The Counting is Done; Let the Housing BeginWASHINGTON: On Wednesday, February 28th, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released a report to Congress on homelessness in America. The
report included both a “point-in-time” count, which measures the number of homeless individuals on a given night, as well as a count collected over a three month period using the Homeless Management Information Systems (HMIS).
HUD reported that on any given night an estimated 754,000 persons will experience homelessness throughout the U.S. Resulting in about 300,000 more people then shelter beds in the U.S.
HUD’s staggering finding is an indictment of the previously absent political will to end homelessness. This report confirms the need for both emergency response legislation, such as the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing Act (H.R. 840), to double federal dollars in homeless assistance programs, as well as the need for a comprehensive response to the affordable housing crisis in our nation. This includes the passage of the Bringing America Home Act (to be reintroduced in the 110th Congress), the establishment of a National Affordable Housing Trust Fund, and significant increases in existing federal housing programs.
While the National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH) supports HUD’s efforts, any attempt to estimate the number of people experiencing homelessness is limited by time and practical restraints, whether in one night, three months or over the course of a year. Additionally, homeless counts are based on individuals living on the streets, in shelters or transitional housing facilities. By using HUD’s current restrictive definition of homelessness, the counts fail to include many homeless persons, especially those living in suburban and rural areas where doubling up or living in motels is common place. More expansive definitions, like that used by the U.S. Department of Education, would include these individuals, allowing a more accurate estimate of the homeless population.
NCH stresses that ending homelessness requires long term far-reaching action to both house those currently facing homelessness, as well as to prevent those at immediate risk of losing housing and becoming homeless. This cannot be done without the establishment of increased affordable housing, livable incomes, educational and vocational training, universal health care, and the assurance of protecting homeless peoples’ civil rights.
In response to the report, Michael Stoops, acting executive director of NCH, says “It's okay to count homeless people. But we need to make sure that we're working at housing homeless people and not just gathering statistics."
Please click here to read the report:
http://www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/homeless/ahar.cfmInformation by State:
http://www.hud.gov/local/index.cfmhttp://www.nationalhomeless.org/housing/hudprmarch.html Without Housing, the Poor Will Perishby Janny Castillo
"Wet Night On Sutter Street." In this painting by Christine Hanlon, a homeless person sleeps outside a fancy clothing store on a rainy night while well-dressed mannequins are dry and warm inside."The government pegs homeless persons as dysfunctional human beings in need of rehabilitation. This report says, 'I don't care how many life-skills trainings you give me; if I don't have a place to live, I am going to be homeless." -- Paul Boden, WRAP Executive Director
"Until this government invests billions of dollars more a year in housing for the poor, homelessness will increase and deaths will increase." -- Terry Messman, Street Spirit editor
According to a U.S. Department of Education report, more than 600,000 identified homeless students attended public schools in the 2003-2004 school years. These children are invisible. They will not be seen on rooftops in flood waters, trapped and afraid. Their desperate faces are not plastered across our televisions, moving the country to do something, anything, to help. They are survivors of a different and more subtle catastrophe than Katrina.
On November 14, 2006, a group of homeless advocates met in front of the Federal Building in San Francisco to announce the release of a report written by the Western Regional Advocacy Project (WRAP) entitled, "Without Housing: Decades of Federal Housing Cutbacks, Massive Homelessness and Policy Failures." Juan Prada, director of the Coalition on Homelessness, organized the event. The 80-page report documents 25 years of federal housing cuts that have resulted in "a new and massive episode of homelessness."
"Those on the front line of homelessness -- homeless people and the providers who serve them -- are drowning in a sea of blame," said WRAP Executive Director Paul Boden. "We have joined together to speak the truth. Until federal affordable housing programs are restored and expanded, homelessness will continue to grow."
Continued @
http://www.thestreetspirit.org/Dec2006/nohome.htm NEW REPORT DOCUMENTS CORRELATION BETWEEN HISTORIC CUTS TO FEDERAL HOUSING PROGRAMS AND CONTEMPORARY MASS HOMELESSNESS Communities call for the new Congress to take a new approach to addressing and ending the national crisis of homelessness(Excerpt)
"
Without Housing: Decades of Federal Housing Cutbacks, Massive Homelessness and Policy Failures,” documents the correlation between these trends and the emergence of a new and massive episode of homelessness in the 1980s which continues today. It particularly focuses on radical cuts to programs administered by the US Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the US Dept. of Agriculture (USDA), which administers funds for rural affordable housing. Available online in PDF format, the report also demonstrates why federal responses to this nationwide crisis have consistently failed.
Created in partnership with five other organizations, the report uses federal budget data and other sources to document that:
HUD’s budget has dropped 65% since 1978, from over $83 billion to $29 billion in 2006.
The Emergency Shelter phenomenon was born the same year that HUD funding was at a drastic low point. In 1983, HUD’s budget was only $18 billion, the same year that general public emergency shelters began opening in cities nationwide.
HUD has spent $0 on new public housing, while more than 100,000 public housing units have been lost to demolition, sale, or other removal in the last ten years.
Federal housing subsidies are going to the wealthy. In 2004, 61 percent of these subsidies went to households earning more than $54,788, while only 27 percent went to households earning under $34,398.
More than 600,000 identified homeless students went to public schools in the 2003-2004 school year, according to the US Department of Education.
Federal support helps homeowners instead of poor people. In 2005, federal homeowner subsidies totaled more than $122 billion, while HUD outlays were only $31 billion – a difference of more than $91 billion.
According to Paul Boden, executive director of WRAP, “The Administration’s current ‘Chronic Homeless Initiative’ is just the latest in a series of inadequate flavor-of-the-month distractions from the real problem. It does nothing to address the huge cuts to federal affordable housing funding that caused mass homelessness. Housing is a human right, which a democracy should advance, not restrict.
Those on the frontline of homelessness – homeless people and the providers who serve them – are drowning in a sea of blame. We have joined together to speak truth to power: until federal affordable housing programs are restored and expanded, homelessness will continue to grow.”
http://wraphome.org/wh_press_kit/press_release_wrap.html Universal Declaration of Human RightsArticle 25:(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.
http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html Edited to add:
If you would like to call Congress to demand that Federal housing programs be fully funded, here are some toll-free numbers:
1-800-459-1887
1-877-851-6437
1-800-828-0498
"Shall we have phones implanted, to make it easier?:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x401190
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
