December 24, 2025 • 39 mins
In this episode of Main Street Matters, Elaine Parker speaks with Michele Steeb, founder of the Free Up Foundation, about the ongoing homeless crisis in America. They discuss the impact of homelessness on communities, the failures of past policies, and the importance of a human-first approach to addressing the issue. Michele shares insights from her experience running a shelter for homeless women and children and emphasizes the need for mental health and addiction treatment as part of a comprehensive solution. The conversation also touches on the economic implications of homelessness and the role of community involvement in creating effective solutions.
Learn more about Michele & Purchase her book HERE | https://www.michelesteeb.com/
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
America is home to thirty three million small businesses, the
beating heart of communities across the country, and prove that
the American dream is still alive. This is a show
about those dreamers and doers and the communities they serve,
their real life stories, their spriddles and successes, their grit,
(00:29):
determination and passion, and the people who fight.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
To keep their American dream alive. I'm alfreda Ortiz, I'm
a Lane Parker, and it's time for another episode of
main Street Matters.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
America's Small Business Megaphone. Hi, and welcome to another episode
of main Street Matters, America's Small Business Megaphone. I'm a
Lane Parker with a job Creator's Network, and today we're joined.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
By Michelle Steve. Michelle is the founder of Free Up
Foundation and she's the author of the book Answers Behind
the Red Door, Battling the Homeless Epidemic. She's also a
visiting fellow with Disney Institute's Fixed Homelessness Initiative, and she's
here to discuss the homeless Crisiliss crisis in America and
its impact on our cities, our neighborhoods, our economy, our
(01:17):
small businesses, and also talk about some solutions going forward. Michelle,
thanks so much for joining us.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Oh, thank you for having me. I'm really looking forward
to this discussion and thank you for covering it well.
Speaker 4 (01:32):
Homelessness is, you know, a big issue.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
I don't think that there's really an area in the
country that you can go where you don't find it.
I live in central Florida, and I see homeless.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
On the streets all the time here.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Actually not in as big numbers as you would see
in suburban cities, you know, in cities, big cities, but
I do see them, and you know they're they're holding
signs up asking for money. I'm not aware of any
homeless encampments here, maybe perhaps on the outskirts of downtown Orlando.
(02:09):
But I think about how do you actually help these people?
Because me handing them ten dollars is not a solution.
And so you founded this organization Free Up. Tell us
about the organization and what you're doing there to help
with this problem.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Sure, thank you, so, if I may. I started in
this work back in two thousand and six. I was
asked to step in for thirty days and run an
emergency shelter for homeless women and children, and fell in
love with the work. It was about to fold, and
(02:48):
I was able to raise money and get it back
up on its feed and stabilize it, but at the
same time fell in love with the work and never
went back to My old job was running political affairs
for the California Chamber of Commerce. So I ran that
program for thirteen years. We served tens of thousands of
(03:09):
women and children, and the thirteen years that I built
and led it, and what we really did was take
what was an emergency shelter and build it into a
program that helps these women and children change their lives
over twelve to eighteen months. So we had drug and
(03:30):
alcohol counseling, mental health counseling, you know, temporary housing, childcare,
employment training, I mean, everything that they needed to become
primary providers for their families we brought on site. And
that's a really important, you know, piece of context to
(03:51):
why I wrote the book. I wrote the book to
share the answers that we had learned over the thirteen years.
I now live in Texas. My husband took a here,
so we had moved, but I wanted to share those lessons.
I also wanted to share a roadmap for how you
help someone transform their lives. And it's really important that
(04:13):
language I just use. We can't do it for them,
but we can give them the tools and the support
to do it for themselves. And that's really really key
to how we turn this around. If I may give
a little bit more context. Up until twenty thirteen, by
(04:33):
the way, up until really the fifties sixties, it was
the faith based community that really took care of the homeless,
and the federal government slowly emerged, you know, since the
fifties or so as the primary, you know, funder of
homelessness and therefore the policy driver, you know, the institution
(04:56):
that said this is how you need to do it.
They kind of into a lot of different areas that
they really didn't belong in, but homelessness was one of them.
And up until twenty thirteen, as a nation, we funded shelters,
we funded temporary housing, We funded all the services, mental health,
(05:20):
drug and alcohol counseling, employment training, you know, GED acquisition
because about you know, half or so of the homeless
don't have their high school diploma or GED at least
in the population that I served, So we funded all
of that. And then in twenty thirteen, it was the
(05:40):
Obama administration that said, we're not doing that any longer.
We're only going to fund housing subsidies, housing vouchers. So
we took away all of the funding for mental health,
for drug and alcohol counseling, for employment training from you know,
we we kind of disconnected it from the housing again,
(06:03):
those things all used to be connected, and we instead
put all that money into the housing vouchers. By the way,
we increased funding at the federal level by over three
hundred percent. And President Obama during the period of this
shift in. President Obama in twenty thirteen promised this would
(06:27):
end homelessness in a decade. And today we are at
the nation the highest point ever recorded in our nation's history,
up almost thirty five percent. And what's even worse is that,
you know, mental illness and addiction, substance use disorder, these
(06:48):
are diseases of the brain as are classified by CDC.
When diseases go untreated, they get worse. So we have
basically made about eighty percent of the overall homeless population
struggles with these diseases. So again we have these diseases
(07:09):
have gone untreated for twelve years. People are sicker and
sicker because we took an approach that said it doesn't
those issues don't matter. All they need is keys to
a house for life, and the results.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
That was the housing first model under the Obama initiation.
So their solution wasn't treat the root cause, as you're saying,
the mental health, the substance abuse, the diseases that caused
the homelessness, but simply to give them a key to
a front door and say here you go.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Yes. Now, I will say I don't say underlying causes
for a reason because in my experience, about fifty percent
of those struggling with homelessness, those are you know, mental
health and drug and alcohol abuse are underlying issues. But
for another fifty percent, a lot of trauma is experienced
(08:07):
in homelessness, which which causes you to self medicate and
again for mental illness to get worse. So I call
them accompanying issues just because for some of the population
they're not underlying. They are a result of homelessness. But
nonetheless it doesn't matter if they're underlying or accompanying. They
(08:31):
need to be treated. And the old way was turning
a blind eye to those diseases, and people like I said,
we've increased homelessness by almost thirty five percent under this policy,
and people are more and more sick, and I don't
want to leave us with a dire message. I wrote
(08:54):
the book because I am one thousand percent hopeful we
can turn this around. And the resident President Trump has
issued an executive order which steers that battleship in the
right direction. But we've got a lot of work ahead
of us to you know, in his executive order, he
says the federal government needs to reprioritize funding for mental
(09:16):
health and drug and alcohol treatment, needs to clear out encampments,
and you know, in some cases use the civil commitment
process to get people to actually engage in services and
get them on a path to recovery. So it's a
(09:36):
we are so glad the Trump administration has tackled is
tackling this, but I just want to be clear, there's
a lot of work ahead. Wait. We have to build
a system that is going to support the homeless, as
we started off saying, in doing this for themselves, giving
them the right tools, the right support, the right incentives,
and for the vast majority of the population, they can
(10:00):
become you know, really close to, if not fully self
sustaining I would say about seventy to eighty to ninety percent,
depending on where you are in the country. Some are
going to need ongoing, you know, a lot more support,
but nonetheless they can get better. And this executive Order
is moving us in the direction where we're focused on
(10:22):
helping everyone struggling with homelessness to get better.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
What are some of the elements of the executive order?
