From Don Fornoff, Bishop’s Task Force to the Unhoused:
First of all, we are saddened to hear of the passing of House Speaker Emeritus Frank Chopp. Chopp was a mentor, friend of homelessness advocates, and advocate for low-income people in Washington. He had retired but hadn’t gone away. He attended the groundbreaking of the St. Luke’s Build. Frank Chopp will be missed.
Reading about issues related to homelessness is always eye-opening. I find these issues quite helpful for understanding why we do what we do and why we serve those who are unhoused and at risk of becoming unhoused. I hope parish outreach folks will read the following, find the thoughts helpful, and continue reading others as we progress.
Homelessness has always been with us, not apparently in large numbers until after the Civil War. According to USICH, jobless veterans struggled to find formal housing in increasingly crowded cities. Millions of formerly enslaved people also experienced homelessness. In the former Confederacy, vagrancy laws allowed authorities to arrest those who appeared to be unemployed. This is an early example of how poverty, race, and the criminalization of homelessness arose and have been part of the American landscape ever since. We only need to look at the Supreme Court decision in ‘Johnson v. Grants Pass’ to see it is still with us. For me, it shows we must keep our eyes on local and state jurisdictions to ensure fair justice is served. Asking questions about whether poverty and race are discriminatory in your local situation is important to find out how to honestly serve those who become unhoused.
Further reading took me recently to an article in the NY Times written by author Brian Goldstone. He cited the 2010 census, which found nearly half of unhoused people staying in shelters and 40% of those living outdoors had formal employment (I doubt this analysis has changed in the decade since, as contributing circumstances are virtually unchanged). Goldstone contends these numbers don’t reflect the full scale of working while homeless. The author says that losing one’s job isn’t the greatest threat for millions of Americans. It is that the job will never pay enough, never provide enough hours, never offer enough stability to keep them housed. Goldstone phrases it that workers aren’t “falling” into homelessness, they are being “pushed.” Consider how these situations affect service outcomes, including planning for intended outcomes. The author continues to explore the structural reasons for less housing, including the gutting of low-income housing. Instead, the reasons given for homelessness emphasize mental illness and addiction. This is dangerous thinking. To quote Goldstone, “Because when work no longer provides stability, when wages are too low and rents are too high, when millions of people are one medical bill, one rent hike away from losing their homes- who, exactly, is safe? Brian Goldstone is the author of “There is No Place for Us: Working and Homelessness in America,” which is currently on sale.
As we look towards Olympia, we find the rent stabilization bill, EHB1217, had a scheduled vote to move out of the Senate Housing Committee on Wednesday, March 26. Town Halls I listened to in my District 32 provided positive support for this bill to become law. Keep an eye on HB 1858, 2SHB 1696, and SB 5469. My District 32, Sen. Salomon, sponsors the latter and would ban using algorithms such as RealPage to set rent increases. All need positive support not to exacerbate the homelessness crisis in Washington State.
Be well, do good works, love one another,
Don Fornoff, Chair of the Bishop’s Task Force to the Unhoused
