Catherine Alonzo’s Post

🏡 Did you know? According to the latest data from the California Association of Realtors, a household income of $349,200 is now required to afford Orange County’s median-priced single-family home, priced at $1.37 million. 😲 This staggering figure highlights the immense challenges many families face in securing stable housing. With such high costs, it's clear why affordable housing solutions are crucial for our community. What do you think needs to change to make housing more accessible for everyone, especially those experiencing homelessness? Share your thoughts in the comments! ⬇️ #ThomasHouseFamilyShelter #HousingCrisis #AffordableHousing #OrangeCounty #CommunityDiscussion

Today is #HomelessPersonsMemorialDay, a day to honor the lives of people who have lost their lives due to being unhoused. 🕯️ Unfortunately, in 2023 homelessness in the U.S. hit a record high last year as pandemic aid ran out, as reported by NPR. A new "point-in-time" count data found more than 650,000 people were living in shelters or outside in tents or cars – a 12% increase from last year. Nearly 40% of unhoused people are Black or African-American, and 25% are seniors. The largest increase was among families, and the count also finds a significant rise among Hispanics. The lack of affordable housing continues to be a driving factor in these startling trends, despite significant new government investments. But homelessness and housing insecurity is solvable! We hope you'll join us in our commitment to listen to those who are navigating housing insecurity and homelessness to find solutions in your community. It will take creativity, cooperation, real investments, and communities banding together to approach the problem from many angles. 🖼️ Beauty in One of Those Days by Lucas Farlow (@crayonbreakingart) Image: A painting of a rainy city street scene viewed from the other side of window glass covered in droplets. #homelessness #homeless #unhoused #HousingInsecurity #housing #AffordableHousing #HousingIsAHumanRight #HousingIsARight #together

More than 600,000 people experience homelessness on a given night in America—nearly half of these people (250,000) sleep outside. Homelessness is increasing across the country, as more and more hardworking households struggle to make ends meet. Rent is expensive, wages are too low, and we have seen decades of failed housing policies. Instead of focusing on solutions like rental assistance and eviction prevention, cities and states are trying to arrest their way out of homelessness. We believe the solution is not court or jail. The solution is to provide people with housing with services and policies that can help reduce rates of poverty. By June 30th, SCOTUS will have made their decision. Let’s all hope Johnson wins! If not, it will give cities and states permission to punish people who are forced to sleep outside, even when they have no other safe option. A ruling like this would not only do anything to end homelessness, it would punish people for existing in public simply because they have nowhere else to go. #johnsonvgrantspass #endhomelessness

The national rate of Americans experiencing homelessness in 2023 was approximately 19.4 people per 10,000. Mississippi had the lowest rate of homelessness, at 3.3 people per 10,000, while in other states — namely New York and Vermont — the rate jumps to more than 50 per 10,000. Washington, DC, comprised entirely of a single city, had rates higher than any state, 72.5 per 10,000. https://lnkd.in/eE8HSFc2

The 2023 Chicago Point-in-Time (PIT) Count estimated a total of 6,139 people experiencing #homelessness in #Chicago on a given day. The PIT Count survey, also asked individuals to self-identity the cause or causes that led to their loss of #housing. Family disputes, continued to be the leading cause of housing loss, similar to data from 2022, accounting for 30.7% of responses. Economic challenges, including job loss and underemployment, are the second most common cause at 19.6%. Additionally, 16.4% of individuals reported multiple causes for their housing loss, with family disputes (88.9%) and employment loss (55.6%) being the most prevalent among them. The #PointInTimeCount (PIT) is an annual estimate of the number of people experiencing homelessness in emergency shelters, transitional housing, Safe Havens, encampments, and other unsheltered locations not meant for human habitation.   2023 PIT Count & Survey Report: https://bit.ly/3WZTsE2 For a 2024 Snapshot of Homelessness in Chicago, visit https://bit.ly/4dvefqb

Recommending this article for insights into factors that are pushing families into rental housing when ownership is both desired and a means for stability and wealth creation-and how homelessness is being tracked which means it can be circumvented.

There are many important issues facing Sacramento residents, but the #1 issue we often hear about is homelessness. Last night for the first time in my career, I co-moderated a debate. We asked the leading four candidates for Sacramento mayor how they would balance the budget while keeping or expanding homeless services. Watch the full debate here. #KCRA #PrimaryElection #Sacramento #MayoralCandidates https://lnkd.in/geXGrgn4

🏘️ Annual street counts are a snapshot; your community needs a video. Getting to zero takes line of sight into how people move through your system over time 🤔 A solution? Comprehensive, real-time, by-name data 📊 Built for Zero communities work to know everyone experiencing homelessness by name, in real time. The result is more tailored solutions for individuals and a clearer picture of the system as a whole. #HomelessnessIsSolvable Learn more about the approach ⬇️ https://bit.ly/3OowoeS

As of June 30, 2024, the By-Name List has 358 Total Clients, 154 Active Clients, and 44 Housed Clients. The By-Name List is a real-time list of people experiencing homelessness in our District. It provides data at two levels: 1) Person-specific, for matching individuals with their housing needs. 2) District-level, for understanding the big picture of homelessness in the District. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/guRFeK4N

Right now, too many of us in the Bay Area struggle to afford housing, face threats of eviction, and experience homelessness. But there’s hope. We’re joining together, as neighbors and advocates — renters and landlords, homeowners and people experiencing homelessness — to unlock a new future for our communities where no one is left behind. For #AffordableHousingMonth we’re building a #BayArea where we value everyone’s humanity, where we treat everyone with justice and dignity, and where everyone belongs. https://lnkd.in/g7SnCVtR