Community Solutions, Inc.’s Post

🔑 As #SCOTUS prepares to rule on #JohnsonVGrantsPass, it’s crucial to remember that criminalizing homelessness is not a solution. In her Salon op-ed, Rachelle A. Matthews, Policy and Advocacy Operations Manager at Community Solutions, highlights the need for comprehensive, data-driven approaches and affordable housing to address the root causes of homelessness. Cities have shown that investing in housing-first programs can lead to significant reductions in homelessness. It’s time for all cities to adopt these proven strategies.#HomelessnessIsSolvable https://bit.ly/4aZJuYj

🎥 Hey LinkedIn community, today I want to shed light on a pressing issue that goes beyond punishment – homelessness. As Jesse Rabinowitz from the National Homelessness Law Center rightly puts it, "Homelessness is growing not because cities lack ways to punish people for being poor, but because a growing number of hard-working Americans are struggling to pay rent and make ends meet." I delve into a crucial case, Johnson v. Grants Pass, which questions the legality of punishing homeless individuals for sleeping outside when adequate shelter space is insufficient. Contrary to the belief that arresting or ticketing is a solution, Jesse emphasizes that addressing homelessness requires evidence-based approaches, like housing for all. Let's pause and reflect: How can humanity consider punishing someone life has already dealt a difficult hand to? In our pursuit of solutions, we must not forget the systemic causes of homelessness. People don't choose the streets; circumstances force them there. Join me in this exploration of compassion and understanding. Let's challenge preconceptions, advocate for humane solutions, and work towards a society where everyone has a chance for shelter and a better life. 💙🏠 #EndHomelessness #HumanityOverPunishment #CommunityCare #invisiblesnomore

Homeless policy must include guardrails of accountability at every level of the system— from the federal to the state and local governments, to the individuals struggling with homelessness and the non-profits serving them. Accountability enables full potential to be achieved. This must-watch clip is a glaring example of why California is now home to 50% of the nation's unsheltered homeless population, and 30% of the nation's homeless population overall. Sacramento County, Austin, the federal government, and many other government entities would also be floundering under this line of perfectly reasonable questioning. Independent Women's Forum Gavin Newsom U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) #answersbehindthereddoor #homelessnothelpless #stopGoliath

Why are we undercounting homeless people in America? The flawed Point-in-Time Count affects funding and solutions to the homelessness crisis. Discover the hidden issues and how you can help advocate for change: https://lnkd.in/ekyXfWuG

As policymakers, public administrators, and the public continue to ask the question of what will it take to see substantial reductions in homelessness, All Home continues to support our Bay Area partners in answering that question. Through our technical assistance, we use data-driven methods to help local governments understand the resources needed to expand the capacity of their homelessness response systems, and then use that data to inform funding strategies and advocacy endeavors. The City of Berkeley recently observed a 45% reduction in unsheltered homelessness, and a 21% reduction in overall homelessness according to the 2024 Point-in-Time Count. All Home recently partnered with the City to perform system analytics in alignment with the Regional Action Plan that will help inform and guide the city administration as it continues to push forward in reducing homelessness in their community. Kudos to Dr. David Amaral for leading our engagement with the City, and thanks to Berkeleyside and Supriya Yelimeli for covering such an important topic. https://lnkd.in/gTpy3_Pn

Raiding homeless encampments without ensuring residents have housing is cruel, costly, and only leads to more encampments being created elsewhere. Recent guidelines issued by the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) dismisses this crucial fact by including two strategies that cause harm to people experiencing homelessness: encampment closures without requiring that housing be available to all residents, and the use of police in an encampment response. Shame on communities who use guidance like this to justify forcefully and violently removing people from their living situations, doing nothing to solve homelessness. The USICH guidance concerningly enables cities to redirect resources away from proven solutions to homelessness and toward policies that make homelessness worse. The solution to homelessness must include the removal of all police from homelessness response. Read the full statement from the Law Center and our partners at the National Coalition for Housing Justice: https://loom.ly/4ePekjE

#HousingNews we're reading this week: "The Johnson v. Grants Pass case before the Supreme Court represents a watershed moment for how cities across the U.S. address homelessness. It seeks to overturn a precedent set by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in 2020 that prevents cities from punitively punishing people experiencing homelessness when no shelter options are available. This is happening at a time when more than 653,000 people experience homelessness in the U.S. on a given night, a more than 12% increase from 2023. Meanwhile, the rising cost of owning and renting a home is forcing more low-income earning households to experience housing instability than ever before, thereby increasing their risk of becoming homeless." https://lnkd.in/enNssvtD

'By empowering local governments to act more decisively and efficiently, SB 1395 stands to significantly reduce the time it takes to transition individuals from the streets to safe, supportive environments. The practical impact of this cannot be overstated: faster construction would mean quicker relief for those suffering in the harshest conditions...' Read more about how SB 1395 could help address California's unsheltered homelessness crisis in this co-authored piece in the San Diego Union-Tribune. #dignitymoves #SanDiego imaginable.https://https://lnkd.in/e3CUhcHZ

Criminalizing homelessness is certainly "tough" but there's no "love" involved in jailing people for the "crime" of being too poor to afford a roof over their heads. Rather, criminalization is predicated on the contemptuous view that the homeless are irresponsible and "service-resistant." Therefore, they must be punished and forced into accepting services. This over-emphasis on personal choices ignores the systemic issues that manufacture poverty and breed homelessness: unaffordable housing, unlivable minimum wage, and inaccessible health care services. The only service that will end homelessness are homes. Inappropriately using the criminal justice system to address a housing and social services crisis is costly, ineffective and cruel. Criminalization serves only to prop up the inequitable status quo. It preserves the massive profits that result when housing and health care are commodities rather than human rights. Which raises the question: perhaps cruelty really IS the point of criminalizing homelessness?

In April, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear a major case that could reshape how cities manage homelessness. The legal issue is whether they can fine or arrest people for sleeping outside if there's no shelter available. The high court declined to take up a similar case in 2019. But since then, homelessness rates have climbed relentlessly. Street encampments have grown larger and have expanded to new places, igniting intense backlash from residents and businesses. Homelessness and the lack of affordable housing that's helping to drive it have become key issues for many voters. "When we criminalize people, we know it impacts their ability to get a job," says Ann Oliva, CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness. "It impacts their ability to get housing in the long run if they have a criminal record." When we criminalize homelessness, we take away needed investments and resources from what actually solves the issue - which is housing. The latest from NPR: https://lnkd.in/euAejnpA