Because you mentioned that under the Obama administration the funding
increased by three hundred percent, but it's sent it in
a different direction versus the mental health and treatment aspects.
But yet we've increased homelessness by thirty five percent. So
(10:46):
can you talk about some of the elements of the
executive order.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Yeah, the big pieces are reprioritizing treatment mental health and
drug and alcohol treatment with federal funding, right, so not
ignoring those issues any longer. And again, approximately eighty percent
of the homeless population are struggling with one or both
of those issues, so that's a big element. The second
(11:15):
big element is saying to local communities. I mentioned earlier
that the federal government is the largest funder of homelessness.
They distribute most of their money through local governments, largely
counties or something called the COC I won't go into that.
And so what this executive order is saying is, if
(11:37):
you want to continue to receive federal funding, mister or missus,
local community, you need to start clearing encampments because those
are very dangerous environments for the people living in them.
They're very dangerous environments for the people living around them.
Just in the last month, we've seen Irena in North Carolina, right,
(12:02):
the gentleman who stabbed her so viciously killed her on
the metro. He was homeless, he had a long history
of mental health struggles. His mom, his brother reached out
for help. The system didn't help him. So we saw
that horrific incident. And right before or after that, I
(12:27):
can't remember, there was a gentleman, again a long history
of prior engagement with law enforcement given his mental illness,
in criminal activity. This gentleman was twenty seven years old.
In the span of one day in Central Park, he
nearly bit someone's ear off and set two people on fire,
(12:49):
innocent victims. So we can't continue. You know that, the
way these encampments are often run, it's horrific. What's happening
to peace people. They're they're experiencing violence. Women are being raped,
they're being trafficked. Pets are now dying from overdose in
encampments across the country from fentanyl. These environments are horrible,
(13:15):
and what the President is saying is, you know, we're
reprioritizing funding to treat mental illness, to treat addiction, and you,
mister and missus, local community need to move people from
encampments into those programs that we're going to be funding
so they can get the healing and help they need.
Speaker 4 (13:37):
That was my question.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
I have seen some of the encampments brought down in Washington,
d C. With the presidents clean up and his you know,
trying to get rid of the crime in d C.
Where do the homeless people go when those encampments are
brought down?
Speaker 4 (13:57):
Because I've heard people say, well, where do they get?
You know, where are they going to sleep tonight?
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Now?
Speaker 1 (14:01):
So is it part of the bringing down of the
encament that they go in and bring those people into
you know, a temporary shelter or a treatment center. Is
that the Is that what happens or they just scattered.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
Throughout well they ought you know that the intention has been.
I haven't seen any data out of DC since they
started that process. Uh, the intention was to lead them
into treatment, into programs that offer treatment, that that offer
temporary shelter. Again, I haven't seen any data, but I
(14:41):
will caution everyone in saying that we don't have nearly
enough capacity because until this executive order and now we
need to build that capacity. Right, the Obama administration, the
housing first approach got rid. There was no funding for
the treatment portion of you know, the system that's needed,
(15:06):
and so a lot of those programs went away if
they or they morphed to the housing first model. So
we need to rebuild a lot of capacity that was
you know, was that you know, went away under this approach.
So we've got a lot of work ahead. But thankfully
(15:27):
this administration has turned the battleship in the right direction.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
And that's your approach versus the housing first you have
the human first approach.
Speaker 4 (15:36):
To tell us about that.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Well, it's it's looking at an individual and saying, you know,
what has led you to this point right when we
got to think about this, when when you know, those
struggling with homelessness, and it's somewhere probably around two point
six million Americans. Even though HUT data says it's only
about you know, less than nine hundred thousand. I won't
(16:01):
go into that unless you want me to. But when
those folks were in first grade and the teacher you know,
said what do you want to be when you grow up?
I would lay down on railroad tracks to say that.
None of them raised their hand and said they wanted
this kind of life. You know, they had They took
a wrong turn or a series of wrong turns, and
(16:22):
didn't have the family support, maybe maybe because of their
own actions, maybe because you know of generational poverty issues
that exist a lot in this uh, in this community.
But they they don't have the support to lift the
you know, to get them back on the right course.
(16:44):
And it's very you know, so even though I hear
a lot of oh, well, they want to be homeless,
the reality is they never wanted this for their lives,
and we need to help get them back on that path.
Human beings innately need to be productive. We need to
help them be productive again to realize their full you know,
(17:06):
human potential. That productivity requires responsibility and accountability. But you
can't just assume that they know they can, you know,
function without support and tools to get to that point
where they can take responsibility. So we've got to start small.
(17:29):
We've got to start at the individual level. What's led
you here. Once we understand that, we can start to
give them the services and the tools and the support
they need to And it's not an overnight process, right,
I mean, it really took us at the program I
ran about thirty days to really understand the human beings
(17:54):
that we were dealing with. And even though they might
have told us what thought led them into the situation,
in thirty days, we had a much different, more clear
picture than they may have been able to provide at
that point. And then you you know, and then you
and even then you know, for again a large portion
(18:18):
of the population struggling with addiction, you need to say, okay,
let's just focus on being sober for an hour, and
then let's you know, focus on a day, and then
let's focus on a week. And you've got to start,
you know, small. But once they developed capacity, and once
they develop habits and confidence that they can do this,
(18:41):
that's when you start to really see the accelerated progress.
And in our program was twelve to eighteen months. Some
women were able to complete it in seven. Some needed
you know, twenty four months. As long as they were
making progress, we were willing to support them. And that's
the kind of system we need to build, the human
(19:03):
first system that really helps them realize their full human potential.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
I mean, I think that's great because you know, we've
seen you know, crime increase across the country for various reasons. Obviously,
we've seen no cash bail passed in many cities, and
that's led to it. Obviously, it led to some of
these mentally ill homeless folks like the one you referenced
(19:31):
in North Carolina.
Speaker 4 (19:33):
Those soft on crime.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Policies led to him him continuing to be let out.
And I believe I read the last time he was
in front of a judge that he was let go
by promising he would go check himself into a treatment center.
