Volunteers of America-Greater New York’s Post

🚨 A small Oregon town’s homeless crisis is front and center in a landmark Supreme Court case. The ruling, set for April 22, could reshape how cities across the U.S. handle homelessness. This isn’t just a legal debate—it’s about protecting the constitutional rights of those without shelter. Pathways to Housing PA and 36 other organizations have signed onto an amicus brief filed by CSH, the Source for Housing Solutions, supporting the Ninth Circuit's decision to uphold the U.S. Constitution by prohibiting communities from fining or arresting people for merely sleeping outside when they have no access to shelter. The decision will have ripple effects nationwide, impacting thousands who struggle with homelessness. Read the full story: https://lnkd.in/eunfNesp

"The National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) strongly condemns the Supreme Court’s decision in City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson to allow jurisdictions to arrest and ticket unhoused people for sleeping outside, even when adequate shelter or housing is not available. 'This cruel, misguided ruling will only worsen homelessness,' said NLIHC President and CEO Diane Yentel. 'It gives cover to elected officials who choose political expediency over real solutions by merely moving unhoused people out of public view rather than working to solve their homelessness. These ineffective and inhumane tactics exacerbate homelessness by saddling unhoused people with debt they can’t pay, while further isolating them from the services and support they need to become stably housed. To truly address and solve homelessness, policymakers must instead work with urgency to scale up proven solutions, starting with greater investments in affordable housing and supportive services.'” Read more: https://lnkd.in/g7b4mR6r 

A very important read about the false promises of laws that would criminalize homelessness. In practice, these laws aren't reducing homelessness at all. In fact, they're creating chaos and making the work to rehouse people even harder. The reason is simple: because they are written by people who don't understand the issue at all, but do understand the political advantages of demonizing vulnerable populations. https://lnkd.in/ea2UCe2V

Homelessness is a housing problem, and now is the time to make your voices heard to address it!! Today National Low Income Housing Coalition partners & allies are calling on Congress to prioritize these measures in FY24: 🤝Fully renewing all existing Rental Assistance & Voucher contracts 🛠Increase funding for critical public housing ops & repairs 💲Fulfill Senate's proposed Homeless Assistance & Eviction Prevention Grants ⚖Fulfill House's proposed $1.1 billion for Native Housing Because of the housing crisis, more than 650,000 people in America are experiencing homelessness on any given night – the highest level on record – and millions more are at risk. Congress stopped meaningful public involvement in the creation & maintenance of affordable housing decades ago, and now the most vulnerable in our communities are paying the price. Congress can take immediate action to help address the housing and homelessness crisis in a lasting and equitable way by fully funding federal investments in the 2024 budget. Follow this one-stop link to ensure the Congresspeople who work for you know the severity of this need and the abundance of public support behind solving it: https://p2a.co/nliqghj #HomelessnessIsSolvable #Homelessness #Advocacy

🏠✊ Exciting news from the ACT! Senator David Pocock and member of North Sydney Kylea Tink have joined forces to introduce the National Housing and Homelessness Plan Bill 2024, into both the Senate and the House of Representatives. The proposed bill advocates for the recognition of ADEQUATE HOUSING AS A FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHT FOR ALL Australians by mandating the federal government to develop a comprehensive and long-term strategy to reform and improve Australia’s struggling issues of housing affordability, availability, and homelessness. If passed, it would establish a 10-year plan, ensuring sustained progress beyond political cycles. Key highlights include: 🌟 Creation of a National Housing Consumer Council 🔍 Establishment of a Housing and Homelessness Advocate for oversight 📈 Enhanced transparency and accountability of decisions made We couldn’t agree more with Ms Tink’s words “Amid a new wave of homelessness, worsening rental affordability and intergenerational inequity, and housing affordability surging to ‘impossible’ levels, we urgently need to come together to deliver a meaningful, legislated, national approach to ensure all Australians have adequate housing.” This is news we love to see, as every person deserve the basic human right to an adequate standard of living, which includes the right to adequate housing 🏡 Source: https://lnkd.in/gUKrrmZM

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that police can arrest or fine people for sleeping outside in public spaces. This disappointing ruling in the Johnson v. Grants Pass case will make homelessness worse in Grants Pass, Oregon, and nationwide. The local ordinance explicitly targets people who simply have nowhere else to go. The Court's decision has set a dangerous precedent for how we protect people from cruel and unusual punishments. The U.S. has an estimated shortage of almost 200,000 shelter beds. Homelessness is growing because of rising housing costs, stagnant wages, inflation, an inequitable tax system, and more. That’s why the Shriver Center works on multiple issue areas — we need to ensure our systems work for everyone. With our partners, we will continue to advocate for housing as a human right. Everyone deserves access to safe, stable, and affordable housing. Punishments that penalize poverty are not the solution. Join us in the fight and email your elected officials today: https://lnkd.in/gNkCxY3h

