Social Justice Superheroes the Mythbusters Tackle the “Lazy Homeless” Stereotype
Filed under: Addiction, Domestic Violence, Education, Financial Crisis, Health, Homeless, Human Rights, Mental Health, Poverty, Social Work | Tags: Homeless, myths, great recession
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We’re on the train on our way home. We strike up a conversation with someone sitting next to us. He’s wearing a suit and has a Bluetooth in his ear, an iPhone in his hand and a laptop on his lap. He works for an insurance company in New York City. He asks what we do, and after we describe our careers, the conversation takes an interesting turn.
He tells us about his younger sister, who is living in North Carolina and has six children. One has developmental delays. Last year her husband lost his job and hasn’t been able to find work. He started drinking heavily six months ago. Three months ago he said he was going to Texas to find work because that’s where the jobs are. She never heard from him again.
This sister has only ever been a stay-at-home mom and only has a high school diploma. She’s been looking for a job, but so far hasn’t found one since she doesn’t have many marketable skills. Even her eldest son, who is 19, has been trying to work but also can’t find a job. She’s depleted her savings, maxed out her credit cards, and the landlord has begun eviction proceedings. She gets multiple calls from creditors each day. She’s depressed and anxious.
Our train companion then asks us what she should do.
Read more at the End Homelessness Cause of Change.org.
Newark, NJ Joins the Movement to End Homelessness
Filed under: Homeless, Human Rights, Law, Leadership, Politics, Poverty | Tags: Homeless, end homelessness, newark, nj, booker, essex-newark, road home
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The city of Newark, New Jersey has officially joined the movement to end homelessness. Recently Mayor Cory Booker, Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo, Jr. and other government officials unveiled The Road Home: A Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness in Newark and Essex County (pdf).
The process to develop this plan began over two years ago with the creation of the Essex-Newark Task Force to End Homelessness and the release last year of that body’s Core Principles (pdf). They’ll be familiar tenets of advocacy to homeless advocates. They include: (1) coordinating services to end homelessness, not manage it; (2) preventing homelessness; (3) adopting aHousing First approach; (4) connecting persons at risk of homelessness to existing services; (5) ensuring an adequate supply of emergency shelter beds; (6) adopting housing policies that end homelessness and are cost effective; and (7) holding themselves accountable for achieving the goals of the plan to be designed.
Well, now the plan has been designed and released and, as expected, it follows the framework outlined in the original core principles.
Read more at the End Homelessness Cause of Change.org.
