{"id":334865,"date":"2026-01-19T11:16:42","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T16:16:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/truthout.org\/?post_type=to4_article_post&p=334865"},"modified":"2026-01-19T11:16:45","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T16:16:45","slug":"a-tech-bro-think-tank-is-trying-to-roll-back-evidence-based-homelessness-policy","status":"publish","type":"to4_article_post","link":"https:\/\/truthout.org\/articles\/a-tech-bro-think-tank-is-trying-to-roll-back-evidence-based-homelessness-policy\/","title":{"rendered":"A Tech Bro Think Tank Is Trying to Roll Back Evidence-Based Homelessness Policy"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Last fall, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) nearly triggered a homelessness disaster of its own making. A rush of policy changes that were rolled out with almost no warning and even less guidance threatened to push up to 170,000 formerly unhoused Americans out of stable housing<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The strangest part? Much of this upheaval traces back to a little-known think tank that was born in Silicon Valley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cicero Institute<\/a>, created by tech investor Joe Lonsdale, has spent the past few years promoting aggressive policies targeting encampments for the unhoused and pushing cities to move away from Housing First, the U.S.\u2019s primary model for responding to chronic homelessness. Over the summer, HUD quietly adopted several of Cicero\u2019s key recommendations. And the result was widespread panic among the local agencies responsible for keeping people housed.<\/p>

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