Collaborative Support Programs of NJ’s Post

This is a must-read for people who think unhoused people are unhoused by choice or shelters are the answer. We need permanent housing with supportive services. Performative shelters funded to allow communities to skirt legal authority that makes it harder to criminalize homelessness are a cynical and short-sighted “answer” to a problem that we can actually solve. To house our neighbors, we have to look at this as a marathon, and not a sprint. And we have to care about people as much as we care about politics. Housing is a human right. There is no place like home. Stable housing is the foundation of strong, resilient, thriving communities.

#Homelessness presents a pressing public health emergency, carrying potentially fatal outcomes that are preventable. Keeping people in their homes, steering clear of eviction proceedings, shelters, and streets demands a unified effort from state, local, and federal policymakers, alongside the faith community, business sector, and philanthropy.   By advocating for stronger, more coordinated systems that provide stable housing, we have the power to make a difference and ensure everyone has a place to call home. #endhomelessness Learn more: https://bit.ly/4cFPBTL

📢 Advocacy Alert! 🏡 This week, Pennsylvania lawmakers and advocates united to shed light on child and youth homelessness, affecting nearly 40,000 students in our state. Thank you State Rep. Donna Bullock for emphasizing the need for comprehensive support programs, and acknowledging the educational challenges posed by housing insecurity. This weeks spotlight on the evolving nature of homelessness is so important. "Doubling up" is now becoming more prevalent than shelter stays, a trend we knew would come when federal legislation changed in 2008. The housing category of "Doubling up" can disqualify many households from services that can eradicate housing instability or the expirience of homelessness quickly. Sustaining a livable wage, maintaining health or mental health appointments, anything and everything becomes almost insurmountable barriers when meeting your basic needs becomes a daily primal task. Overcoming stigma, calls for legislative action, and endorsing bills like HB 127 to waive fees for homeless youth will all help to improve our system. We need to unite to ensure every child has a path to success! #EndYouthHomelessness #EndHomelessness https://lnkd.in/gqCni4ek

Important research findings here…

I have learned so much about affordable housing from physicians and health professionals. The research is clear and Dr. Kushel is clear and concise in relating the data. #homelessness #HousingStability https://lnkd.in/gNkFmgzu

California is leading the nation in solutions to homelessness. And yes, out of necessity. The wealth gap here grows already high incomes of top earners through real estate. Meanwhile, those with the lowest incomes find themselves on the streets, a crisis worsening amidst crushing inflation and tragically rampant healthcare bankruptcy. As Margot Kushel MD of the UCSF Benioff Homelessness & Housing Initiative points out, people are largely homeless because they can’t afford sustainable housing, and we have a shortage of it. Mental health and substance use disorders may contribute to keeping people on the streets - and likely to job loss or reduced income potential that made rent difficult - but when housed first, they accept treatment and stay housed. It’s a just path to recovery. California is solving this in many ways, understanding health and social drivers are linked. In addition to numerous initiatives to create new housing, Governor Gavin Newsom has a major behavioral health overhaul to divert >$1 billion a year from a millionaire’s tax known as BHSA, originally designed solely for services for those with severe mental illness, toward #housingfirst. The fund is also newly open to substance use treatment, recognizing its inextricable link to mental illness (ie whole person financing). BHSA is an elegant solution if you think about it - ensuring taxes on CA’s rapidly rising number of millionaires fund housing for homelessness they (often inadvertently) contribute to. While there remain concerns that BHSA shifting funds to housing will reduce county-led early intervention for the mental health challenges of children, acknowledging that lack of affordable housing is a key driver no amount of BH services can solve alone is the right thing to do. Plus, there are plenty of homeless families who could benefit, reducing risk of MH/SUD’s this particular adverse childhood experience may bring on. And we have other massive, new investments in children’s BH like Palav Babaria’s ECM, BH-CONNECT, Melissa Stafford Jones & Autumn Boylan, M.P.H.’s amazing Children & Youth Behavioral Health Initiative, now with free Brightline care. We also have housing supports baked into Medi-Cal’s new Community Supports benefit, BHCIP’s sister grant CCE, and others. Exodus Recovery Inc’s new Safe Landing facility is a perfect example where integrated care and housing-first funding come together. https://lnkd.in/g_Z_AdfE Leaning into the complexities of homelessness and other traumatic, health-related social drivers is what sets California apart these days under INCREDIBLE state leadership. We may not be perfect, and we may continue to see our wealth gap widen, driving adults and families into the streets. But at least we can earnestly say we’re trying - with every resource for health equity at our disposal. As we succeed, other states will follow. #mentalhealthishealth. #housingisahumanright. Blaming homelessness on #substanceuse ignores the full story.

Many of us in California and across the country, whether you work on housing issues or just consume the news, understand that there is a housing crisis here in the Golden State. Why is it such a stretch for people to see housing affordability at the center of homelessness? The news likes to report on those with resources leaving the state due to cost of living and companies relocating to support their middle-income workforce, but do not apply the logic of housing affordability as a determinant to why there is a growing number of Californians living without safe and adequate housing. The narrative needs to change. This is a policy issue and in California the direction of systemic change needs to be at the center of every person seeking office across the state and voter who elects them. Thanks to incredible work of Margot Kushel MD, her team at UCSF, and others across the field, we know so much more today than we did yesterday and will know even more tomorrow. So today and everyday, it is up to all Californians to challenge the harmful prevailing narratives and stand up to the NIMBYs so that all Californians have an opportunity to thrive!

Could not be more proud of the young people, advocates, policy makers, and providers that led to a 40% reduction of youth homelessness since 2016. This is in large part due to the creation of the Office of Homeless Youth, innovative services from A Way Home WA, on the ground advocacy from organizations like The Mockingbird Society, and many more who came together to address youth homelessness and push more upstream towards prevention. WA continues to be a great example to other states of how partnership and supportive policy and practice can make real change. https://lnkd.in/ghc8fwC6

Do you work with people who have unstable housing or are unhoused? Or maybe you have experienced the housing crisis personally? Please take this survey.

Repost from the National Homelessness Law Center: In a profoundly disappointing ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court today decided that the US Constitution does not protect homeless people against cruel and unusual punishment, even when they have no choice to sleep in public using things like blankets or pillows. Arresting or fining people for trying to survive is expensive, counterproductive, and cruel. This inhumane ruling, which goes against the values of nearly three-quarters of Americans, will make homelessness worse in Grants Pass and nationwide. Cities are now even more empowered to neglect proven housing-based solutions and to arrest or fine those with no choice but to sleep outdoors. While we are disappointed, we are not surprised that this Supreme Court ruled against the interests of our poorest neighbors. In addition, as quoted today by the National Health Care for the Homeless Council, we know this ruling "will not fall on unhoused people equally: Black, Brown, and Indigenous people experience homelessness in disproportionately high numbers, and they are also targeted, fined, and arrested for being present in public spaces at higher rates. Racism is a driving force in who experiences homelessness in this country, and how people of color interact with police and the courts. Forcing more stigmatized, vulnerable people into the criminal justice system compounds the deep racial injustices connected with homelessness."  National Harm Reduction Coalition joins the National Homelessness Law Center, National Health Care for the Homeless Council and the hundredths of advocacy and services organizations, and unhoused people across the country that mobilized against this landmark case to state that "no one should be punished for sleeping outside, especially when they have no other options." We also demand the Biden administration and Congress to invest at least $356 billion in the next year with continued funding in future years to ensure that everybody has safe, decent housing that they can afford. #housingnothandcuff #supportdontpunish #nooneshouldbepunishedforsleepingoutside ❤️