That's all I thought was with what money, with.
Speaker 4 (19:53):
What insurance card?
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Did this judge think he was going to check him
in himself into? But it was on his own promise
that he would check himself into a center. And unfortunately,
there's a young woman who's not alive today because somebody
didn't take the initiative.
Speaker 4 (20:10):
This judge didn't force that to happen. In some way
or another. I think there was also the issue in
New York with Daniel Penny, who unfortunately, you know, took.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
It into upon himself to restrain a homeless person who
you know, people were afraid of and had and was
known in the subway system to make these kinds of threats.
And and Daniel Penny took him seriously, it took him
out his word for it. But this is happening more
and more, and it's it's it is, it is scary.
Speaker 4 (20:46):
It's bills into our communities. It's the crime, the drugs.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
I know that San Francisco is kind of the the
city you see highlighted in the news across the country
because they're the encampments, the crime, you know, defecating on
the sidewalk. I've seen small business owners interviewed saying, I
can't nobody comes to my store because I've got all
(21:11):
of this happening right outside, you know, every morning. And
you know it does hurt communities economically as well.
Speaker 4 (21:21):
Can you talk about the impact there.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Yes, absolutely, so, you know, just using San Francisco. Gosh,
there's so many things I can talk about, but so
many businesses. I grew up going to San Francisco many
times a year because I lived in the Bay Area.
You know, all the major retailers, you know, they have
left the city. You know, not just the major retailers
(21:48):
like Target and Macy's and you know Gomps and all
the places that we used to frequent and that people
used to identify Francisco with. But even the grocery stores
are closing up because of the theft. They can't keep
up with it. They're not allowed to, you know, prosecute
(22:12):
in California, as you know, you could steal up to
nine hundred and ninety five or nine hundred and ninety
dollars and you and and no one could do anything
about it. They just had to watch them walk out
of the store. That that has been repealed by ballot initiative,
but Gavin Newsom, the governor, has chosen not to fund
(22:35):
the enforcement of that ballot initiative. So it's it's just
devastating what's happened to the businesses there, which affects the
community because now you have to drive, you know, a
long way to find a grocery store that you know,
you can get groceries at, or department store that you
can you know, get whatever you need at Also San
(22:58):
Francisco was even though, and let me step back and say,
there's a housing versus part of a movement called harm reduction,
which means, you know, don't do anything that's going to
cause harm to the person, which sounds great, you know
(23:20):
on its surface, But in the North America. In North America,
we practice harm reduction in a very progressive, detrimental way.
It's really a movement that came out of Europe and
we just take it to the extreme here in the
United States. So as an example of harm reduction, there's
(23:41):
something called safe injection sites. I don't call them that,
I call them supervised drug consumption sites. They're illegal in
the United States. However, the Biden administration in the last
four years was turning a blind eye to the emergence
of these sites in the United States. There's four in
(24:02):
UH in New York right now. There was one in
San Francisco. It caused and I say was after a year,
it caused such an uproar and the surrounding community that
they they held elected officials feet to the fire and
made them close it down. This UH you saw people
(24:23):
having sex, you know, outside of this encampment. People were
obviously injecting illegal drugs with support from the people running
the safe injection site. You saw crime increase there, and
let me get let me ask you to guests, how
many people. The way it's supposed to work, the way
(24:44):
it's practiced in Europe is when someone comes into a
safe injection site again I call it a supervised drug
consumption site, you're supposed to build relationship with them and
do everything you can to lead them to treatment. How
many people do you think were led to treatment in
the San Francisco site after a.
Speaker 4 (25:06):
Year, I mean, it's got to be zero.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
It's zero point eight percent, right, And there's no tracking
of you know, whether or not they even stayed in treatment.
That's just that they you know, made a call or something.
So it's it's a it's a real disaster. So, you know,
impact such as the you know, kind of permissive drug
(25:30):
culture under harm reduction, which is again housing first as
a part of it's just been devastating to businesses, to communities.
We talked about the violence that has resulted in I mean,
we use the example of Irena and North Carolina and
the gentleman in Central Park, but it's all over the country.
(25:53):
And then what let's talk about the environmental impacts. Where
are the environmental groups that are watching the you know,
we're talking about millions of pounds of trash being cleared
from these encampments, trash that's going into rivers and you know,
needles that are very very dangerous for you know, people
(26:15):
to be stepping over. Pets are overdosing now on fetanyl
across the country. Where are the animal rights groups that
the women, women are being traffick, they're being you know,
raped on regular basis. There's no where are the where
are the women's groups? Right? Where are the pets groups?
(26:36):
Where's peta? Where's well?
Speaker 1 (26:38):
Isn't it?
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Where the environmental isn't it?
Speaker 1 (26:41):
It wouldn't it be an admission that the the direction
of the Obama administration that increased funding so dramatically wherever
that funding is gone, wouldn't be an admission by all
those groups that it failed, that what they've done is failed.
Speaker 4 (26:59):
And that's I mean, that's.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
Just unheard of that there would be an admission of failure.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Yeah, and you're so right. So none of them, you know,
are coming forward. They're all hiding and no one's calling
them to come forward. But let me give you a
glaring example of this. So I mentioned the President's executive
order that he issued, you know, about four weeks ago.
The single largest homeless advocacy group is called the National
(27:29):
Alliance to End Homelessness. They are suing the trumpet. They
are fully behind Housing First and it's you know, epic failure.
They have just filed suit about a week and a
half ago against the Trump administration for trying to fix this.
It's crazy.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
They follow the money there, Michelle. I mean, you just
have to follow the money there and how much how
much money are they now are they now not going
to get for the policies that they were support with
the Housing First versus what the Trump administration wants to do.
So you just have to follow the money to find
(28:07):
out what the agenda is there. But when you look
at the results, that's what I would say. I if
that case came before me, I would.
Speaker 4 (28:17):
Say, these are the results. You've failed.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
You get an f yes, yeah, But you know, for
I one thousand percent agree. It's just that for the
single largest advocacy group to be saying, because what they're
saying in essence is we defend what's been happening the
last twelve years. We defend the fact that it's gone
(28:42):
up thirty five percent despite the promise it would be
ended in ten years. We defend the fact that the
death rate amongst the homeless population has gone up seventy
seven percent. We defend the fact that spending is up
three hundred percent and it's done nothing to solve the problem.
There since defending failure and devastation to the homeless, to
(29:04):
communities across the country, to businesses, and it just drives
me bananas that no one is calling them out on
the carpet for what they're defending, which is failure.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Yeah, it's I think it's absolutely pathetic that that you
have the largest organization doing that.
Speaker 4 (29:25):
I mean, the reality is.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
They can still benefit from government dollars flowing their way
if they would just follow the repredatory reprioritization of what
the administration wants to do. And why not try something different?
