Shot in the Face. Still Fighting for Change: Kent Hay’s Blueprint for Ending Homelessness

What do you do when life knocks you flat — when you’re literally shot in the face on New Year’s Eve and left wondering if helping people is even worth it anymore?

If you’re Kent Hay, you come back swinging. And not just for yourself, but for every person living on the margins, every city drowning in a crisis it claims it can’t solve.

Kent Hay is not your typical city official.

He’s the Director of Human Services for the City of Auburn, founder of Elite Outreach, and the author of the disruptive book Managing Homelessness: A Ground-Level Approach to Lasting Solutions. His book doesn’t sugarcoat the problem — it exposes the excuses and provides a playbook cities can actually use.

On The Giovanne Show, Kent lays it all out: how compassion without accountability breaks systems, how enforcement without empathy destroys trust, and how his model fuses the two into something other cities are scrambling to copy.

This isn’t theory. It’s results.

• In 2024 alone, Auburn’s outreach teams contacted 1,366 unhoused people.

• 472 found shelter.

• 205 secured permanent housing.

That’s not charity. That’s leadership.

And the fire that fuels it all? The moment Kent decided, he could either quit on people or double down. His book is the extension of that moment — a call to every leader who’s hiding behind policy memos and empty press conferences.

Kent Hay visiting an encampment

“Compassion and accountability are not enemies. They’re partners.”

Why This Matters: We live in a country where entire cities often turn a blind eye to homelessness. Kent Hay is proving they don’t have to. His life, his book, and his work serve as a blueprint for action — and a challenge to every community that claims the crisis is “too big.”

Call to Action: This isn’t just another podcast. It’s a movement. The first episode of The Giovanne Show features Kent Hay’s raw, unfiltered story — and the lessons that could flip the script on homelessness nationwide.

The Giovanne Show is almost here — and we’re giving you an exclusive first look. In this powerful teaser, Kent Hay shares a raw moment from his journey, when being shot nearly made him give up on helping others. This is exactly what the show is about:

Real Stories. Real Solutions.

Watch the sneak peek below, and stay tuned for the full episode coming soon at Schachere.com.

👉 Subscribe. Tune in. Coming soon.

And read Managing Homelessness. Because this fight is far from over, and the solutions are right in front of us.