HomeMy WebLinkAboutHouse the Homeless letter to Mayor House the Homeless, Inc.
P.O. Box 2312 Austin, TX 78768-2312
(512) 796-4366 www.HouseTheHomeless.or�
www.UniversalLivingWage.org
January 2014
Dear Mayor .'Ll ,
Thank you for your leadership. We understand that municipalities and taxpayers across America are
presently sharing the difficult challenges of responding to Homelessness on both a human and financial basis.
Nationwide, our municipal budgets have exploded to include the creation of emergency shelters,
expanded police and court systems, over burdened our emergency health systems, etc. We are witnessing an
increased reliance on public benefits: food stamps, SNAP and Temporary Aid to Needy Families, TANF,
General Assistance, and we see a human presence in our parks, woods, and people living on our streets.
Our response has been reactive. It is now time to be preventative. Two Federal Standards are feeding the
creation of Homelessness: the Federal Minimum Wage relating to those who can work, and the Supplemental
Security Income, SSI, stipend for those who cannot work. As you know, the US Conference of Mayor reports a
40 hour, minimum wage worker is unable to afford basic housing. At the same time, the SSI stipend ($710.00)
is about half the Federal Minimum Wage or $4.22 per hour. As a result, we have full time minimum wage
workers & SSI recipients on our streets with checks in hand and yet unable to get into and keep basic housing!
To fix this, we are asking the Federal Gov. to index the Federal Minimum Wage to the local cost of
housing across America. This will restore opportunity and by using existing government guidelines, it will
ensure that a person working 40 units of work in a week, will be able to afford basic food, clothing, shelter
(utilities included) wherever that work is done throughout the United States. This will end homelessness for
over 1,000,000 minimum wage workers and prevent economic homelessness for all 20 million minimum wage
workers. We can also apply this to the SSI disability benefits with similar results. This will stimulate economies
as studies show that even nominal increases in these areas are spent right back into the local economy.
Enclosed please find our White Paper, Ten Year Plan, Endorsers, and Resolution that explore this
concept in depth and exposes the tremendous cost savings to municipalities and taxpayers as a result of
implementation.
We ask that you copy the enclosed document, Preventing Homelessness at its Core and distribute it to
your Council members. Please sign the Resolution and send it to the US Conference of Mayors with a copy to
us. Note- The White Paper has been sent to all members of Congress, all governors, cabinet members, and the
President. A copy of the White Paper is now being mailed to 1,424 mayors across the United States.
Thank you for your interest and support by asking the Congress to begin to address this crisis that they
have control over but that inundates your Municipality, which has no fiscal or political cost or downside.
Richard R. roxell-President/CEO
Board Member-National Coalition for the Homeless
Author: Looking Up at the Bottom Line(The Struggle for the Living Wage)
RESOLUTION
WHERE AS,our nation's Municipalities are facing untold millions of dollars of tax payer costs to address and respond to
homelessness that include constructing emergency shelters, day drop in facilities,transitional housing units, single room
occupancy units, case management at various levels, the use of hospital emergency rooms as if they were health clinics,
creation and maintenance of parallel homeless court systems and police involvement to deal with"Quality of Life"
ordinances e.g.No Sit,No Lie,no panhandling, no feeding, no loitering, no camping etc. ordinances including the
creation and enforcement of drug courts,detoxification,treatment facilities,excess reliance on food stamps,excess
reliance on general assistance,on Temporarily Aid to Needy Families,TANF,Earned Income Tax Credits,EITC, and
WHERE AS,our parks and wooded areas have become occupied with people experiencing homelessness thus changing
and affecting their intended use for general recreational purposes and
WHERE AS,multiple studies have shown that while 90%of people experiencing homelessness are desirous of work but
half of all of these persons are so disabled that they cannot work or even access housing with the federal government
stipend(Supplemental Security Income, SSI,presently set nationwide at$710.00 per month or about$4.22 per hour and
WHERE AS,multiple studies have shown that the other half of all people experiencing homelessness who are capable
of work,are unable to obtain and retain base housing even by working 40 hours a week at the current Federal Minimum
Wage presently set nationwide at$7.25 per hour and
WHERE AS,several U.S.Conference of Mayors reports have indicated that a full 40 hour a week minimum wage
worker cannot get into and keep basic rental housing and
WHERE AS,both the Federal Minimum Wage and the Supplemental Security Income, SSI stipend, are set by a
governmental standards outside of the jurisdiction of the nation's Municipalities,and yet the outcome of these standards
create the financial conditions and burden as described above,and
WHERE AS,the antithesis of housing is homelessness and the antithesis of homelessness is housing.
THEREFORE,BE IT RESOLVED,that the US Conference of Mayors is urged to bring this matter to the attention of
United States US House of Representatives and the United States Senate and call upon them to address the Federal
Minimum Wage and SSI Standards and that enactment of the change occur over a ten(10)year period that indexes both
the FMW and the SSI to the local cost of housing using the US Department of Housing and Urban Development,HUD
Section 8 Fair Market Rents thus ensuring that a 40 hour a week minimum wage worker is able to afford basic food,
clothing, shelter(including utilities), and transportation wherever that work is done throughout the US and that any
person found to be disabled by the Federal Social Administration receive a stipend that ensures that they are able to afford
basic food,clothing, shelter(utilities included)and transportation. http://bit.ly/UniversalLivingWage20l3
And
All US institutions such as the US military,or where our Youth are aging out of Foster Care,or people are leaving our
jails or prisons, hospitals,mental health institutions etc., should access discharge needs and immediately design plans for
the eventual discharge of any user into a safe housing environment rather than discharging them into homelessness.
Note.The Resolution reflects the document: Preventing Homelessness at it's Core with Preface is by Edgar S. Cahn.
Mayor
for the City of in the great state of