EP 883 Homelessness Remains a Daunting Challenge

Gallup ranks homelessness as one of Americans’ top three concerns.  As it dovetails with the affordable housing crisis in this country, more and more people recognize how they, themselves, are a paycheck away from instability as it relates to having a roof over their heads.  The homelessness we are experiencing today finds its roots in policies in the 1980’s which shred many safety nets.  Given long waiting lines for federal low-income housing only about a quarter of those eligible for assistance actually receive help.  Public housing itself has been starved of funding and demonized in the public discourse.  And since the housing bubble burst in 2009, the shortage of housing has seen private equity players moving into the housing market and driving up prices.  No one understands these issues better than Maria Foscarinis, the author of “And Housing for All: The Fight to End Homelessness in America” and the founder of the National Homelessness Law Center, which she led for nearly 32 years.  As growing numbers of people find themselves in desperate circumstances living in anything other than permanent housing, we have begun criminalizing the practice of having no shelter.  It is not a hopeful time for a growing number of Americans.

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