Homelessness Is Not Just About Housing

[Donnachaidh]

http://prospect.org/cs/articles?article=homelessness_is_not_just_about_housing

Last week, the federal government announced an unprecedented funding commitment of $216 million to programs -- old and new, rural and urban -- designed to alleviate homelessness nationwide. The grants exceed last year's total by $26 million, with more than $16 million for novel approaches.

As Americans continue to recover from economic downturn, mortgage mayhem, and unemployment, programs serving the country's most economically disadvantaged citizens are critical. According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, the number of homeless families has increased in 31 out of 50 states since 2008. Nearly three-quarters of all U.S. households with incomes below the federal poverty line spend more than 50 percent of their monthly income on rent. In other words, many of the working poor live one paycheck away from the streets.

This financial commitment by the federal government to help our country's homeless population is heartening, and so are many of the radical and bold new innovations by social entrepreneurs, community organizers, and social workers. Rosanne Haggerty, MacArthur winner and founder of New York City-based

But it's not just the physical structures that give families a new start; it's also the strategic partnerships Common Ground has built with such organizations as East Brooklyn Congregations, SCO Family of Services, and the Consortium for Worker Education. The most successful advocates understand that homelessness is not just about housing. It's about mental health, disability, domestic violence, child abuse, veterans' affairs, incarceration rates, our societal treatment of the elderly, and racism. Much of the unprecedented federal funding will go to innovative groups that deliberately connect different kinds of social-service organizations -- expanding housing advocacy into health, economic, and community outreach.

More at the link --

[w8liftinglady]

1. This describes 75% of my partner's students

In 5th grade... one working family member making minimum wage... living one check away from homelessness,bouncing from living room to living room.
I hope this program sees some success.

[Initech]

2. I think we should use George Carlin's idea and build homeless shelters on golf courses.

[Aristus]

3. When I first started working in the sphere of healthcare for the homeless

back in 2005, most of our patients were what you might call the chronically homeless. You can imagine them pretty accurately, I suppose; dirty, bedraggled, wearing all of their clothes, poorly nourished, poor dentition, etc.

When I started working in healthcare for the homeless as a healthcare provider a few months back, I discovered the homeless population had changed dramatically since the time I took a sabbatical from medical assisting to attend Physician Assistant School. These days, a lot of my patients look like just hit the streets after a life in the suburbs; clean, well-dressed, well-groomed, few with any drug problems, etc. Victims of the economic downturn, and of piratical corporations greedy to buy and sell packets of mortgages as if they were $5 bets at the track.

I hope our economy recovers soon, and that we can get EVERY one off of the streets, for good.