The cost of ending homelessness: Lipstick, fireworks and paper towels

The keynote speaker at the National Alliance to End Homelessness convention said the nation spends almost $500 billion per year on lipstick.Photo byAndriyko PodilnykonUnsplash

If Americans gave up fireworks, paper towels and lipstick, the nation would save enough money to end homelessness, according to Tiffany Manuel.

Manuel gave the keynote address Monday at the National Alliance to End Homelessness’s annual convention in Washington, D.C. Stinging from a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized the criminalization of homelessness, non-profit workers, homeless advocates, policymakers, and more plan to get fired up about serving the unhoused.

Manuel noted that ending homelessness would not be cheap. She said it would cost $400 billion to house everyone with wraparound services. And she said that while that may seem like a lot of money, it’s equivalent to what the nation spends on lipstick each year.

That’s true. According to Statista, lipstick sales generated more than $551 million in the U.S. from April 2022 to April 2023. That does not include sales from lip gloss and other lip balms.

Manuel said it would cost about $5 billion to pay workers in the homeless services industry what they are worth. And while this sounds like a big bill, she noted it’s akin to what Americans spend on paper towels each year. Indeed, The Atlantic reported that even back in 2017 the U.S. spent about $5.7 billion on lipstick.

Photo byBrandon CormieronUnsplash

Manuel said it would cost just $2 billion to house the nation’s homeless. That sum, she said, is what Americans burned up in fireworks in 2022. Her claim checks out. NPR reported that the fireworks industry tallied $2.3 billion in 2022.

‘We have a lack of will problem’

“We do have enough (to end homelessness),” Manuel said. “We don’t have a money problem; we have a lack of will problem. Her description of the financial picture served as the cornerstone in a speech intended to inspire faith. She said at a time when the nation is unsettled about homelessness, it can be hard to fight for the unhoused.

National Alliance to End Homelessness CEO Ann Oliva told the convention of 2,200 participants that America is at a crossroads when it comes to homelessness. She said those who believe homelessness should be criminalized feed the public with misinformation.

Oliva noted that the game show Jeopardy recently featured the following clue: “The National Alliance to end this says on a given night in 2023, about 650,000 people in the U.S. were experiencing it.” The answer, of course, was homelessness. “What this clue tells me is that homelessness and housing instability are in the public discourse that we never have seen before. Rent is too damned high in America.”

Leading the conversation on homelessness

Oliva said the homeless advocacy movement must come from a place of faith, love and home. She ticked off a list of cities that have reduced unsheltered homelessness in the past year, including Spokane, Wash., Alameda County, Calif., Dallas, and Los Angeles. “We can inspire faith that ending homelessness is achievable,” Oliva said.

The Alliance’s Tom Murphy said homeless advocates must engage with and listen to the people who are “discouraged” about homelessness. “If we don’t engage them than somebody else will,” Murphy said. “We can’t afford to lose them to the other side.”

The convention will continue for the rest of this week.