EAH Housing’s Post

Stop punishing people forever! It's time for NYC to give families impacted by mass incarceration a #FairChanceforHousing. Tell your rep to Vote YES on #FairChanceforHousing, Int 632-A: https://lnkd.in/d4QcXkyf. "Over 10 million children in the United States have parents who were imprisoned. If the current barriers to housing persist, formerly incarcerated people and their families will continue to face housing insecurity and homelessness, thus reinforcing the vicious cycle of instability." - Criminal Legal Records: An Impediment to Housing Choice read the full paper: https://bit.ly/CLRpaper. * #fairhousing #housingdiscrimination

The end of a jail or prison sentence should mean a fresh start, not a struggle for shelter. Our #ZeroReturnstoHomelessness Resource and Technical Assistance Guide offers partners actionable steps for affecting policy and practice change in their own systems, helping to ensure that formerly incarcerated individuals have the support they need to avoid homelessness and successfully reintegrate into their communities. Explore more here: https://bit.ly/45vJJct

This is such an important time for housing advocates as the Supreme Court is hearing arguments in the Grants Pass v. Johnson. The Court willwill decide whether it constitutes cruel and unusual punishment to fine, ticket, or jail someone for sleeping outside on public property if they have nowhere else to go. Here is a great joint statement from the #NationalLowIncomeHousingCoalition #NationalAlliancetoEndHomelessness #CenteronBudgetandPolicyPriorities

Homelessness is a choice many in this lucky country are being forced to make. I don't know about you, but I feel it is downright #UnAustralian to look the other way. Not just Social Sector Organisations and Peak Bodies, we should all be lobbying Government as concerned citizens that legislation should be drafted in support of the basic human right to have somewhere to call home. The rough sleepers that far too many believe is the Homelessness problem need to be made aware, that is the end result for far too many who just need a helping hand, a hand up, as to not having their only choice be to become homeless. The Great Australian Dream is coming crashing down for far too many and with the #CostOfLivingCrisis and #HousingAffordabilityCrisis being driven by the Haves........ the Have Not's are forced into Survival mode and whatever it takes. Good people can turn bad, when they are forced to just exist, in the absence of the opportunities to thrive! #LivingWages #HumanityNotCharity #SocialConscience #EndHomelessness

It's about housing.

Santa Ana is renewing its one-year contract with City Net Homeless Services to provide trauma-informed, non-law enforcement outreach to the city's homeless population! Updates include making financial room to form one more field team to focus on "service-resistant" people, and extended working hours. "We need to get these folks off our streets. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different result," Councilmember Phil Bacerr stated. Read or listen to this article for solutions to help #EndHomelessnessOC for good! https://bit.ly/3tEGYqL

From Broken Families to Broken Communities: The Creation of the Hood and the School-to-Prison Pipeline Explore the detrimental impact of broken families on communities, leading to the creation of impoverished neighborhoods. Discover how this environment can contribute to the criminalization of the community, perpetuating the belief that crime is the only way to escape. Witness the tragic journey from school to the prison pipeline. #BrokenFamilies #BrokenCommunities #SchoolToPrisonPipeline #CrimeAndPoverty #CriminalizationOfCommunity #InnerCityChallenges #YouthEmpowerment #CommunityDevelopment #EducationMatters #EndingTheCycle

So SCOTUS may be ruling on this important case. We are truly at a crossroads in America regarding how we treat Americans who are experiencing homelessness. I understand that cities do not want people sleeping in public properties. I understand that large cities where there are many individuals who experience homelessness and that this may interfere with commerce, negatively impact tourism, and health and safety. However, we need to get beyond caricatures and ask a lot of questions. Why do individuals experience homelessness? From my experience, it has been families fleeing domestic violence. It has to do with a job loss, disabilities that resulted from strokes, car accidents, unplanned for health emergencies that took months to recover from. However, we have to look at the lack of supply of housing and the rising costs of that housing. Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies indicate that lower income families' residual income has significantly decreased since the pandemic. The National Low Income Housing Coalition has indicated that to afford a 2 Bedroom at HUD's Fair Market Rent in Oregon, person has to have an income of over $61,000. But, the fact is that 31% of extremely low income households are in the labor force, 31% are senior citizens, and 23% are those with disabilities. There was also a shortage of 102,000 affordable housing units to meet that need according to The National Low Income Housing Coalition. So what does that mean. This means people were extremely rent burdened to the point of being on the verge of homelessness at any given point in time. So we have people who then need shelter. But there are minimal shelters to meet the needs. In Grant Pass, there is only one shelter and the requirements are that one must attend worship services and more. So if a town only has one shelter, what should those who are experiencing homeless do. They can move in with family members or friends-if that is even a possibility. But they risk getting those people evicted. Also the moment they get off the streets and are staying with people, they are no longer considered homeless and may not benefit from programs like Rapid Re-Housing. They could stay in a hotel- but if they pay for it on their own, they can also be determined to not be homeless and again can't benefit from programs like Rapid Re-Housing. They can move to a locale that has shelters - but then you are removing individuals from the natural supports we all see as important in our lives. They can choose to live in their cars, but if they have children, they risk children services involvement. Camping is limited in camp grounds to maybe a week at a time. So then what? We as America created this situation. In the Gospel, Jesus says what you do to the least of these, you do to me. We deny him when we don't clothe the naked and feed the hungry. Stop punishing people for being poor! https://lnkd.in/gnNYE2jm

Understanding the connection between housing in our communities and its impact on our unhoused relatives who call our streets home is crucial in comprehending the systemic barriers faced by the homeless. #rocktreemgo https://lnkd.in/dqdbHSac

Worth a listen. Tom Allsop beautifully articulates that the govt must do more. Yes, we need justice responses but we must invest in prevention & early intervention to divert crime from occurring in the first place or nothing will change. Queensland deserves better & we must hold our politicians to account. I could not agree more. We need govt to make gutsy long term investments that will pay off beyond election cycles not reactionary responses that fail to address the root cause.