WESTERN REGIONAL ADVOCACY PROJECT: WITHOUT HOUSING www.wraphome.org - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

WESTERN REGIONAL ADVOCACY PROJECT: WITHOUT HOUSING

www.wraphome.org

WESTERN REGIONAL ADVOCACY PROJECT: WITHOUT HOUSING

Member Organizations

Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency Berkeley, CA www.self-sufficiency.org Coalition on Homelessness San Francisco, CA www.cohsf.org/en/ Los Angeles Community Action Network Los Angeles, CA www.cangress.org Street Roots Portland, OR www.streetroots.org Sisters Of The Road Portland, OR www.sistersoftheroad.org Right 2 Survive PDX Portland, OR www.right2survive.wordpress.com Sacramento Homeless Organizing Committee Sacramento, CA www.sacshoc.org

• St. Mary’s Center

Oakland, CA www.stmaryscenter.org Street Spirit San Francisco, CA www.thestreetspirit.org

WESTERN REGIONAL ADVOCACY PROJECT: WITHOUT HOUSING

WESTERN REGIONAL ADVOCACY PROJECT: WITHOUT HOUSING

• 1. Historical Context
• 2. Political & Economic

Factors

• 3. Cuts to Low-Income

Housing Programs

• 4. Homelessness in the U.S.
• 5. Band-Aid Solutions
• 6. Federal Funding Priorities
• 7. What must be done!

Overview

WESTERN REGIONAL ADVOCACY PROJECT: WITHOUT HOUSING

Historical Context

WESTERN REGIONAL ADVOCACY PROJECT: WITHOUT HOUSING

A Tale of Two Acts

There have been two episodes of mass homelessness in the United States. Legislation from each era tells the story…

WESTERN REGIONAL ADVOCACY PROJECT: WITHOUT HOUSING

Act I

• The Housing Act of 1937

committed: “to remedy the unsafe & unsanitary housing conditions & the acute shortage of decent, safe, & sanitary dwellings for families of lower income…”

WESTERN REGIONAL ADVOCACY PROJECT: WITHOUT HOUSING

Act II

• The Quality Housing &

Work Responsibility Act of 1998 declared: “the Federal Government cannot through its direct action alone provide housing

• f every American, or even

the majority of its citizens.”

WESTERN REGIONAL ADVOCACY PROJECT: WITHOUT HOUSING

Political & Economic Factors

WESTERN REGIONAL ADVOCACY PROJECT: WITHOUT HOUSING

War on the Poor

• Trickle-down economics
• Welfare reform
• Mass imprisonment
• Punitive immigration policies
• Attacks on unions
• Income inequality, job

insecurity, & debt

• Privatization of public services

WESTERN REGIONAL ADVOCACY PROJECT: WITHOUT HOUSING

Housing As Commodity

• Feds turn housing over to

private market in the 1970s.

• 360,000 project-based Section

8 units lost through conversion to market rate since 1995.

• Over 3 million foreclosures

since 2008.

• 15 million vacant housing units

in 2010.

WESTERN REGIONAL ADVOCACY PROJECT: WITHOUT HOUSING

Cutbacks in Low-Income Housing Programs

WESTERN REGIONAL ADVOCACY PROJECT: WITHOUT HOUSING

$0 $20,000 $40,000 $60,000 $80,000 $100,000 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 2004 Constant Millions of dollars

Cause and Effect

HUD’s budget authority was cut by 77% from 1978 to 1983. As a result emergency shelters opened nationwide.

HUD Low/Moderate-Income Housing Assistance

WESTERN REGIONAL ADVOCACY PROJECT: WITHOUT HOUSING

Rural Housing Cuts

USDA built 38,650 affordable housing units in 1979 & only 763 in 2011 — a 98% cut.

5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45

1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

Numbers of New Unites by Thousands

Rural Affordable Housing Units Created by Section 515 (USDA)

WESTERN REGIONAL ADVOCACY PROJECT: WITHOUT HOUSING

Starving Public Housing

• Over 210,000 units lost through sales,

demolition, & HOPE VI program.

