The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. Thomas Jefferson, 1796

We often hear this saying in connection with national security issues, particularly external threats. Within the last decade, the United States has experienced the attacks of September 11, 2001; a variety of natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes and floods; a major recession; and a crisis of confidence in government. These events challenge each of us as individuals and as a nation.

These events also have taught us that eternal vigilance applies not just to the traditional notions of national security as physical defense of our country; we also must consider related issues such as economic security, and the education, health, and well-being of all of our citizensincluding the homeless. The Obama administrations focus on the elimination of homelessness presents another aspect of vigilance. A great nation understands that every citizen represents a valued potential for contributing to the nations growth, development, and continued well-being. When citizens face conditions, such as homelessness, that reduce their potential to use their talents to contribute to their own well-being and to that of the nation, we are all the poorer for this loss.

Every night in America, approximately 650,000 people are homeless. The reasons for this condition are many and varied, including a lack of adequate retirement funds among the elderly; economic loss; lack of education; and physical, mental, and emotional illnesses that render individuals unable to care for themselves and their families. The financial and human toll on these individuals, their children, the community, and the nation are calculated in the multiple billions of dollars each year.

The three articles in this series on ending homeless-ness examine causes of and solutions to homelessness. The first article, by Shaun Donovan, secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, argues that smart government holds the solutions to the issues of homelessness and requires appropriate involvement at the local, state, and federal levels. Smart government also involves setting goals and metrics to measure progress.

Secretary Donovan writes, More than 300 communities committed to ending chronic homelessness, partnering with local and state agencies and the private and nonprofit sectors. By combining housing and supportive services, they led a remarkable fight that has reduced the number of chronically homeless by more than a third in five years.

One of the lessons learned from the 9/11 experience and from Hurricane Katrina is that collaboration among levels of government and government organizations is essential to solving the complex problems of todays world.

Barbara Poppe, executive director of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, writes, In May 2009, President Barack Obama and Congress charged the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) to develop a national strategic plan to end homelessness with enactment of the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act. USICH, an independent federal agency composed of 19 Cabinet secretaries and agency heads, coordinates the federal response to homelessness through partnerships at every level of government and with the private and nonprofit sectors.

Poppes article discusses how the USICP responded to that challenge and the initial results of that effort.

Professor Frances L. Edwardss article provides a series of vignettes that summarizes the immediate and long-term consequences of homelessness on individuals and families, many of whom live at the economic and social margins of society. She posits a series of risk-mitigation solutions that can help prevent, or at least decrease, the causes of homelessness.

Edwards writes, There is no government or private program that will make a family whole after a communi-ty-wide disaster.

Risk-based zoning and strict building codes are important mitigation measures. Communities should forbid construction of multi-unit residential properties in flood plains, on active fault lines, or in other unstable or dangerous areas. Single-family homes should have risk-related mitigation requirements in geologically unstable areas, flood plains, wild land urban interface fire zones, and in areas with significant weather threats. Such steps will lessen the likelihood that a community will have to care for large numbers of residents made permanently homeless by disasters.

Strategies and programs that help the homeless obtain sustainable housing, improved healthcare, and access to community-based jobs bring stability and dignity to these individuals and their families, and allow them to become contributing members of American society.

About the Forum

This forum on homeless-ness describes the federal governments collaborative efforts to tackle a problem that drains the united States of vast resources, and, the authors argue, threatens Americas national security.