Homeless advocate sees hope in Utah

The U.S. presidential appointee faced with the task of ending the "national disgrace" of homelessness said he has found no other state better positioned than Utah to accomplish that mission.

"Utah could be the state that is the first in the nation for ending chronic homelessness," Philip Mangano told attendees at the 29th annual Utah Issues conference on poverty.

"Our work is undone while people remain homeless," he said. "Our mission is our children will have to go to a museum to see what homelessness is."

Mangano is the executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, which is part of the Domestic Policy Council within the Executive Office of the President.

The council heads up 20 federal agencies that combat homelessness and is working with states and cities to set up collaborative efforts to confront the problem. Mangano said 46 states, including Utah, and nearly 120 mayors across the country have signed up.

"The mission you need to embrace is every citizen in Utah will be known by a single name — neighbor — and will be treated as one," Mangano said.

A former agent and manager in the music industry, Mangano has been agitating to end homelessness for 23 years, serving as a volunteer on the breadline in downtown Boston and eventually becoming the founding executive director of the Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance.

For his work there, he and the association received the Non-Profit Sector Achievement Award from the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

His last 26 months in Washington, D.C., he said, have reiterated his belief that 20 years of "managing" the problem of homelessness has not worked, that long-term innovative strategies are needed.

"The solution is not simply opening a shelter," he said.

While 10 percent of the homeless population are termed "chronic," perpetually moving in and out of the system, they demand more than 50 percent of the resources, he said.

To counter that cycle, Mangano told the Deseret Morning News in an interview, long-term solutions must go beyond mere housing, such as the successful efforts in New York City, San Francisco and Columbus, Ohio.