It’s Fun to Stay at the YMCA! Restoring Vital Housing Options to End Homelessness

June 18, 2021
1:15 pm
Hard Conversations, Understanding Homelessness

The popular perception of homelessness is that it has always been with us at the levels it presently is. Analyzing the history of the last few decades, we find that this perception does not match the facts. The crisis levels of homelessness we see in the present are a relatively recent phenomenon, beginning in the late 1970s. And, if we follow the right steps, we can and will end this crisis of homelessness.

Scholars cite the elimination of one specific type of housing, against a larger backdrop of disinvestment in public housing and other safety net programs, as a primary cause of the modern homelessness crisis. Outside of the world of scholarship, most people have never even heard of this type of housing, the single room occupancy or SRO.

The SRO provided one with a small room with a bed, minimal storage, and rudimentary cooking facilities. There was usually a communal meal plan, shared restrooms and showers, and there might even be some programming attached to the SRO.

This type of accommodation is preserved as a cultural artifact in the Village People hit, the YMCA. By closely analyzing the song lyrics, we can learn all about SRO living at the YMCA of 1978.

Young man, there’s no need to feel down. I said, young man, pick yourself off the ground. I said, young man, ’cause you’re in a new town, there’s no need to be unhappy.

The target demographic for YMCA accommodations is young men who do not have a social network, and hence lack other accommodations.

Young man, there’s a place you can go, I said, young man, when you’re short on your dough. You can stay there, and I’m sure you will find many ways to have a good time.

The YMCA is open to everyone, with no pre-conditions. It specifically caters to those with a lack of financial resources, providing them with cost effective accommodations.

It’s fun to stay at the YMCA. It’s fun to stay at the YMCA. They have everything for you men to enjoy. You can hang out with all the boys.

The YMCA offers not just accommodations but community that can help one build a social network.

It’s fun to stay at the YMCA. It’s fun to stay at the YMCA. You can get yourself clean, you can have a good meal. You can do what ever you feel.

The YMCA provides not only lodging, but sanitary facilities and meals, while allowing residents freedom of choice and movement.

Young man, are you listening to me? I said, young man, what do you want to be? I said, young man, you can make real your dreams.

The YMCA can be the launchpad for future plans and achieving your full potential.

But you got to know this one thing. No man does it all by himself. I said, young man, put your pride on the shelf. And just go there, to the YMCA. I’m sure they can help you today…

Reticence to accepting help is understandable, but one must get over this because accepting help is integral to future success.

Young man, I was once in your shoes. I said, I was down and out with the blues. I felt no man cared if I were alive. I felt the whole world was so tight. That’s when someone came up to me. And said, young man, take a walk up the street. There’s a place there called the YMCA. They can start you back on your way…

YMCAs are abundant, the experience of staying at them is common, as is the experience of moving on and up from them.

Around the time of the song’s recording, SROs began to disappear. There were two primary causes for this:
• Elimination of SROs allowed developers to replace them with condominiums or apartments which could generate much more income.
• Many local governments legislated them out of existence, since being the province of the poor, the SRO was seen as undesirable, and its residents even undeserving.

To deal with the modern homelessness crisis, governments and non-profits built transitional housing programs. These programs’ underlying rationale was that homelessness was the result of poor, immoral or even criminal choices of the individual. Hence one had to meet myriad conditions to be accepted, and one could be dismissed back to the street for myriad reasons.

These programs failed at getting people stably housed in 50-70% of cases. This is not a surprise. They were trying to fix the individuals experiencing homelessness, rather than fix the systemic crisis, brought about by the elimination of SROs and other housing options.

The Federal government eventually realized the problem was systemic in nature, homelessness being a result of an insufficient supply of housing. Following the consensus of the scholarly community, the Federal government embraced the idea of Housing First. Housing First programs house people without all the conditions of transitional housing. The success rate of these programs in keeping people stably housed runs in the 85%+ range.

Arguably, the reason the modern homelessness crisis has not ended is because governments and communities have yet to sufficiently scale up their investments in housing, including but not at all limited to, a robust supply of SROs.

The last fifteen months, in that respect, are extremely encouraging. The CARES Act of 2020 and the ARP Act of 2021 included a marked increase in the Federal government’s investment in housing options for those experiencing homelessness, against a backdrop of reinvestment in housing and safety net programs. Plans for further investments are now making their way through Congress.

Locally, CARES Act funds allowed the City of Dallas Office of Homeless Solutions and its partners to rehouse 473 persons experiencing homelessness in late 2020. The City and County of Dallas and their partners in the nonprofit and philanthropic communities were also able to leverage CARES Act funding to purchase two hotels and convert them into housing for those who have experienced homelessness. The units in these converted hotels are very similar to SROs.

In 2021, armed with $14 million of CARES Act and general funding, MDHA and its partners are rehousing 550 individuals and families. Planning is also underway for how to best utilize targeted ARP Act funding, which could exceed $1.25 billion, in rehousing many more individuals and families. Finally, MDHA is partnering with public housing agencies to best utilize 700 emergency housing vouchers (out 70,000 nationally) for persons experiencing homelessness.

There is still much work to do. What can you do to help? Support leaders in our community, our state, and our nation in providing abundant and diverse housing options and give them political cover to do the right thing.

Stay tuned for Brave New Home: Our Future in Smarter, Simpler, Happier Housing, A Hard Conversation with author, Diana Lind, coming in August, where we will all learn much more about what a bright future we can have when everyone is housed. The exact date is TBD. Sign up for our e-news and updates by texting keyword MDHA to 22828, so you do not miss it.

This thought piece accompanies the second video of our new Learning Series: Understanding Homelessness: Understanding the History of Homelessness. Don’t miss it!