• $26 billion in repairs needed due to
• ngoing capital fund cuts.
• HUD now says only private investment

can save public housing.

• New demonstration allows 60,000 units

to be mortgaged off.

• Nation’s most permanent form of low-

income housing is being lost.

WESTERN REGIONAL ADVOCACY PROJECT: WITHOUT HOUSING

Homelessness in U.S.

WESTERN REGIONAL ADVOCACY PROJECT: WITHOUT HOUSING

Race & Homelessness

Race/Ethnicity Estimated % of nation’s total population (from US Census Data, 1990,2000 and 2009 estimates) Estimated % of nation’s homeless population (homeless counts/surveys between 1991 and 2009) African-American 12-12.3% 40-56% Asian/Pacific Islander 3.9-4.4% 1-3% Hispanic/Latino 9-15% 12-15% Native American 0.8-1.2% 3-4% White 59-71% 32-39%

WESTERN REGIONAL ADVOCACY PROJECT: WITHOUT HOUSING

Impacts on Communities

• Families with children are fastest

growing group of homeless people.

• Seniors and people with disabilities

can be found in shelters and under bridges in many communities.

• Lack of legal status, rights, & public

benefits fuels homelessness amongst undocumented immigrants.

WESTERN REGIONAL ADVOCACY PROJECT: WITHOUT HOUSING

Band-Aid Solutions

WESTERN REGIONAL ADVOCACY PROJECT: WITHOUT HOUSING

The Vicious Cycle of Homeless Policy

Increased homelessness.

Temporary responses to homelessness that fail to address the systemic causes of homelessness.

Stereotypes of homeless people as degenerate. Periodic calls for local homeless plans based on the newest policy.

Premise that homelessness is caused by the deficiencies of homeless people.

Ever-changing policies

geared toward fixing different sub- populations of homeless people.

WESTERN REGIONAL ADVOCACY PROJECT: WITHOUT HOUSING

Criminalization of Homelessness

• Sleeping outside, sitting or lying on the sidewalk,

hanging out, & panhandling are now criminal acts.

• Business Improvement Districts use private security

to remove homeless people from public space.

• Revives aspects of Jim Crow, Ugly Laws, Anti-Okie

Laws, & Operation Wetback.

WESTERN REGIONAL ADVOCACY PROJECT: WITHOUT HOUSING

Federal Funding Priorities

WESTERN REGIONAL ADVOCACY PROJECT: WITHOUT HOUSING

Lethal Tradeoffs

$0 $500 $1,000 $1,500

Funding War vs Public Housing

Cumulative Budget Outlays FY01-11 $1.2 TRILLION Current Dollars in Billions

WESTERN REGIONAL ADVOCACY PROJECT: WITHOUT HOUSING

Mortgage Interest Deductions

$- $20,000 $40,000 $60,000 $80,000 $100,000 $120,000 $140,000

Federal Tax Expenditures on Home Ownership

2004 Constant Dollars in Millions * Includes stimulus funding under the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act.

WESTERN REGIONAL ADVOCACY PROJECT: WITHOUT HOUSING

What Must Be Done

WESTERN REGIONAL ADVOCACY PROJECT: WITHOUT HOUSING

Making Housing A Human Right

• Restore federal housing funding.
• Turn vacant buildings into housing.
• Repeal immigration status as screening

criteria for housing assistance.

• End demolitions without replacement

and right of return.

• Stop the criminalization of poor

people.

WESTERN REGIONAL ADVOCACY PROJECT: WITHOUT HOUSING

Organize Around People

• Build alliances across race,

nationality, class, gender, & religion.

• Connect organizing for housing

to education, health care, dignified work, immigrant rights, Native People’s sovereignty, & economic security.

• Value mutual humanity.

WESTERN REGIONAL ADVOCACY PROJECT: WITHOUT HOUSING

Take Action Now

• Connect local organizing with

efforts to build a broader social justice movement.

• Speak out for housing as a

human right!

• Educate your community!
• Join WRAP!

WESTERN REGIONAL ADVOCACY PROJECT: WITHOUT HOUSING

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