Three American mayors discussed their approaches to combating homelessness during a panel held at Harvard University on April 17. The forum brought together Patrick Farrell of Huntington, West Virginia; Kaarin Knudson of Eugene, Oregon; and Monroe Nichols of Tulsa, Oklahoma, as part of the Bloomberg Center for Cities’ Global Mayors at Harvard Day.
The issue is significant nationwide. An estimated 770,000 people are homeless in the United States according to the most recent data, with about one-third unsheltered and two-thirds in shelters or temporary housing. Nichols said that homelessness affects more than just housing: “Public safety, public health: All the things we do as a city are impacted by the issue of homelessness.”
Moderator Howard Koh opened the discussion by highlighting the scale and urgency of the problem. “We are here because we understand that homelessness represents a highly visible and highly unacceptable humanitarian crisis,” Koh said. “But we can solve it if we have everybody in this room, and all the leaders and all the sectors across society, and especially our political leaders, our mayors, stepping up and taking charge of this crisis that is growing by the day.”
Farrell linked Huntington’s challenge with homelessness to effects from the opioid epidemic. He emphasized that addressing homelessness was necessary for broader community improvements: “We weren’t going to be able to attract businesses; we weren’t going to be able to fix the infrastructure,” Farrell said. “We weren’t going to be able to give hope to young people in our city who want to stay. It became the first thing to tackle.” Farrell described efforts including convening hospitals, businesses, nonprofits, government agencies—and launching a public safety dashboard—to coordinate solutions.
Nichols focused on quantifying Tulsa’s needs: “We have about 3,000 people who become homeless in our community every single year,” he said. His administration set a goal matching those numbers with available housing units while reducing wait times for placement from an average of 220 days down to 37 days through what he called a rapid exit strategy.
Knudson noted that Eugene did not require many additional transitional housing units but needed stronger support moving people into permanent homes—a process hindered by federal funding cuts affecting case management staff.
All three mayors pointed out systemic challenges beyond local control such as limited affordable housing supply or insufficient mental health resources. Knudson summarized Eugene’s market difficulties: “It’s an incredibly brittle, inaccessible housing market,” she said before calling for increased policy action: “The policy action that we need is to fund the housing our communities need.”
The event was part of over thirty sessions involving forty-five mayors from sixteen countries participating in leadership discussions at Harvard.