Speaker 4 (29:38):
I mean, what's the different what's the definition of insanity?
Speaker 1 (29:42):
Why not be open to a different way of doing
things When a new administration comes in. I get so
frustrated with people who get so set in their ways
instead of saying instead of saying no, say yes, say
yes to change, and say yes to a different way
of doing things, because maybe it will work and maybe
(30:04):
it will make a difference, because there are real people
who are suffering as a result of this. We have
communities that are you know, disgusting to be in, that
make it impossible for you know, you know, families to
grow and small business owners to contribute to.
Speaker 4 (30:21):
I mean, there's thirty three.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
Million small business owners in the country and they are
our neighbors. They support our little leagues, they contribute to
our communities, they run for mayor, they're on our city
school board councils. I mean, these are people who are
invested in communities.
Speaker 4 (30:39):
And I'm sitting here listening to you, and.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
I'm thinking, how could the small business community, which is
so big and so diverse. They're diverse, you know, through race,
They're diverse by political parties, they're diverse by industry and
what they're doing by size. There's how much diversity there.
(31:02):
But I feel like as they are in these communities,
what they end up doing is fighting their own government,
say in San Francisco, for example, just to stay in business,
just to keep from not having nine hundred dollars a
day stolen from them. But if you looked at how
you could draw in the strength of a community like that, it.
Speaker 4 (31:21):
Would be massive.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
It would be a massive movement beyond some C three
organization that is fighting the administration that wants that is
trying to make a change on what's failed for twelve years.
So I sort of put that on you surprisingly to say,
there is a community out there that's big, vast, has
(31:43):
lots of resources, they're super entrepreneurial, and they may have
solutions that exist, and maybe there's opportunities there to tie
into saving saving these homeless people by tapping into entrepreneurs
who think of new ways to do things all the time.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
Yeah, I think you're exactly right. And one of the
points I often make is when you know, we've local
communities because again, most of their money to solve to
address homelessness rather comes from the federal government. So they've
been under the thumb of this housing first mandate. They've
not been allowed to innovate, they've not been allowed to
(32:26):
design a system that you know, really addresses their unique population. Right,
Homeless populations look very different in different parts of the country,
and that's why we started Free Up Foundation. A team
of people and myself to really help a region turn
this around in five years. And we're really looking forward
(32:48):
to working with regions who want to do things differently,
who are excited about the opportunity to create a new model,
a much more effective model. And I promise you, you know,
earlier you said, you know, why not try something new.
I the model that we developed, it three free Up,
(33:09):
is based on the tens of thousands of women that
I watched who came, you know, to us at the
depths of despair and have risen and are now you know,
summer homeowners in California as single mothers. They're working, they're
thriving in you know, in their roles and their roles
(33:29):
economically and their role as moms. And this absolutely can
be turned around. But again, the local communities have been
under the thumb of this mandate for so long they
don't you know, know how to turn it around yet.
So we need to we need to help them do that,
and and it is absolutely possible to turn it around.
(33:53):
I'm one hundred a thousand percent confident in that.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
Well, I kind of the reason why I'm sort of
just trying to think out of the boxes. I go
to a lot of chamber meetings around the country, frankly
because we're a national organization, and so I do look
at what chambers are doing. When I speak at chamber
meetings and I meet people, the diverse people that the
diversity of the people and the organizations that show up
(34:18):
to these meetings is always interesting to me. I've had
people who are running like gambling gambling, anonymous treatment organizations,
women's shelter organizations, you know, women and children, women of
abuse situations, and things like.
Speaker 4 (34:38):
That, and so I have seen the outreach and.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
The connection between the small business community and organizations like that.
So I think they do see that kind of strength.
And so if now that the funding is changing and
the prioritization is changing because of the executive order of
the President, I do think there are opportunities. And I
(35:02):
think there are probably pockets around the country that see
the opportunity to partner with business communities.
Speaker 4 (35:09):
Either maybe there's.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
You know, job type a pipeline of jobs as well,
and maybe that's farther down the line past the treatment.
So I just I see that and I've always thought, hunh,
that's interesting that a woman's shelter is at a chamber
meeting or you know something like you know, organizations like that,
and I have found that interesting.
Speaker 4 (35:30):
Have you come across.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
Those types of partnerships and the work you've done over
the last you know, ten twelve.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
Years, Oh my gosh. Yes, I was super active and
within the business community and Sacramento as I built Saint John's.
Of course I came out of the chamber world. I
you know, that's that's where I was before before joining
Saint John's. But when I started at Saint John's, the
(35:58):
uh we were about ninety percent reliant on government funding,
and I wanted to change that immediately. It took a while,
it took several years, but when I left, that same
amount of government funding would have represented ten percent of
our budget. We really worked to diversify our investment, largely
(36:22):
through relationships with the business community, but we also started
two three employment training programs that serve the public, so
two restaurants in a catering program and a daycare program.
So our women worked in those programs, but the public
(36:43):
gave us the business to give them the training. So
that also helped really diversify our funding and bring in
a lot of support from the community that we wouldn't
have otherwise gotten. But it's very crucial. You know, government
shouldn't be the largest funder of this. They weren't, as
(37:05):
we talked about earlier up until a couple decades ago.
We really need everyone at the table, but we certainly
don't need to be driven by the whims of government
as we were back in twenty thirteen with the you know,
one size fits all institutionalization of housing first.
Speaker 1 (37:23):
Well, I mean, I think we could talk for several
hours on this. I find it very interesting.
Speaker 4 (37:28):
It's an area that I didn't know a lot about,
but I.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
Started looking into it when you before you came on
and lead up to this interview, and I want to
thank you for everything that you're doing in this area
because it is very sad that people find themselves out there.
Speaker 4 (37:46):
And you're so right. They didn't sit in first grade
and say.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
This is this is the life I hope I get
to lead when I'm older. They wanted to be veterinarians,
or they wanted to be superman or you know, something
along those lines, but they certainly didn't want to be homeless.
So your organization free up foundation where can people go
to find out more about what you're doing and support
what you're doing.
Speaker 2 (38:11):
Thank you, and we definitely need the support of the public,
so Free Upfoundation dot com. Also, my book Answers Behind
the Red Door Battling the Homeless Epidemic is available at Amazon.
So if y'all are interested in reading more about you
know how we got here. We covered a lot today,
(38:33):
but you know how we get out get out of
this situation. It's a short read and very impactful. So yes,
but Free Upfoundation dot com has uh has a great website,
growing website, and my website where I write a lot
about this issue as well. Is my name my full
(38:56):
name Michelle Steve dot com.
