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POLICY MATTERS
A monthly update on policy issues in the fight against homelessness in NYC.
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With New York City's increasing homeless population reaching crisis proportions, experts from Care for the Homeless and the MPA program at Long Island University will host a Policy Forum on June 14th on how to prevent and end homelessness in New York City.
This full day forum at LIU Brooklyn's campus will bring together leading policymakers, advocates, service providers and clients, and academics to review all facets of the issue and develop policy options to end the homelessness crisis in New York City. Panels will explore both state and federal policy as well as issues such as mental health services, causes of homelessness and how the issue is presented in the media.
"The modern day homelessness crisis in New York City, and across the country, was created by poor policy choices," according to Care for the Homeless Policy Director Jeff Foreman. "Better policy choices could end homelessness as we know it. This Policy Forum is all about those better policies."
The Policy Forum will include a light breakfast and a working lunch. In addition to presentations and panels, the program will also feature numerous interactive activities and polls. Anyone interested in attending the full day event is requested to register in advance here, email here, or call Care for the Homeless's main office 212-366-4459. At the conference we will be keeping a running list of suggestions and proposals on preventing and ending homelessness, which will be shared with all Forum attendees after the event.
The program, at LIU Brooklyn's campus at Flatbush and DeKalb Avenues, will run from 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 14th. In addition to experts from Care for the Homeless and LIU Brooklyn, the Forum will include speakers and panelists from CUNY's Baruch College; City Limits; Coalition for the Homeless; Concern for Independent Living; Habitat for Humanity; Harvard University; HELP USA; Homeless Services United; the Institute for Children, Poverty & Homelessness; the Legal Aid Society; the National Health Care for the Homeless Council; the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty; the National Low Income Housing Coalition; Pace University; Picture the Homeless; Robin Hood Foundation; and Urban Pathways; as well as city, state and federal government officials.
"The homelessness crisis in New York City is at unacceptable levels, with 60,000 New Yorkers sleeping in City Department of Homeless Services shelters nightly, and thousands and thousands more in other shelter systems or experiencing homelessness on the streets and in public places," LIU Professor Dr. Helisse Levine, Director of the LIU MPA Program said. "We're pleased to partner with Care for the Homeless in sponsoring this Policy Forum in a search for solutions to prevent and end homelessness in New York City."
Don't forget to sign up here and come participate at the Forum on Wednesday, June 14.
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"Skinny" Budget Threatens to Starve Poor and Homeless People; We Need Your Help Now!
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Last week the President and the new Administration released its so-called "skinny" budget. While there was lots of talk about shrinking government, the new budget dramatically increased spending on at least four fronts: it anticipates massive tax cuts, almost all of it going to the very top income earners in the country; it calls for massive increases in the military and defense spending; it increases the cost of immigration enforcement; and it calls for building a small but not inexpensive wall over a very short portion of the U.S.-Mexican border.
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Source
NPR News
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But to pay for these large new spending initiatives the Administration's budget calls for massive cutbacks in health care; housing programs for unstably housed people and low income people; lower funding to the SNAP program (often referred to as food
stamps) and other nutrition programs; and draconian cuts to vocational and job training programs. These safety net cutbacks, if they were to occur, almost guarantee more homeless and hungry people, especially children.
Read More Here.
Clearly, this proposed budget is just a proposal. Almost no one expects it to pass as is. But it is still alarming that this is the starting point for discussion and negotiations in Washington for the budget due by October 1, 2017. The truth is that cutting safety net and basic needs programs for vulnerable people really doesn't really save money in the long run. For example, cutting health care for poor people only saves resources over time if it meant those not covered stopped getting sick or needing care.
Please join Care for the Homeless in advocating for our neighbors in need. If you Care for the Homeless, too, please call your members of Congress now and tell them. You can reach your U.S. Representative and your U.S. Senators by calling 202-224-3121.
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How Many People Are Homeless in NYC?
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Policy briefings are held on the first Monday of the month
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This month's Care for the Homeless First Monday Policy Briefing will be led by Henie Lustgarten from the
Bronx Health and Housing Consortium ("The Consortium").
Lustgarten will discuss the ways to count people experiencing homelessness in NYC who aren't residing in the DHS Homeless Shelter system. This briefing will also highlight the challenges in understanding the true number of people who are actually experiencing homeless in New York City, and how efforts such as The Consortium's "Hospital Homeless Count" can go a long way in informing both service providers and policy makers about the real figures on homelessness.
In 2017, The Consortium organized its fourth annual "Hospital Homeless Count". This event seeks to identify and count the "hidden homeless", that is individuals who are
not counted during the Department of Homeless Services' HOPE (Homeless Outreach Population Estimate) count. The Hospital Homeless Count targets six Bronx hospitals on nine sites, as well as homeless people staying in emergency rooms on the night of the City's official annual count.
Understanding how many people are actually homeless in NYC goes a long way in informing advocates and service providers about the needs of people experiencing homelessness. Join us at CFH's First Monday Policy Briefing on June 5th at 5 p.m. in the 5th floor conference room at 30 E. 33rd Street, Manhattan. The program is free and open to the public.
You can RSVP here.
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| The Busy Advocate's May Calendar |
Mon., June 5th, 5:00 p.m., CFH First Monday Policy Briefing on "Counting Homeless People in NYC and Just How Many People Are Homeless," CFH C
onference Room, 30 E 33rd St, Manhattan, NY Please
RSVP here.
Wed., June 6th, 2:45 p.m. and June 7th, 9:30 a.m., National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty's Housing Not Handcuffs: National Forum on the Human Right to Housing,
CFH Policy Director Jeff Foreman will be speaking on two panels; "Shorten Homelessness by Stopping its Criminalization" and "Organizing: Building the Movement to End Criminalization-and to Promote the Right to Housing," Sidley Austin LLP, 1501 K Street NW, Washington, DC. Register for the conference here.
Wed., June 7th, 4 p.m. - 7:30 p.m., NYU Furman Center's "By the Numbers: Concentrated Poverty," The forum will focus on poverty, its spatial concentration, and strategies for addressing concentrated poverty.
NYU School of Law, Vanderbilt Hall, 40 Washington Square So., New York, NY.
Wed., June 7th, 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m., VOCAL-NY presents a Town Hall Meeting on Three-Quarter Houses,
Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square South.
Register here
Wed., June 14th, 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., CFH and the LIU MPA program hosts "The Bobby Watts Policy Forum on Preventing and Ending Homelessness in NYC," free program includes presentations by great policymakers, advocates, academics and clients; discussion and Q-and-A sessions; includes a light breakfast reception and lunch keynote address. The forum will be held at LIU Brooklyn campus located at 1 University Plaza, Brooklyn, NY 11201. Open to all, but you must register in advance, which you can do
here.
Tues., June 20th, 4:30 p.m., CFH 4th Annual Summer Solstice Success Celebration, this annual program will celebrate the healthcare, housing, and advocacy successes of currently and formerly homeless New Yorkers. It will also feature live entertainment and a free meal. Broadway Presbyterian, 601 W. 114th Street, Manhattan, NY Please
RVSP here.
Wed., June 21 - Sat. June 24th, 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., National Health Care for the Homeless Council Conference and Policy Symposium, CFH will be sending a delegation to actively participate, including a number of CFH Client Leaders. We're scheduling many meetings with NY Members of Congress while we're in D.C. Register/find more information here.
Click here to download the June 2017 Policy Matters Newsletter
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