affects policy change. Most people blame homelessness on the person experiencing it instead of the increasing shortage of affordable housing, lack of employment, childhood trauma, lack of a living wage, or the countless reasons that put a person at risk. This lack of understanding creates a dangerous cycle of misperception that leads to the inability to effectively address the root causes of homelessness. We imagine a world where everyone has a place to call home. Each day, we work to fight homelessness by giving it a face while educating individuals about the systemic issues that contribute to its existence. Through storytelling, education, news, and activism, we are changing the narrative on homelessness.