Speaker 1 (38:59):
Well, Michelle, thank you, Thank you so much for taking
the time to join us on Main Street Matters, America's
small business megaphone. Thank you all for taking the time
to tune in again. Main Street Matters is part of
the Salem Podcast Network. New episode's debut every Wednesday and Friday.
You can subscribe to the show wherever you get your
podcasts from, and we'll be back soon with another episode.
(39:19):
Bye for now.
America is home to thirty three million small businesses, the
beating heart of communities across the country, and prove that
the American dream is still alive. This is a show
about those dreamers and doers and the communities they serve,
their real life stories, their spriddles and successes, their grit,
(00:29):
determination and passion, and the people who fight.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
To keep their American dream alive. I'm alfreda Ortiz, I'm
a Lane Parker, and it's time for another episode of
main Street Matters.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
America's Small Business Megaphone. Hi, and welcome to another episode
of main Street Matters, America's Small Business Megaphone. I'm a
Lane Parker with a job Creator's Network, and today we're joined.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
By Michelle Steve. Michelle is the founder of Free Up
Foundation and she's the author of the book Answers Behind
the Red Door, Battling the Homeless Epidemic. She's also a
visiting fellow with Disney Institute's Fixed Homelessness Initiative, and she's
here to discuss the homeless Crisiliss crisis in America and
its impact on our cities, our neighborhoods, our economy, our
(01:17):
small businesses, and also talk about some solutions going forward. Michelle,
thanks so much for joining us.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Oh, thank you for having me. I'm really looking forward
to this discussion and thank you for covering it well.
Speaker 4 (01:32):
Homelessness is, you know, a big issue.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
I don't think that there's really an area in the
country that you can go where you don't find it.
I live in central Florida, and I see homeless.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
On the streets all the time here.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Actually not in as big numbers as you would see
in suburban cities, you know, in cities, big cities, but
I do see them, and you know they're they're holding
signs up asking for money. I'm not aware of any
homeless encampments here, maybe perhaps on the outskirts of downtown Orlando.
(02:09):
But I think about how do you actually help these people?
Because me handing them ten dollars is not a solution.
And so you founded this organization Free Up. Tell us
about the organization and what you're doing there to help
with this problem.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Sure, thank you, so, if I may. I started in
this work back in two thousand and six. I was
asked to step in for thirty days and run an
emergency shelter for homeless women and children, and fell in
love with the work. It was about to fold, and
(02:48):
I was able to raise money and get it back
up on its feed and stabilize it, but at the
same time fell in love with the work and never
went back to My old job was running political affairs
for the California Chamber of Commerce. So I ran that
program for thirteen years. We served tens of thousands of
(03:09):
women and children, and the thirteen years that I built
and led it, and what we really did was take
what was an emergency shelter and build it into a
program that helps these women and children change their lives
over twelve to eighteen months. So we had drug and
(03:30):
alcohol counseling, mental health counseling, you know, temporary housing, childcare,
employment training, I mean, everything that they needed to become
primary providers for their families we brought on site. And
that's a really important, you know, piece of context to
(03:51):
why I wrote the book. I wrote the book to
share the answers that we had learned over the thirteen years.
I now live in Texas. My husband took a here,
so we had moved, but I wanted to share those lessons.
I also wanted to share a roadmap for how you
help someone transform their lives. And it's really important that
(04:13):
language I just use. We can't do it for them,
but we can give them the tools and the support
to do it for themselves. And that's really really key
to how we turn this around. If I may give
a little bit more context. Up until twenty thirteen, by
(04:33):
the way, up until really the fifties sixties, it was
the faith based community that really took care of the homeless,
and the federal government slowly emerged, you know, since the
fifties or so as the primary, you know, funder of
homelessness and therefore the policy driver, you know, the institution
(04:56):
that said this is how you need to do it.
They kind of into a lot of different areas that
they really didn't belong in, but homelessness was one of them.
And up until twenty thirteen, as a nation, we funded shelters,
we funded temporary housing, We funded all the services, mental health,
(05:20):
drug and alcohol counseling, employment training, you know, GED acquisition
because about you know, half or so of the homeless
don't have their high school diploma or GED at least
in the population that I served, So we funded all
of that. And then in twenty thirteen, it was the
(05:40):
Obama administration that said, we're not doing that any longer.
We're only going to fund housing subsidies, housing vouchers. So
we took away all of the funding for mental health,
for drug and alcohol counseling, for employment training from you know,
we we kind of disconnected it from the housing again,
(06:03):
those things all used to be connected, and we instead
put all that money into the housing vouchers. By the way,
we increased funding at the federal level by over three
hundred percent. And President Obama during the period of this
shift in. President Obama in twenty thirteen promised this would
(06:27):
end homelessness in a decade. And today we are at
the nation the highest point ever recorded in our nation's history,
up almost thirty five percent. And what's even worse is that,
you know, mental illness and addiction, substance use disorder, these
(06:48):
are diseases of the brain as are classified by CDC.
When diseases go untreated, they get worse. So we have
basically made about eighty percent of the overall homeless population
struggles with these diseases. So again we have these diseases
(07:09):
have gone untreated for twelve years. People are sicker and
sicker because we took an approach that said it doesn't
those issues don't matter. All they need is keys to
a house for life, and the results.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
That was the housing first model under the Obama initiation.
So their solution wasn't treat the root cause, as you're saying,
the mental health, the substance abuse, the diseases that caused
the homelessness, but simply to give them a key to
a front door and say here you go.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Yes. Now, I will say I don't say underlying causes
for a reason because in my experience, about fifty percent
of those struggling with homelessness, those are you know, mental
health and drug and alcohol abuse are underlying issues. But
for another fifty percent, a lot of trauma is experienced
(08:07):
in homelessness, which which causes you to self medicate and
again for mental illness to get worse. So I call
them accompanying issues just because for some of the population
they're not underlying. They are a result of homelessness. But
nonetheless it doesn't matter if they're underlying or accompanying. They
(08:31):
need to be treated. And the old way was turning
a blind eye to those diseases, and people like I said,
we've increased homelessness by almost thirty five percent under this policy,
and people are more and more sick, and I don't
want to leave us with a dire message. I wrote
(08:54):
the book because I am one thousand percent hopeful we
can turn this around. And the resident President Trump has
issued an executive order which steers that battleship in the
right direction. But we've got a lot of work ahead
of us to you know, in his executive order, he
says the federal government needs to reprioritize funding for mental
(09:16):
health and drug and alcohol treatment, needs to clear out encampments,
and you know, in some cases use the civil commitment
process to get people to actually engage in services and
get them on a path to recovery. So it's a
(09:36):
we are so glad the Trump administration has tackled is
tackling this, but I just want to be clear, there's
a lot of work ahead. Wait. We have to build
a system that is going to support the homeless, as
we started off saying, in doing this for themselves, giving
them the right tools, the right support, the right incentives,
and for the vast majority of the population, they can
(10:00):
become you know, really close to, if not fully self
sustaining I would say about seventy to eighty to ninety percent,
depending on where you are in the country. Some are
going to need ongoing, you know, a lot more support,
but nonetheless they can get better. And this executive Order
is moving us in the direction where we're focused on
(10:22):
helping everyone struggling with homelessness to get better.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
What are some of the elements of the executive order?
