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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-05-22 Correspondence - House the Homeless, Inc ' ' House the Homeless, Inc. P.O. Box 2312 Austin,TX 78768 • Phone: 512.796.4366 National rrtroxell@aol.com Coalition HouseTheHomeless.org Homeless UniversalLivingWage.org ` Bringing America Home Honorable Mayor, j , .,�'l� The Mayor is the fulcrum where the government and the people meet. It is the Mayor who balances budgets,needs, and demands from state, federal and local governments on the one hand, citizens,voters and taxpayers on the other. The Mayor is where the buck stops on dealing with homelessness. The solution to homelessness is simple: generate jobs that pay well enough to afford basic housing for those who can work. While our statistical evidence shows that 91% of people experiencing homelessness want to work, even the federal government reports that 42%of the homeless are working at some point during the week. Clearly,the work ethic is intact. Couple this with basic housing and/or supportive housing for those too old or too sick to work, and we have a solution. As Mayor,you can try other strategies for dealing with your homeless population. You can ticket them, arrest them, and jail them when they don't show up for court or can't pay their fines. That strategy leads to municipal bankruptcy, as it costs three times as much to incarcerate a homeless person per year as it does to provide him or her with basic shelter. Every good, bad and awful idea for dealing with homelessness is contained in my new book,Short Stories in a Long Journey:How to End and Prevent Homelessness,publishing May 1, 2022, in ; conjunction with the Bring America Home Now! campaign by the National Coalition for the Homeless. The book covers my 40-year effort to find a solution for homelessness. I have tried everything, from my early years providing Legal Aid to Austin's homeless,to House the Homeless, an organization I founded that provided job training, drug treatment, and subsidized housing to the homeless.None of it worked by itself. Nothing works for the homeless unless it starts with a wage that makes it possible to afford local housing. I'm the creator of the Universal Living Wage formula linking the minimum wage to local housing costs (currently, $33.60/hour in New York, $11.94/hour in Amarillo, etc.). Itrs catching on with Congress as a way of squaring the Federal Minimum Wage with local housing costs. You can find your city's Universal Living Wage at https://universallivingwage.org/wage-calculator/. As the Mayor,you're always looking for solutions that improve outcomes and reduce costs. This book is full of practical ideas for keeping your homeless population alive and engaged until such time as wages and SSI stipends rise to meet their basic needs. I urge you to purchase a copy of this practical book today—for the city and for your public libraries,often the entryway to services for the homeless. With Thanks for Your Service, 0 Richard�RTroxoell ..+}} `,_ Founder,National Education Director, 1989-present Board of Directors,National Coalition for the Homeless, 1997-present Vietnam Veteran, United States Marines, 1969-1972 There's a solution to homelessness and it costs less than you think! Short Stories in a Long Journey: Short Storics What It Takes to End and Prevent Homelessness by Richard R. Troxell, founder, House the Homeless In a Long Journey Plain View Press, ISBN 978-1-63210-088-7, $23.99 What It Takes to End and Prevent Homelessness "This insightful book explores the efficacy of current approaches to homelessness, proposes innovative solutions, and offers stories of resiliency and hope..." - Lloyd Doggett, U.S. Representative, Texas "This book lays out the issues of homelessness and many solutions. y: A It is just amazing and wonderful!" - Judge Philip Sanders, Magistrate, Western District of Texas "Using meticulous research, wry humor, and dogged stubbornness, - chdr� d this is an account of a visionary...... - Tracey Whitley, Rio Grande Legal Aid More than three million Americans will experience homelessness in 2022. Contrary to popular opinion, half of them are employed; they are paid too little to afford housing. The other half are disabled and too ill to work. They don't receive enough Supplemental Security Income (SSI) to afford minimal housing. Homelessness starts with lack of opportunity: jobs that pay living wages and adequate supports for those who cannot work. Every major municipality in America struggles with homelessness. Nothing seems to work: not housing vouchers, not drug treatment, not job training. Richard R. Troxell knows why. Vietnam Veteran and founder of House the Homeless, Troxell was himself homeless before taking a job with Austin (TX) Legal Aid. In the decades since, he has become one of the most effective advocates for the homeless in America. Consider: • Page 209: It was Richard R. Troxell who orchestrated a suit against the U.S. Government to allow community groups to use abandoned military bases to house and help the homeless, resulting in Community First! Village in Austin, Texas. • Page 107: It was Richard R. Troxell who showed how Austin's "No Sit/No Lie" ordinance violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) then negotiated a humane settlement, serving all parties. • Page 53: It was Richard R. Troxell who came up with the formula for the Universal Living Wage - a minimum wage indexed to local housing costs - that can end poverty in America and save a fortune for U.S. taxpayers while housing the nation's homeless. Every municipality in America should study Richard R. Troxell's stunning new book, Short Stories in a Long Journey (Plain View Press, ISBN 978-1-63210-088-7) to learn what the subtitle promises: How to end and prevent homelessness. Richard's work: recognized by HUD, PA Senate, the United Nations and V16ell countless others. d. Go to https://www.bringamericahomenow.orcl/ to become a partner in supporting the campaign to end homelessness.