The solution to #homelessness is to build more permanent housing, so that those experiencing homelessness have somewhere to live. Let’s invest in #housing instead of encampment sweeps. #psh #affordablehousing #housingfirst

I am (sadly) unsurprised by the Supreme Court's recent decision here. But it is a particularly hideous and cruel reaction in the face of a widening wealth gap, affordable housing crisis, overdose crisis, banning equity and inclusion practices, anti-queer legislation...the list goes on and on. I've done a lot of advocacy and work with unhoused people over the years and can tell you that individual people choose to sleep outside for any number of reasons: lack of shelter beds, lack of safety, shelter rules that make it impossible for people who use drugs to enter the shelter, no community support...again, the list goes on and on. But it really boils down to systemic failures like lack of supportive housing, lack of affordable housing, lack of transitional housing, and shelters/warming centers etc that do not have the staffing capacity to meet the unique needs of people with complex trauma. The failure is on our poorly designed systems, not on individual people working in various parts of this broken system, and certainly not on individual people doing what they can to survive (is sleep not a basic human right?). I feel lucky to live in a community that is doing a lot to care for the needs of unhoused people and lucky to work alongside tireless advocates who care deeply about the needs of this population but not everyone is so lucky. This ruling will have ripple effects that will further malign an already stigmatized population that (rightfully) distrusts the many systems they must engage with in order to access care, a place to sleep, and so many other basic needs. I realize I'm (mostly) preaching to the choir by sharing these imperfectly formed thoughts with my network, but I encourage people to show up in your communities to advocate for the needs of unhoused people and see what your community is doing to provide services for unhoused people. It matters because unhoused people matter and do not deserve to be criminalized for poverty. Most of us are closer to homelessness than we are to millionaire status and I encourage us all to see this is OUR fight. We have to be in it together. https://lnkd.in/eJZ3yZmG

At Abode, we are concerned that Governor Gavin Newsom’s executive order today regarding the removal of #homeless encampments will fail to reach its goals and yield negative results for those who simply need a home. We believe today’s announcement is a call to action for our state and local leaders to redouble our efforts to end homelessness. Our stance on the issue of sweeping #encampments is clear: • #Homelessness is not a crime, it is a crisis – one that is a result of systemic failures that have produced fewer than 24 affordable units for every 100 people who need them. • In the Bay Area, some would have to earn as much as $78 per hour to afford a modest, two-bedroom apartment. (For low-wage workers, that would mean working up to five full-time minimum-wage jobs.) • We believe this nation’s laws should protect the most vulnerable people in our community – not threaten them. • Criminalizing homelessness is wrong. It is cruel, ineffective, and costly. • It worsens cycles of homelessness and makes it more difficult to find real #solutions. That is why we condemned the June 28 Supreme Court ruling on Grants Pass v. Johnson, which makes it easier for authorities to punish people for experiencing homelessness, even when there is no adequate shelter. Instead of punishing those in need, we would like to use today’s announcement as an opportunity for a call to action. Newsom himself called on local governments to house people and provide services. It is our hope that state officials and local governments will do just that – find and fund #sustainable housing solutions. As a region, we long ago moved away from the tepid goal of merely “managing homelessness.” Instead, we must keep taking steps to actually end the problem. We must urge leaders – nationally and locally – to accept the idea that just moving people around isn’t going to solve #homelessness. Sweeping an #encampment is no solution, if the individuals living there have nowhere to go. The solution to homelessness is #housing. Today, we call on local leaders to continue to work on that real solution, so that someone experiencing homelessness today will soon have a dignified place to live. #SustainableSolutions #HousingFirst #HousingEndsHomelessness

This morning, the Supreme Court ruled to uphold the anti-camping laws of the City of Grants Pass, Oregon. The decision made in Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson allows civil punishments to be imposed on individuals sleeping outside and on public property. Unsheltered individuals may be fined, ticketed, and arrested even if their local governments are unable to produce enough shelter or affordable housing. This ruling sets a dangerous precedent for the criminalization of homelessness, poses a risk to public health, and ignores the root cause of homelessness: the lack of affordable housing. MHSA believes in models that work. We believe in Housing First, and in prioritizing affordable, dignified, and permanent supportive housing. Stable housing allows individuals to access and sustain basic needs. Punitive, cruel, and discriminatory policies like the ones upheld in the decision on Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson only prolong homelessness. MHSA is learning more about the implications of the decision for Massachusetts. Please read the full decision from the United States Supreme Court (https://lnkd.in/eA38zjKX), as well as statements from the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) (https://lnkd.in/g-xmTJz2) and the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) (https://lnkd.in/g7b4mR6r)