Fully funding HUD would have humanitarian and economic benefits

It's very important that we immediately increase funding to HUD. While this may seem counter-intuitive in the current budget environment, it actually costs more to leave people homeless than to just pay for housing for anyone who can't afford it on their own. (As shown by a demonstration project in Australia. To find this benefit it's necessary to look across categories and not just look at agency budgets in isolation of other agencies and the general economy.) Three quarters of the people who we know do financially qualify for housing assistance can't get this assistance due to lack of funding (and lack of affordable housing, and a lack of accessible affordable housing). Of course, there are obvious humanitarian benefits to making sure people have housing as well. All the best.