Share|

Print This Page

The Housing Workgroup at Sisters Of The Road

For upcoming events with our Civil Rights Workgroup, check out Sisters’ calendar

Vision

We envision a community where everyone has an affordable and a safe place to call home. Through research, needs assessments, and relationship-building, we will work towards a greater understanding of our community’s needs for and barriers to affordable housing.

Organizing Principles

Housing Is A Human Right

  • A safe, affordable home is the foundation on which we build our lives. Without that foundation, it is impossible for people truly to thrive.
  • People experiencing homelessness face almost insurmountable obstacles to meeting their basic needs.

Homelessness Is A Consequence Of Policy

  • Mass homelessness in the United States results from the federal government’s divestment in affordable housing and an economic system that fails to treat housing as a human right.
  • Major contributing factors to the escalation of housing insecurity and homelessness include the increasing prevalence of low-wage jobs, the 40-year decline in the median income of American families and American wage earners, and skyrocketing, often catastrophic health care costs.
  • Government has proposed and funded only emergency responses to the rise in mass homelessness.  Over the past 30 years, numerous programs from FEMA’s Emergency Food and Shelter Program to the Stewart B. McKinney Act to the HEARTH Act have created the illusion of addressing the problem.  During the same period, actual spending on homelessness and affordable housing production flatlined even in the face of a massive increase in federal budget outlays.
  • The single largest federal housing-related expenditure is the mortgage interest deduction.  This increased from $37 billion in 1978 to $144 billion by 2008 (in constant 2004 dollars), with 75% of the expenditure benefiting homeowners earning more than $100,000 a year.  In 2008, total expenditure in all federal low-income housing assistance programs was $46 billion.  The net results of these policy priorities were rising housing speculation, enriching banks and real estate corporations, and the economic collapse that left millions in foreclosure.

A Community-Driven Response

  • In the absence of government policy that recognizes the human right to housing, we are committed to exploring community-driven responses to the lack of affordable housing.
  • We will explore barriers to our community’s access to the limited affordable housing stock available, and advocate for the elimination of those barriers.
  • We will empower our community with the information and tools they need to become better advocates for improving their own situations and creating their own responses to mass homelessness.
  • We will join with our community in seeking to educate the public about the causes ands consequences of mass homelessness on the economic well-being of our nation and its residents, and the desperate need for realignment of government policies at all levels.

For More Information


See the Western Regional Advocacy Project’s report, Without Housing. Printed copies of the report are available from Sisters Of The Road for $10.

Contact


Chani Geigle-Teller at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or 503.222.5694 ext. 16,  or just stop by Sisters!