Without Housing, the Poor Will Perish
by Janny Castillo
"Wet Night On Sutter Street." In this painting by Christine Hanlon, a homeless person sleeps outside a fancy clothing store on a rainy night while well-dressed mannequins are dry and warm inside.
"The government pegs homeless persons as dysfunctional human beings in need of rehabilitation. This report says, 'I don't care how many life-skills trainings you give me; if I don't have a place to live, I am going to be homeless."
-- Paul Boden, WRAP Executive Director"Until this government invests billions of dollars more a year in housing for the poor, homelessness will increase and deaths will increase."
-- Terry Messman, Street Spirit editorAccording to a U.S. Department of Education report, more than 600,000 identified homeless students attended public schools in the 2003-2004 school years. These children are invisible. They will not be seen on rooftops in flood waters, trapped and afraid. Their desperate faces are not plastered across our televisions, moving the country to do something, anything, to help. They are survivors of a different and more subtle catastrophe than Katrina.
On November 14, 2006, a group of homeless advocates met in front of the Federal Building in San Francisco to announce the release of a report written by the Western Regional Advocacy Project (WRAP) entitled, "Without Housing: Decades of Federal Housing Cutbacks, Massive Homelessness and Policy Failures." Juan Prada, director of the Coalition on Homelessness, organized the event. The 80-page report documents 25 years of federal housing cuts that have resulted in "a new and massive episode of homelessness."
"Those on the front line of homelessness -- homeless people and the providers who serve them -- are drowning in a sea of blame," said WRAP Executive Director Paul Boden. "We have joined together to speak the truth. Until federal affordable housing programs are restored and expanded, homelessness will continue to grow."
We Accuse the U.S. Government of Causing a Homeless Epidemic
A national study is released proving the link between federal housing cuts and the huge rise in homelessness
by Joanna Letz
Without Housing is a new report issued by the Western Regional Advocacy Project. The cover painting by Art Hazelwood vividly shows the steep rise in homelessness.
In front of the Federal Building in San Francisco, we assembled. Banners waving in the wind declared: "Stop the criminalization of homelessness. Being poor is not a crime. Housing justice for all!"
On November 14, in front of the Federal Building, the Western Regional Advocacy Project's report, "Without Housing," was publicly released. The report was released in seven cities across the country, including Seattle, Washington, Los Angeles, and San Juan, Puerto Rico.
The speakers, who came from a Bay Area-wide coalition of poverty justice organizers including The Coalition on Homelessness, POOR Magazine, Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency and the American Friends Service Committee, reiterated the need for systemic change to end homelessness. The report includes many harsh statistics on the cuts in federal funding for affordable housing and its direct connection to the rise in homelessness all over the nation
WRAP's new report is a call to action by a group of people who are directly affected by federal and local policies on poverty and homelessness, and who are taking charge to affect those policies. As Paul Boden, executive director of WRAP, said, "The report is meant to be used as an organizing and training tool."
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