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In the last few months of the Bush administration, the Department of Housing and Urban Development claimed that chronic homelessness plummeted 30% between the years 2005 to 2007. Credit was in part due to Philip Mangano, the executive director of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, or the Homeless Czar, under President Bush. Mangano’s “Housing First” policy put less emphasis on assistance programs for the homeless, and focused more on actually getting chronically homeless people into permanent housing. But did the policy work? Critics contend that the 30% drop in homelessness from ’05 to ’07 was more a case of miscounting than progress because the methodology for counting homeless people changed during this period. Populations that had been counted previously – like people living on couches or in cars – were not longer considered “homeless” by the federal government, so they were no longer included in the count. Additionally, Instead of the old method of letting local officials determine if someone is homeless and count them, HUD required that each homeless person be interviewed before being added to the list. Any homeless person who declined to be interviewed was not counted. Philip Mangano served as Homeless Czar for 7 out of 8 years under Bush, and even for a few months under President Obama before he resigned last June. He now travels the nation advocating for methods of ending homelessness and is currently in Los Angeles.

GUEST: Philip Mangano is now the President and CEO of The American Round Table To Abolish Homelessness.