You can’t legislate healing: How divorce fuels homelessness

Founder of the Dream Center in Los Angeles Matthew Barnett has been on the front lines of the homelessness crisis for the past few decades — and what he’s discovered should change the way we view, and attempt to help, the homeless.

“What have you learned about homelessness during these 30 years? What do you think a lot of people just don’t understand about it?” BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey of “Relatable” asks.

“Every testimony we have at church — we have a four-minute testimony every church service, from somebody whose life has been transformed,” Barnett explains.

“90% of every testimony says, ‘My parents went through a divorce,’ or there’s some family breakdown, and that became the traumatizing event that put them in that situation.”

In addition to the family breakdown, Barnett believes that “the culture of drugs” and “openness to everything” has created “a culture where people just think it’s friendly to become addicted to drugs.

“But the breakdown of the family always seems to be the core issue when people are talking about a traumatic event that sent them into a situation or a negative spiral,” he tells Stuckey.

While mainstream discussion around homelessness is politically charged and full of debates surrounding policy, Stuckey has also noticed that it doesn’t seem like political changes hold any answers.

“It doesn’t really seem like in most cities, including in Los Angeles, that we’re going in the right direction,” she tells Barnett.

“Oh, we’re spending so much money — it’s unbelievable — on homelessness,” Barnett says of the city.

“It costs us $7,500 a year to house someone, rehabilitate them, educate them. It costs like $175,000 a year to incarcerate them or deal with the issues of homelessness per person.

“So there’s no accountability. There’s no reason for people to really grow,” he continues.

“It would almost be better if you gave everyone $10,000 to rebuild their life who went through a one-year, structured faith-based type of program.

“But there’s just no incentive to change. There’s no incentive for people to want to go forward. We’re trying to legislate something that is dealing with the heart,” he adds.

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