At Long Last-A National Solution for Homelessness
Have you ever wondered why you keep hearing about new homeless programs, plans and Mayors’ outreach efforts yet homelessness remains such an entrenched part of our society?
Over the past twenty (20) years San Francisco must have written at least ten (10) homeless plans. They couldn’t all have sucked, could they? And if they did, what does that say about the current Ten Year Plan?
San Francisco is not alone in this. Every community that attempts to get federal money to address the needs of its homeless population has written as many (or more) plans as we have with the same sorry results as we’ve had.
Is every person in every town who has ever attempted to address the issue of homelessness in their community an idiot?
Some might say yes, they’re all idiots. I think not, and since I’m the one writing this article, for the purpose of this debate, we will proceed with my assumption. Not everybody who is working on the issues of homelessness in communities across this country are idiots. Yet everybody is getting their asses kicked.
So, then we must ask ourselves: What is going wrong? What is the missing from the equation that is causing all of these homeless programs to fail?
The Bringing America Act (BAHA) is what is missing! BAHA is the first truly comprehensive piece of federal legislation that deals with the issues of homelessness throughout our country.
The Bringing America Home Act doesn’t call for local communities to write yet another homeless plan. It calls on the federal government to adequately fund the plans that already exist.
BAHA doesn’t call for yet another needs assessment of homeless mentally ill people sleeping in our parks and on our streets. It calls for federal funding for our community health clinics so they can provide treatment for people suffering with mental illness.
The Bringing America Home Act calls on the federal government to pass and fully fund the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund (creating thousands of jobs, along with over 1 million new homes) and issue 1.5 million HUD Section 8 vouchers for poor families over the next ten years.
Believe me, nothing turns a stupid local homeless plan into an enlightened piece of public policy faster than the actual creation of homes for homeless people.
The Bringing America Home Act includes provisions encompassing all aspects of homelessness, and sets a standard (and funding) for our entire nation to follow. From education, civil rights and livable wages to health care, Head Start, eviction prevention, and housing. BAHA is this generation’s New Deal or War on Poverty program.
For over twenty (20) years now, local communities have provided the federal government with plans and documentation regarding the devastating impact of homelessness on people. What we have gotten in response is massive reductions in funding for our social safety nets and requirements to produce more plans. Over… and over… and over again. Five year plans, Ten year plans, Continuum of Care Plans, Chronic Homelessness Plans.
Over… and over… and over again the same crappy result. More homelessness, More Plans.
The Bringing Home America Act breaks through this living monument to stupidity and finally provides us with a National Plan of the federal government that shows what it will do to address this nations crisis of homelessness.
To learn more about, and get involved in the work to pass, the Bringing America Home Act contact
- your local homeless coalition
- your local congressional representative
- any or all of the national homeless, housing, health care, unions, education or civil rights groups involved in this campaign.
- Come to this summer’s Bringing America Home Act Town Hall meeting to be hosted by the Western Regional Advocacy Project. We are awaiting confirmation of Congresswoman Barbara Lee’s attendance as she is an original co-sponsor of BAHA.
The National Policy and Advocacy Council on Homelessness (NPACH) has a website that is kept up to date on BAHA. It lists groups that people can join up with in local areas and in DC. It can be found here.
In the next several STREET SHEET issues we will break out different sections of BAHA and highlight its goals and purpose. We do so in the hope that information brings action, and when that happens we can Bring Home America.
Paul
