Tricia Raikes’ Post

"This worsening tragedy is a societal failure that disturbs the conscience, particularly in light of the profound consequences that homelessness unleashes.... Stabilizing housing for older adults [through prevention efforts] is the best way to spare them the pain, suffering, humiliation, and indignity of becoming homeless." Please take a moment to read this important Marin County Grant Jury report on the need for the County of Marin to develop a homelessness prevention strategy for older adults in our community. "The 2023-2024 Marin County Grand Jury (Grand Jury) reviewed the County’s current homelessness programs and services and concluded that little or no attention is being paid to prevention. There are few services for older adults on the precipice of losing their housing. Despite several previous Grand Jury reports regarding the growing need to prioritize the housing needs of older adults, there remains a lack of urgency in establishing a systemic approach that would ensure a long-term commitment to implementing and maintaining practical solutions that prevent older adults from falling into homelessness. This report contains recommendations that the Board should implement immediately to prevent this crisis from worsening. The Grand Jury recommends the development of a strategic plan for homelessness prevention. In addition, the Grand Jury recommends that the Board complete a cost-benefit analysis that compares the cost of providing services to people after they become homeless, to the cost of proposed homelessness prevention solutions. The Grand Jury also recommends that the Community Development Agency (CDA) be designated as the lead agency to coordinate all efforts related to homelessness prevention for older adults." #prevention #agingequity

While we encourage new funding mechanisms and an increased response to homelessness in Missouri, we know that the failed suggestions within SB 1336 will only increase the difficulties faced by our houseless neighbors. People who live outdoors are the poorest in our communities, with the fewest resources. They are often pushed to the periphery of society and struggle to find accepting communities. Last year, Missouri’s homeless rate increased 12%, and it is clear that more must be done to address this crisis. (For more information about the lack of affordable housing, we recommend the newest annual report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition, "The Gap: A Shortage of Affordable Homes" - nlihc.org/gap.) Housing First is an evidence-based set of principles that acknowledge basic human needs. Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) is also one of the most effective strategies we’ve ever used to end homelessness. You can learn more about PSH through the recording of our March Friday Forum on this topic, available on our YouTube channel here: https://lnkd.in/g5B4pQnm Our full recent testimony in opposition to SB 1336 can be found here: https://lnkd.in/gntGFznn Image description: a quote from Empower Missouri's testimony in opposition to SB 1336 in white text reading "According to a 2020 study by the National Institute of Health, 86% of Permanent Supportive Housing participants were successful in maintaining their housing for the long term" with a photo of a person sitting with packed cardboard boxes #EmpowerMOAHC #Homelessness #Housing #HousingCrisis #HousingFirst #PermanentSupportiveHousing #HousingIsAHumanRight #MOleg #Missouri #Testimony #Advocacy

Today the U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case on whether homelessness can be a crime. The City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson will determine whether a local government can arrest or fine people for sleeping outside when adequate shelter is not available. We and Housing Leadership Council of San Mateo County are here to tell you that criminalization is not a solution to homelessness; it is an outdated, dehumanizing, and counterproductive approach that makes it harder to address this crisis. Criminalization disproportionately harms Black and Indigenous people, who are overly represented among those who experience homelessness due to longstanding, systemic racism in housing and other sectors. If the Supreme Court rules in favor of Grants Pass, it will give states and cities across the country permission to punish people who are forced to sleep outside, even though they have no other safe option. This would make it more difficult for people to exit homelessness and punish people for existing in public in a country that has failed to ensure that everybody has a safe place to sleep. Similar legislation has been introduced at the State and Local levels. Thankfully, CA SB 1011 was struck down just last week in the Public Safety Committee. At the local level, San Mateo has a similar ordinance that passed, criminalizing homelessness in San Mateo County. This is not a solution to people experiencing homelessness and is not a step in the right direction for #HousingJustice. People experiencing homelessness is not a criminal situation. To learn more about people experiencing homelessness, we gathered some movies and resources below: 💡The Soloist: https://okt.to/Qg908D 💡Kaiser Permanente’s The Way Home documentary series: https://okt.to/omqOIG 💡Finland Solved Homelessness: Here’s How (25 min): https://okt.to/fYJLaA 💡From a Tent to a Home: No Longer Homeless (10 minutes): https://okt.to/4ZMGPi Please join us in fighting these pieces of legislation. Follow us to learn more! #TheWorkUWBA

Criminalization is not the solution. Arrests, fines, jail time, and criminal records make it even more difficult for individuals experiencing homelessness to access the affordable housing, health services, and employment necessary to exit homelessness. The affordable housing crisis and the inability to afford housing is the primary cause of homelessness. Nationally, there’s a shortage of 7.3 million homes affordable and available to people with the lowest incomes. These are working families whose wages have not increased at the same rate that rent has increased. Without affordable options, 11.7 million renters pay more than half of their limited incomes on rent, leaving them with few resources to make ends meet. Any financial shock can cause these households to fall behind on rent and face eviction and, in the worst cases, homelessness.

Experts in homelessness solutions consistently tell us there are multiple reasons that the unhoused population is increasing. The main cause is the high cost of rent driven by a housing shortage, especially housing that is affordable for everyone. Nowhere in the list is Prop 47. ➡➡➡ That's why we're voting NO on Prop 36: https://lnkd.in/gqiAFt2S Prop 36 Exploits Valid Community Concerns and Provides a False, Harmful Solution 👉 Researchers do *not* suggest there is any good to be done by imprisoning people experiencing homelessness. Numerous studies have shown that criminalization doesn’t solve homelessness; rather, it prolongs poverty and traps people into chronic homelessness. Like you, we’re serious about ending homelessness. We support research-backed solutions that wisely invest taxpayer dollars in programs that work instead of wasting money on a bloated prison system that fails to address the root causes of the public safety issues. That’s why Funders Together to End Homeless San Diego encourages you to Vote NO on Prop 36.

