Recent “homeless diversion programs” may actually exacerbate chronic homelessness

Even before the onset of the Global Financial Crisis in 2008, cities had become increasingly concerned about how to deal with their growing homelessness problem. In recent years, the anti-homelessness policies of the police have begun to lose favor, with a greater emphasis given to ‘homeless diversion programs’ that place homeless people into counselling and other rehabilitation services. In new research that concentrates on Los Angeles’ ‘Skid Row’ district, Forrest Stuart argues that such programs actually increase harm to homeless people by widening the criminal justice system to non-criminal behavior. He writes that officers view the use of arrests and citations as a viable way of channelling the homeless into rehabilitative social services, but that this causes homeless individuals to pull even further into the shadows of society.