Housing for all isn’t radical…it is common sense.

This post is adapted from a keynote speech I gave for Attain Housing as part of their Home is Still Where the Heart Is, Week of Giving.

Why do people choose to be homeless?

Why don’t they just get a job?

Why are homeless people allowed to sleep in our parks? They should go to shelter or go to jail.

Why don’t they stop abusing drugs and alcohol?

Why do we make it so easy for homeless people in “free-atle” that people come from all over to use our services?

Why do we spend some much on homelessness? It’s a waste of money.

These are the questions I’ve heard every day for the last decade. I’ve heard them from people like you and me. From elected officials. From media. And on Twitter. We ask these questions because we want to blame people for their situation rather than deal with the reality that we have a homelessness crisis because our systems are broken. Our systems are racist. Our systems unjust.

Housing for all isn’t radical it is common sense.

Homelessness is a crisis in King County. On any given night more than 12,000 people will experience homelessness — including more than 5,000 who are unsheltered. They are staying on our streets, in our parks, in vehicles and tents. They are moms and dads. Aunts and uncles. Grandparents, veterans, college students, and young children. And far too often they are people of color who are homeless because of systemic racism and oppression.

For each of them homelessness is a personal crisis — for our region it is a humanitarian crisis and a public health crisis that requires bold and urgent action. Think about it — in a community as prosperous as ours, we leave thousands without a safe place to sleep. The health and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic will cause even more people to fall into homelessness — and the data tells us that Black, indigenous and other people of color will be over represented.

It is unacceptable. It is unjust. And it is fixable.

Housing ends homelessness. And supportive services and income supports keep people in housing. But our community doesn’t have nearly enough housing for people with low incomes and our crisis response system is overwhelmed.

That is why I love the work Attain Housing is doing. They are helping people get off the streets and into housing and they are preventing families from experiencing the trauma of homelessness.

I know a bit about the trauma of homelessness. Over the last fifteen years I’ve worked with people experiencing homelessness across our region. I’ve watched as their pride and dignity was shattered. I’ve heard the stories of being alone, outside without some place to go. I’ve seen people look past them, ignoring their very presence. I’ve heard people blame them for their experience. And I’ve seen how grateful they are for so little.

Homelessness is also deeply personal. My mom, Fran, struggled with chronic homelessness for many years. Growing up she was your average mom. She worked hard. Took her kids to school and ballet and baseball. And loved her family unconditionally. And then something happened. Financials challenges and diagnosed mental illness led her world to fall apart. She spiraled down a path of substance abuse, lost income, and eventually separation from my dad and much of the world. She went in and out of shelters, hotels, and rehab programs. But what she needed was housing. She spent her days riding buses between job interviews and social service organizations. She spent her nights behind a church struggling to stay safe and warm. She was lonely and afraid. She would fall asleep reading and dreaming about how she would decorate her future home.

She didn’t choose to be homeless — I don’t know anyone who does. She worked when could. She felt safer outside then in shelters and used alcohol to stay warm and cope with the trauma of homelessness.

My mom and I talked every night. We would talk about politics, books, the future, and housing. Housing she would never get. Her story ended when she died, alone, unsheltered on a beach, in my hometown. Her cause of death — homelessness.

That shouldn’t have happened to my mom or any moms. And that is why places like Attain Housing are so important. They provide hope and healing, and most importantly homes.

I work to fight homelessness every day because of my mom and people like her. And what I know is that we have the ability to end homelessness but don’t have the public or political will.

People don’t choose to be homeless. But we as a community and as a country — we choose not to end it. But together we can change that. Because housing for all isn’t radical…it is common sense.

Let’s be clear about the facts:

• Homelessness is a form of deep poverty that happens when no other options exist. No family or friends to stay with. No where to turn.
• Homelessness is caused by our affordable housing crisis.
• King County needs 41,000 more apartments affordable to extremely low income renters in King County.
• Our history of discrimination and racism have resulted in Black, Indigenous, and other people of color being over represented in our homeless system.
• Consider this, although Black people comprise 13% of the general population in the United States and 26% of those living in poverty, they account for more than 40% of the homeless population, suggesting that poverty rates alone do not explain the over-representation.”
• 70% of Attain Housing clients are people of color. Why? Because of the racism and discrimination in our education, finance, and employments systems that keep people of color from earning better wages and accessing housing. And systems that discharge people into homelessness — like our child welfare and justice systems.

COVID-19 is keeping us more isolated and more stressed. But it’s can’t keep us from solving homelessness. If poverty, a lack of affordable housing, racism and discrimination cause homelessness — what do we do about it?

1. We need to elect housing champions at every level of government. Ending homelessness requires money for affordable housing and housing solutions at scale. We need to elect leaders who believe housing is a human right and will fight so no one experiences homelessness. Housing for all isn’t radical…it is common sense.

2. We need to mobilize our friends and neighbors: We need to build the public and political will to build affordable housing and shelters in your backyard and my backyard. And we need to advocate to dismantle broken, racist and unjust systems. We built them and we can tear them down and rebuild an equitable system that prioritizes housing for all. Housing for all isn’t radical..it is common sense.

3. We need to take care of our neighbors by supporting organizations like Attain Housing. Because while we wait for elections and votes and policy reforms, our moms and sisters and grandparents are becoming homeless.

The need is now.

It is urgent.

And you can be part of the solution.

Housing for all isn’t radical - it is common sense.