As many communities prepare to participate in the annual 2024 Point-in-Time count this week, the National Alliance to End Homelessness looks ahead on what we think 2024 will bring for homelessness and housing issues, and how we as a field can best position ourselves to be successful across a number of priorities. Here are some key things to look out for in the upcoming year: 🏘 Responding to New and Existing Challenges: homelessness is up across the board this year, especially unsheltered homelessness. It is imperative that we work together to let our local, state, and national leaders know what works and what investments are needed to turn the tide. 🏘 Homelessness as an Election Issue: We all have to step up to educate elected officials and the public so that we are actively working towards solutions. We must all challenge and name when tactics are advanced in the name of political opportunists, or as a means of dividing voters: because our communities are safer and stronger when everyone has a home, and this benefits us all. 🏘 Homelessness and the Supreme Court: The Supreme Court will decide if localities can ban involuntary unsheltered homelessness within their borders, or if doing so when no shelter is available constitutes cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment. 🏘 Anticipating Progress in 2024: Among all of these hard things, there are bright spots. Such as affordable housing is already winning on the ballot, several states have fought back against criminalization efforts, programs are using their funds to innovate, and the Alliance’s work is helping people in our sector to do their jobs better. 2024 will be a big year for #homelessness and we need each and every person to stand with us. Read more: #endhomelessness https://lnkd.in/eYuPTeTZ

With more than a quarter of a million people living unsheltered on any given night, the Supreme Court’s Grants Pass v Johnson decision, released today, will have an outsized impact on homelessness policy going forward. Homelessness is a complex issue largely driven by the growing scarcity of affordable housing, widening wage gaps, and deeply entrenched inequities across mainstream systems. With a shortage of 7.3 million affordable rental units and ballooning housing costs, 17,000 people become homeless for the first time each week, struggling to find a job, maintain basic hygiene, and secure housing. It is imperative that we reduce barriers faced by people experiencing homelessness - people who are effectively houseless - and not add to them. Instead of fighting the unhoused, we must fight the forces that deprive people of housing.   LeSar works closely with communities to implement solutions proven to address unsheltered homelessness, such as those that keep people housed, create permanent housing, and provide low-barrier services. Our staff has seen firsthand that when someone has a roof over their head and is given support to address mental, physical, and social determinants of health, they can heal and thrive. We will continue to work with communities on these solutions especially. #housingfirst #grantspass #housingcrisis #homelessness These proven solutions require long-term sustained investments and the political will that prioritizes them. Shifting the burden to law enforcement will not address the homelessness crisis; it will only further exacerbate the situation. Criminalization is especially pernicious in its impact on people of color, who are disproportionately represented among the homeless population. Black Americans, already bearing the brunt of systemic inequities, will continue to bear the unequal impact of citations, fines, and arrests. Where criminalization has been attempted as a potential solution, it has only led to temporary displacement of those in need to neighboring communities, increased policing and court costs, difficulties in providing the above-mentioned interventions to those who desperately need them, expanded trauma to those already suffering and ultimately increases in homelessness.   Homelessness requires multi-faceted, structural solutions.  We applaud communities that continue to invest in proven solutions and eschew tactics aimed at quick fixes that ultimately are not effective, and we will continue to facilitate cross-sector collaboration to address this challenge. It has been a privilege to support these approaches for the last two decades, and we will continue to do so with renewed commitment.       

At a time when bipartisanship feels rare, Congress has provided critically needed increases to HUD and VA homelessness programs in the FY 2024 budget. From the Alliance's Chief Policy Officer, Steve Berg: "This year was especially notable because in this Congress the bill required and received support from leaders in both parties. The 11.5 percent increase is one of the largest one-year percentage increase since FY1999. That was the year when Republican support for new Housing First approaches started nearly two decades of increased investments in homelessness programs. This further demonstrates that bipartisan support is critical for funding the programs that get people out of homelessness and into housing." https://lnkd.in/e9Vyfpyc

Criminalizing homelessness IS criminal. Homelessness is a symptom of failure in leadership. Housing is the foundation for stability, good health, education, and true equity. During this escalation of the housing crisis and cost of living, housing should be first priority. After all, when people have housing, job retention increases, it supports the local economy, and strengthens communities. #affordablehousing #housingcrisis

🚨Decriminalising homelessness isn't just about changing laws; it's about rebuilding lives.🚨 With a staggering 27% increase in homelessness, it's alarming to witness the government's push for legislation that could criminalise those experiencing homelessness. We're amidst a homeless emergency, and such policies showcase a fundamental misunderstanding of the underlying causes of homelessness. Fines and imprisonment only exacerbate the issue; what's truly needed is a robust investment in support services for those without a roof over their heads. While it's good to see MPs campaigning to repeal outdated laws, mere decriminalisation isn't enough. We must ensure that individuals receive the support they need to break free from the cycle of homelessness. Long-term homelessness stems from a myriad of challenges – from trauma and mental health issues to navigating a flawed support system. We've witnessed firsthand the transformative power of tailored support through our Housing First service, offering hope and stability to those in need. With an impressive 86% of Housing First residents maintaining their tenancies, it's evident that compassionate support can change lives. While repealing outdated laws is a step in the right direction, policymakers must also invest in initiatives like Housing First to create lasting change. Let's come together to ensure that everyone has a place to call home and a chance at a brighter future. Read the latest blog from SCT CEO, Tony Chasteauneuf, here: https://lnkd.in/dFB9u5hU #EndHomelessness #PositiveChange #HousingFirst #DecriminaliseHomeless