Room for Everyone

1
Room for Everyone

• Realizing the Human Right to Housing

2
The Prescription for Homelessness is Housing
3
Basis for a Right to Housing

• The right to adequate housing is founded and
  recognized under international law.  Enunciated
  under article 25(1) of the Universal Declaration
  of Human Rights, the right to adequate housing
  has been codified in other major international
  human rights treaties. 
• Article 11(1) of the ICESCR provides that "States
  Parties to the present Covenant recognize the
  right of everyone to an adequate standard of
  living for himself and his family, including
  adequate . . . housing, and to the continuous
  improvement of living conditions." 

4
Basis for a Right to Housing

• In 1996, the U.N. conference on human
  settlements, Habitat II, focused on the human
  right to housing.
• The U.S. participated in the conference and
  signed the conference documents the Habitat
  Agenda and Istanbul Declaration. While not
  treaties, and thus not binding, these documents
  outline commitments made by the signatory
  nations, and include sections focusing not just
  on housing but also specifically on homelessness.
  

5
Basis for a Right to Housing

• Human rights law defines the right to housing as
  consisting of seven elements
• legal security of tenure
• availability of services, resources and
  infrastructure
• affordability
• habitability
• accessibility
• location and
• cultural adequacy.

6
Basis for a Right to Housing

• When a nation recognizes the right to housing, it
  takes on a four-fold obligation
• to respect,
• protect,
• promote and
• fulfill the right.

7
Practical, Cost Benefit Reasons for Right to
Housing

• For those living in inadequate housing conditions
  they include, at a minimum, the multiple health
  and safety problems that arise from lead
  poisoning, rat bites, fires, asphyxiation (from
  poorly ventilated heating systems), communicable
  diseases, asthma (Rosenstreich et al. 1997),
  other forms of sickness.

8
Moral Reasons for a Right to Housing

• Homeless persons are three to four times more
  likely to die prematurely than those who are
  housed. (Jim OConnell, NHCHC, 2005)

9
What is the U.S. Housing Policy?

• Congress in its preamble to the 1949 Housing Act
  promulgated the National Housing Goal of the
  implementation as soon as feasible of a decent
  home and suitable living environment for every
  American family.
• That goal was reiterated in the 1968 Housing Act
  and, in slightly different versions, in the 1974
  and 1990 Housing Acts.

10
U.S. Housing Policy

• U.S. Housing Act amended in 1996 to declare that
  the federal government "cannot provide for the
  housing of every American citizen, or even a
  majority of its citizens

11
The U.S. Reality

• In no county in the U.S. can someone working
  full time at minimum wage afford an average
  one-bedroom apartment. (National Low Income
  Housing Coalition 2006)
• 800,000 to 1 Million Americans are homeless on
  any given night.

12
Bringing America Home Act (BAHA)

• Housing Security Provisions Include
• Establishing a National goal of ending
  homelessness by fulfilling the human need of
  housing
• A National Housing Trust Fund
• 1,500,000 Section 8 vouchers for low-income
  families over ten years
• Increased authorization levels of Housing and
  Urban Development (HUD), United States Department
  of Agriculture (USDA), and Veterans'
  Administration (VA) Housing Programs

13
NHCHC Housing Recommendations

• Reauthorize and appropriate 1.8 billion for
  McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance programs
  within the Department of Housing and Urban
  Development (HUD).
• Expand the HUD definition of homelessness to
  include people sharing the housing of others due
  to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a
  similar reason, and people living in motels due
  to lack of adequate alternatives.
• Establish a National Housing Trust Fund to build,
  preserve, and rehabilitate 1.5 million units of
  housing affordable to low-income people over the
  next ten years.
• Preserve and increase current publicly assisted
  housing. Fund all Section 8 housing vouchers
  currently in use, and provide additional funding
  for a minimum of 150,000 new vouchers.
• Restore the requirement for a one-to-one
  replacement of low-income housing units to
  increase the availability of affordable housing.

14
NHCHC Housing Recommendations

• Establish housing first policies to replace
  housing readiness policies that keep thousands
  of our most vulnerable neighbors from appropriate
  housing resources and supportive services.
• Fund renewals of the Shelter Plus Care and
  Supportive Housing Programs from HUDs Housing
  Certificate Fund.
• Enact the Bringing America Home Act,
  comprehensive legislation combating the housing,
  health, and economic issues that create and
  sustain homelessness.
• Support public and private initiatives that keep
  people from becoming homeless.
• Assure that targeted services funded by HUD are
  maintained as HUD support is withdrawn.

15
Housing First Approach

• Housing First
• Immediate access to permanent housing
• Treatment and sobriety is not a prerequisite
• Assertive Community Treatment (ACT)
• Intensive case management
• Services delivered in the community
• Non-traditional approach to engagement

16
Denver Housing First Outcomes

• 138 Enrolled
• 107 Active
• 31 Discharged
• 25 Female
• 113 Male

17
Denver Housing First Outcomes

• Of 107 Active clients - 96 are currently housed
• 77 of total clients initially housed are still
  housed
• 80 of clients maintained initial housing for at
  least 6 months
• Of those in program more than one year, 68 are
  currently housed
• Of those in program more than one year, 44
  maintained their initial housing for one year or
  more

18
Denver Housing First Outcomes
Comparing
Housing/Homeless Status
Denver
National
19
NEXT STEPS