Thank you for sharing this. What is your roadmap to get there? With outside organizations doing their best to persuade legislators that laws are needed to get rid of homeless individuals by putting them in jail, or pushing them over the borders to less conservative states. Many of these people are victims of poverty, disabilities, inadequate local resources, and ingnorance. As housing affordability gets further and further beyond the reach of low-income individuals, and is now creeping up into the middle class, it has become a health crisis, safety crisis, and economic crisis. If you follow this trend line, the future is not looking good for all of us. The national average age of a first-time home buyer is now 45+. Think about that. The average cost of a new car is now $42K. These numbers are not sustainable, especially because wages have not kept pace with costs. More and more people have no savings, no pensions, and are only one life-crisis away from becoming homeless. Seniors are now especially hard hit, as they develop more serious medical needs, and other assistance and care. Are we going to see our baby boomer grandparents end up sleeping in the parks? How can federal legislators not see this as a top priority? Vote!!!
The United Nations Human Rights Committee recently called on U.S. officials to abolish laws criminalizing homelessness in concluding observations from the body’s fifth periodic report on the country. The call comes as state and local officials continue to pass a litany of laws that criminalize aspects of homelessness, like sleeping outside, sharing food, and panhandling. The recommendations also follow a report from the National Homelessness Law Center, University of Miami School of Law Human Rights Clinic and Miami Coalition to Advance Racial Equity (MCARE) that shows the U.S. is failing to stem the tide of rising homelessness and failing to provide adequate, affordable housing. Siya Hegde, Civil & Human Rights Attorney for the Law Center, told the U.N. Human Rights Committee that the lack of affordable housing in the U.S. helps fuel the harmful narrative that mental health issues are a root cause of homelessness. Hegde said that many U.S. jurisdictions like New York City are using forced treatment policies as a proxy to criminalize homelessness. Read more from Invisible People : https://loom.ly/IIuQ5SQ