Why progressives fail homeless Americans and attack effective alternatives
In Denver, Colorado – a city that prides itself on inclusion, compassion and progressive ideals – a Christian coffee shop owner has become the target of hostility; it’s not for what he’s done wrong, but for what he’s done right.
Jamie Sanchez launched The Drip Cafe as an employment-training program for those struggling with homelessness who want to rebuild their lives. More than just offering a job, the café provides mentorship, structure and consistent support to equip team members to reenter the workforce and to attain long-term employment and stability.
But for dozens of far-left activists in Denver, ideological conformity overshadows the measurable good of helping the homeless of the streets. Protesters are regularly showing up at his café, accusing him of bigotry and calling for boycotts due to his biblical stance on sexuality.
In Seattle, Andrea Suarez leads a highly effective grassroots effort to clear homeless encampments and connect the homeless into treatment and other services – We Heart Seattle. In return, she and her volunteers face relentless protests and hostility from far-left extremists.
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Rather than encouraging their efforts, activists recently shoved Andrea into the street and threatened her with kidnapping. Apparently, they prefer to let their homeless neighbors languish in tents and addiction.
It should not be lost on us that those protesting – and even engaging in violence – are not lifting a finger to help the people they claim to champion. They’re not offering shelter, treatment or support. They’re simply demanding more money for the same failed policies that have driven this crisis to historic levels. Meanwhile, those doing the hard and healing work are treated not as partners, but as pariahs.
This moment reveals something increasingly corrosive in American life: the progressive left’s unwavering loyalty to ideology over outcomes, with no regard for the financial nor the human cost.
Homelessness is a searing national emergency sprawled across our streets, endlessly debated yet persistently ignored. Cities like Denver and Seattle have thrown billions at the crisis, clinging to a rigid, one-size-fits-all policy approach rooted in progressive ideology.
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This approach – Housing First – became federal policy in 2013. It provides permanent, taxpayer-funded housing without requiring sobriety, treatment or employment. Ever. In practice, it has become "housing only."
Passionately championed as the silver bullet to homelessness, it has proven to be anything but. Yet within left-wing policy circles, it remains unquestioned gospel, immune to scrutiny and divorced from results.
Since adopting Housing First, homelessness has reached its highest level ever recorded in our nation’s history, including a 58% increase in the unsheltered population. In Seattle, unsheltered homelessness rose by 88%; in Denver, it more than tripled.
Still, the left clings to the ideology. Billions be damned and outcomes be damned.
Which brings us back to Jamie and Andrea.
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Their steady and steadfast hands have brought hope, stability and tangible support to people who are left to languish on sidewalks. They offer relationship and support, not red tape. Yet the progressive left condemns them because they don’t wear the correct ideological uniform.
Across America, programs such as these – with proven track records of moving people from homelessness to stability through sobriety, job training, counseling and accountability – are not just denied public funding, but they are systematically ostracized from the systems charged with ending homelessness.
Why?
Their expectations around personal responsibility – sobriety, work and accountability – are dismissed as too demanding by progressive standards, even though these very principles are the foundation of lasting recovery and independence.
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In homelessness, not unlike today’s policy climate overall, ideological conformity takes precedence over real-world results, even if it means keeping people trapped in cycles of addiction, instability, and despair.
It is cruelty wearing a mask of virtue.
By demonizing those who operate outside the rigid confines of left-wing homeless orthodoxy, we’re stifling innovation and punishing the very people trying to help, while abandoning the vulnerable they serve.
Jamie Sanchez and Andrea Suarez should be celebrated – not vilified – for stepping boldly into the suffering of their communities, guided by compassion, courage and a relentless commitment to restoring broken lives. They aren’t pontificating from the sidelines or waiting on government mandates. They are in the trenches, delivering real, effective solutions where bureaucracy has failed.
In clinging to purity tests, the progressive left isn’t just missing the point – they’re standing in the way. It’s sabotage. And it’s the homeless who pay the highest price.