Because you mentioned that under the Obama administration the funding
increased by three hundred percent, but it's sent it in
a different direction versus the mental health and treatment aspects.
But yet we've increased homelessness by thirty five percent. So
(10:46):
can you talk about some of the elements of the
executive order.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Yeah, the big pieces are reprioritizing treatment mental health and
drug and alcohol treatment with federal funding, right, so not
ignoring those issues any longer. And again, approximately eighty percent
of the homeless population are struggling with one or both
of those issues, so that's a big element. The second
(11:15):
big element is saying to local communities. I mentioned earlier
that the federal government is the largest funder of homelessness.
They distribute most of their money through local governments, largely
counties or something called the COC I won't go into that.
And so what this executive order is saying is, if
(11:37):
you want to continue to receive federal funding, mister or missus,
local community, you need to start clearing encampments because those
are very dangerous environments for the people living in them.
They're very dangerous environments for the people living around them.
Just in the last month, we've seen Irena in North Carolina, right,
(12:02):
the gentleman who stabbed her so viciously killed her on
the metro. He was homeless, he had a long history
of mental health struggles. His mom, his brother reached out
for help. The system didn't help him. So we saw
that horrific incident. And right before or after that, I
(12:27):
can't remember, there was a gentleman, again a long history
of prior engagement with law enforcement given his mental illness,
in criminal activity. This gentleman was twenty seven years old.
In the span of one day in Central Park, he
nearly bit someone's ear off and set two people on fire,
(12:49):
innocent victims. So we can't continue. You know that, the
way these encampments are often run, it's horrific. What's happening
to peace people. They're they're experiencing violence. Women are being raped,
they're being trafficked. Pets are now dying from overdose in
encampments across the country from fentanyl. These environments are horrible,
(13:15):
and what the President is saying is, you know, we're
reprioritizing funding to treat mental illness, to treat addiction, and you,
mister and missus, local community need to move people from
encampments into those programs that we're going to be funding
so they can get the healing and help they need.
Speaker 4 (13:37):
That was my question.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
I have seen some of the encampments brought down in Washington,
d C. With the presidents clean up and his you know,
trying to get rid of the crime in d C.
Where do the homeless people go when those encampments are
brought down?
Speaker 4 (13:57):
Because I've heard people say, well, where do they get?
You know, where are they going to sleep tonight?
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Now?
Speaker 1 (14:01):
So is it part of the bringing down of the
encament that they go in and bring those people into
you know, a temporary shelter or a treatment center. Is
that the Is that what happens or they just scattered.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
Throughout well they ought you know that the intention has been.
I haven't seen any data out of DC since they
started that process. Uh, the intention was to lead them
into treatment, into programs that offer treatment, that that offer
temporary shelter. Again, I haven't seen any data, but I
(14:41):
will caution everyone in saying that we don't have nearly
enough capacity because until this executive order and now we
need to build that capacity. Right, the Obama administration, the
housing first approach got rid. There was no funding for
the treatment portion of you know, the system that's needed,
(15:06):
and so a lot of those programs went away if
they or they morphed to the housing first model. So
we need to rebuild a lot of capacity that was
you know, was that you know, went away under this approach.
So we've got a lot of work ahead. But thankfully
(15:27):
this administration has turned the battleship in the right direction.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
And that's your approach versus the housing first you have
the human first approach.
Speaker 4 (15:36):
To tell us about that.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Well, it's it's looking at an individual and saying, you know,
what has led you to this point right when we
got to think about this, when when you know, those
struggling with homelessness, and it's somewhere probably around two point
six million Americans. Even though HUT data says it's only
about you know, less than nine hundred thousand. I won't
(16:01):
go into that unless you want me to. But when
those folks were in first grade and the teacher you know,
said what do you want to be when you grow up?
I would lay down on railroad tracks to say that.
None of them raised their hand and said they wanted
this kind of life. You know, they had They took
a wrong turn or a series of wrong turns, and
(16:22):
didn't have the family support, maybe maybe because of their
own actions, maybe because you know of generational poverty issues
that exist a lot in this uh, in this community.
But they they don't have the support to lift the
you know, to get them back on the right course.
(16:44):
And it's very you know, so even though I hear
a lot of oh, well, they want to be homeless,
the reality is they never wanted this for their lives,
and we need to help get them back on that path.
Human beings innately need to be productive. We need to
help them be productive again to realize their full you know,
(17:06):
human potential. That productivity requires responsibility and accountability. But you
can't just assume that they know they can, you know,
function without support and tools to get to that point
where they can take responsibility. So we've got to start small.
(17:29):
We've got to start at the individual level. What's led
you here. Once we understand that, we can start to
give them the services and the tools and the support
they need to And it's not an overnight process, right,
I mean, it really took us at the program I
ran about thirty days to really understand the human beings
(17:54):
that we were dealing with. And even though they might
have told us what thought led them into the situation,
in thirty days, we had a much different, more clear
picture than they may have been able to provide at
that point. And then you you know, and then you
and even then you know, for again a large portion
(18:18):
of the population struggling with addiction, you need to say, okay,
let's just focus on being sober for an hour, and
then let's you know, focus on a day, and then
let's focus on a week. And you've got to start,
you know, small. But once they developed capacity, and once
they develop habits and confidence that they can do this,
(18:41):
that's when you start to really see the accelerated progress.
And in our program was twelve to eighteen months. Some
women were able to complete it in seven. Some needed
you know, twenty four months. As long as they were
making progress, we were willing to support them. And that's
the kind of system we need to build, the human
(19:03):
first system that really helps them realize their full human potential.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
I mean, I think that's great because you know, we've
seen you know, crime increase across the country for various reasons. Obviously,
we've seen no cash bail passed in many cities, and
that's led to it. Obviously, it led to some of
these mentally ill homeless folks like the one you referenced
(19:31):
in North Carolina.
Speaker 4 (19:33):
Those soft on crime.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Policies led to him him continuing to be let out.
And I believe I read the last time he was
in front of a judge that he was let go
by promising he would go check himself into a treatment center.
That's all I thought was with what money, with.
Speaker 4 (19:53):
What insurance card?
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Did this judge think he was going to check him
in himself into? But it was on his own promise
that he would check himself into a center. And unfortunately,
there's a young woman who's not alive today because somebody
didn't take the initiative.
