HUD's Homelessness Reform: Right on Recovery, Wrong on Fentanyl Test Strips

In Washington's current accounting, a glass crack pipe and a fentanyl test strip fall under the same heading: drug paraphernalia. Only the glass pipe deserves the label. The other is a dollar's worth of paper that tells a drug user the truth about what he is about to take. Published research from me and my coauthors shows that information saves lives.

This month the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) rolled out a $4.04 billion overhaul of the Continuum of Care program, the federal government's largest homelessness assistance effort. The new funding notice ends the era of 'housing first, questions never' and redirects money toward treatment, transitional housing and recovery. It also,