Last week, I introduced you to James. A man who, on paper, qualified for help, but in reality, couldn’t access it. Not because he didn’t want it. Not because help didn’t exist. But because the system required something he didn’t have: stability.

And that’s exactly why approaches like Housing First were created. Because for someone like James, asking him to get stable before giving him housing is like asking him to solve the problem without the very thing that makes a solution possible.

But to really understand why that matters and why the conversation around homelessness can feel so confusing, we need to get clear on something foundational:The difference between shelter and housing.