Speaker 4 (20:10):
This judge didn't force that to happen. In some way
or another. I think there was also the issue in
New York with Daniel Penny, who unfortunately, you know, took.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
It into upon himself to restrain a homeless person who
you know, people were afraid of and had and was
known in the subway system to make these kinds of threats.
And and Daniel Penny took him seriously, it took him
out his word for it. But this is happening more
and more, and it's it's it is, it is scary.
Speaker 4 (20:46):
It's bills into our communities. It's the crime, the drugs.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
I know that San Francisco is kind of the the
city you see highlighted in the news across the country
because they're the encampments, the crime, you know, defecating on
the sidewalk. I've seen small business owners interviewed saying, I
can't nobody comes to my store because I've got all
(21:11):
of this happening right outside, you know, every morning. And
you know it does hurt communities economically as well.
Speaker 4 (21:21):
Can you talk about the impact there.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Yes, absolutely, so, you know, just using San Francisco. Gosh,
there's so many things I can talk about, but so
many businesses. I grew up going to San Francisco many
times a year because I lived in the Bay Area.
You know, all the major retailers, you know, they have
left the city. You know, not just the major retailers
(21:48):
like Target and Macy's and you know Gomps and all
the places that we used to frequent and that people
used to identify Francisco with. But even the grocery stores
are closing up because of the theft. They can't keep
up with it. They're not allowed to, you know, prosecute
(22:12):
in California, as you know, you could steal up to
nine hundred and ninety five or nine hundred and ninety
dollars and you and and no one could do anything
about it. They just had to watch them walk out
of the store. That that has been repealed by ballot initiative,
but Gavin Newsom, the governor, has chosen not to fund
(22:35):
the enforcement of that ballot initiative. So it's it's just
devastating what's happened to the businesses there, which affects the
community because now you have to drive, you know, a
long way to find a grocery store that you know,
you can get groceries at, or department store that you
can you know, get whatever you need at Also San
(22:58):
Francisco was even though, and let me step back and say,
there's a housing versus part of a movement called harm reduction,
which means, you know, don't do anything that's going to
cause harm to the person, which sounds great, you know
(23:20):
on its surface, But in the North America. In North America,
we practice harm reduction in a very progressive, detrimental way.
It's really a movement that came out of Europe and
we just take it to the extreme here in the
United States. So as an example of harm reduction, there's
(23:41):
something called safe injection sites. I don't call them that,
I call them supervised drug consumption sites. They're illegal in
the United States. However, the Biden administration in the last
four years was turning a blind eye to the emergence
of these sites in the United States. There's four in
(24:02):
UH in New York right now. There was one in
San Francisco. It caused and I say was after a year,
it caused such an uproar and the surrounding community that
they they held elected officials feet to the fire and
made them close it down. This UH you saw people
(24:23):
having sex, you know, outside of this encampment. People were
obviously injecting illegal drugs with support from the people running
the safe injection site. You saw crime increase there, and
let me get let me ask you to guests, how
many people. The way it's supposed to work, the way
(24:44):
it's practiced in Europe is when someone comes into a
safe injection site again I call it a supervised drug
consumption site, you're supposed to build relationship with them and
do everything you can to lead them to treatment. How
many people do you think were led to treatment in
the San Francisco site after a.
Speaker 4 (25:06):
Year, I mean, it's got to be zero.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
It's zero point eight percent, right, And there's no tracking
of you know, whether or not they even stayed in treatment.
That's just that they you know, made a call or something.
So it's it's a it's a real disaster. So, you know,
impact such as the you know, kind of permissive drug
(25:30):
culture under harm reduction, which is again housing first as
a part of it's just been devastating to businesses, to communities.
We talked about the violence that has resulted in I mean,
we use the example of Irena and North Carolina and
the gentleman in Central Park, but it's all over the country.
(25:53):
And then what let's talk about the environmental impacts. Where
are the environmental groups that are watching the you know,
we're talking about millions of pounds of trash being cleared
from these encampments, trash that's going into rivers and you know,
needles that are very very dangerous for you know, people
(26:15):
to be stepping over. Pets are overdosing now on fetanyl
across the country. Where are the animal rights groups that
the women, women are being traffick, they're being you know,
raped on regular basis. There's no where are the where
are the women's groups? Right? Where are the pets groups?
(26:36):
Where's peta? Where's well?
Speaker 1 (26:38):
Isn't it?
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Where the environmental isn't it?
Speaker 1 (26:41):
It wouldn't it be an admission that the the direction
of the Obama administration that increased funding so dramatically wherever
that funding is gone, wouldn't be an admission by all
those groups that it failed, that what they've done is failed.
Speaker 4 (26:59):
And that's I mean, that's.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
Just unheard of that there would be an admission of failure.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Yeah, and you're so right. So none of them, you know,
are coming forward. They're all hiding and no one's calling
them to come forward. But let me give you a
glaring example of this. So I mentioned the President's executive
order that he issued, you know, about four weeks ago.
The single largest homeless advocacy group is called the National
(27:29):
Alliance to End Homelessness. They are suing the trumpet. They
are fully behind Housing First and it's you know, epic failure.
They have just filed suit about a week and a
half ago against the Trump administration for trying to fix this.
It's crazy.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
They follow the money there, Michelle. I mean, you just
have to follow the money there and how much how
much money are they now are they now not going
to get for the policies that they were support with
the Housing First versus what the Trump administration wants to do.
So you just have to follow the money to find
(28:07):
out what the agenda is there. But when you look
at the results, that's what I would say. I if
that case came before me, I would.
Speaker 4 (28:17):
Say, these are the results. You've failed.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
You get an f yes, yeah, But you know, for
I one thousand percent agree. It's just that for the
single largest advocacy group to be saying, because what they're
saying in essence is we defend what's been happening the
last twelve years. We defend the fact that it's gone
(28:42):
up thirty five percent despite the promise it would be
ended in ten years. We defend the fact that the
death rate amongst the homeless population has gone up seventy
seven percent. We defend the fact that spending is up
three hundred percent and it's done nothing to solve the problem.
There since defending failure and devastation to the homeless, to
(29:04):
communities across the country, to businesses, and it just drives
me bananas that no one is calling them out on
the carpet for what they're defending, which is failure.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Yeah, it's I think it's absolutely pathetic that that you
have the largest organization doing that.
Speaker 4 (29:25):
I mean, the reality is.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
They can still benefit from government dollars flowing their way
if they would just follow the repredatory reprioritization of what
the administration wants to do. And why not try something different?
Speaker 4 (29:38):
I mean, what's the different what's the definition of insanity?
Speaker 1 (29:42):
Why not be open to a different way of doing
things When a new administration comes in. I get so
frustrated with people who get so set in their ways
instead of saying instead of saying no, say yes, say
yes to change, and say yes to a different way
of doing things, because maybe it will work and maybe
(30:04):
it will make a difference, because there are real people
who are suffering as a result of this. We have
communities that are you know, disgusting to be in, that
make it impossible for you know, you know, families to
grow and small business owners to contribute to.
Speaker 4 (30:21):
I mean, there's thirty three.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
Million small business owners in the country and they are
our neighbors. They support our little leagues, they contribute to
our communities, they run for mayor, they're on our city
school board councils. I mean, these are people who are
invested in communities.
Speaker 4 (30:39):
And I'm sitting here listening to you, and.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
I'm thinking, how could the small business community, which is
so big and so diverse. They're diverse, you know, through race,
They're diverse by political parties, they're diverse by industry and
what they're doing by size. There's how much diversity there.
(31:02):
But I feel like as they are in these communities,
what they end up doing is fighting their own government,
say in San Francisco, for example, just to stay in business,
just to keep from not having nine hundred dollars a
day stolen from them. But if you looked at how
you could draw in the strength of a community like that, it.
Speaker 4 (31:21):
Would be massive.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
It would be a massive movement beyond some C three
organization that is fighting the administration that wants that is
trying to make a change on what's failed for twelve years.
So I sort of put that on you surprisingly to say,
there is a community out there that's big, vast, has
(31:43):
lots of resources, they're super entrepreneurial, and they may have
solutions that exist, and maybe there's opportunities there to tie
into saving saving these homeless people by tapping into entrepreneurs
who think of new ways to do things all the time.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
Yeah, I think you're exactly right. And one of the
points I often make is when you know, we've local
communities because again, most of their money to solve to
address homelessness rather comes from the federal government. So they've
been under the thumb of this housing first mandate. They've
not been allowed to innovate, they've not been allowed to
(32:26):
design a system that you know, really addresses their unique population. Right,
Homeless populations look very different in different parts of the country,
and that's why we started Free Up Foundation. A team
of people and myself to really help a region turn
this around in five years. And we're really looking forward
(32:48):
to working with regions who want to do things differently,
who are excited about the opportunity to create a new model,
a much more effective model. And I promise you, you know,
earlier you said, you know, why not try something new.
I the model that we developed, it three free Up,
(33:09):
is based on the tens of thousands of women that
I watched who came, you know, to us at the
depths of despair and have risen and are now you know,
summer homeowners in California as single mothers. They're working, they're
thriving in you know, in their roles and their roles
(33:29):
economically and their role as moms. And this absolutely can
be turned around. But again, the local communities have been
under the thumb of this mandate for so long they
don't you know, know how to turn it around yet.
So we need to we need to help them do that,
and and it is absolutely possible to turn it around.
(33:53):
I'm one hundred a thousand percent confident in that.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
Well, I kind of the reason why I'm sort of
just trying to think out of the boxes. I go
to a lot of chamber meetings around the country, frankly
because we're a national organization, and so I do look
at what chambers are doing. When I speak at chamber
meetings and I meet people, the diverse people that the
diversity of the people and the organizations that show up
(34:18):
to these meetings is always interesting to me. I've had
people who are running like gambling gambling, anonymous treatment organizations,
women's shelter organizations, you know, women and children, women of
abuse situations, and things like.
Speaker 4 (34:38):
That, and so I have seen the outreach and.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
The connection between the small business community and organizations like that.
So I think they do see that kind of strength.
And so if now that the funding is changing and
the prioritization is changing because of the executive order of
the President, I do think there are opportunities. And I
(35:02):
think there are probably pockets around the country that see
the opportunity to partner with business communities.
Speaker 4 (35:09):
Either maybe there's.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
You know, job type a pipeline of jobs as well,
and maybe that's farther down the line past the treatment.
So I just I see that and I've always thought, hunh,
that's interesting that a woman's shelter is at a chamber
meeting or you know something like you know, organizations like that,
and I have found that interesting.
Speaker 4 (35:30):
Have you come across.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
Those types of partnerships and the work you've done over
the last you know, ten twelve.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
Years, Oh my gosh. Yes, I was super active and
within the business community and Sacramento as I built Saint John's.
Of course I came out of the chamber world. I
you know, that's that's where I was before before joining
Saint John's. But when I started at Saint John's, the
(35:58):
uh we were about ninety percent reliant on government funding,
and I wanted to change that immediately. It took a while,
it took several years, but when I left, that same
amount of government funding would have represented ten percent of
our budget. We really worked to diversify our investment, largely
(36:22):
through relationships with the business community, but we also started
two three employment training programs that serve the public, so
two restaurants in a catering program and a daycare program.
So our women worked in those programs, but the public
(36:43):
gave us the business to give them the training. So
that also helped really diversify our funding and bring in
a lot of support from the community that we wouldn't
have otherwise gotten. But it's very crucial. You know, government
shouldn't be the largest funder of this. They weren't, as
(37:05):
we talked about earlier up until a couple decades ago.
We really need everyone at the table, but we certainly
don't need to be driven by the whims of government
as we were back in twenty thirteen with the you know,
one size fits all institutionalization of housing first.
Speaker 1 (37:23):
Well, I mean, I think we could talk for several
hours on this. I find it very interesting.
Speaker 4 (37:28):
It's an area that I didn't know a lot about,
but I.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
Started looking into it when you before you came on
and lead up to this interview, and I want to
thank you for everything that you're doing in this area
because it is very sad that people find themselves out there.
Speaker 4 (37:46):
And you're so right. They didn't sit in first grade
and say.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
This is this is the life I hope I get
to lead when I'm older. They wanted to be veterinarians,
or they wanted to be superman or you know, something
along those lines, but they certainly didn't want to be homeless.
So your organization free up foundation where can people go
to find out more about what you're doing and support
what you're doing.
Speaker 2 (38:11):
Thank you, and we definitely need the support of the public,
so Free Upfoundation dot com. Also, my book Answers Behind
the Red Door Battling the Homeless Epidemic is available at Amazon.
So if y'all are interested in reading more about you
know how we got here. We covered a lot today,
(38:33):
but you know how we get out get out of
this situation. It's a short read and very impactful. So yes,
but Free Upfoundation dot com has uh has a great website,
growing website, and my website where I write a lot
about this issue as well. Is my name my full
(38:56):
name Michelle Steve dot com.
Speaker 1 (38:59):
Well, Michelle, thank you, Thank you so much for taking
the time to join us on Main Street Matters, America's
small business megaphone. Thank you all for taking the time
to tune in again. Main Street Matters is part of
the Salem Podcast Network. New episode's debut every Wednesday and Friday.
You can subscribe to the show wherever you get your
podcasts from, and we'll be back soon with another episode.
(39:19):
Bye for now.
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