Housing Regulation Revamp Required Regardless of Resources & Remedies

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I was Facebook-post chatting with my friend Diane Nilan, Founder and President of Hear Us, an advocacy and action/resources site for children and youths experiencing homelessness, after she'd posted a link to a story about families experiencing homelessness who were using storage sheds as an alternative to standard housing. 

As our  conversation progressed and a link to the petition supporting the proposed Homeless Children and Youth Act was posted (sign it here: Help Homeless Kids Now! | Tell Congress to Pass the Homeless Children and Youth Act) we began discussing the need to not only pressure HUD to increase its subsidies for housing vouchers, but also to begin exploring how best to remove the barriers from entering housing - especially public housing - that face folks after they've received HUD assistance.

This is an area of concern for every individual out there who has ever experienced any financial difficulties and/or an eviction in their life, as well as every single case manager and outreach specialist in the country, because a voucher is worthless if there are entry-restrictions in place that disqualify peeps before they ever get an opportunity to move in.  Additionally, if you're a program administrator who must provide data to HUD (and/or anyone else you may have grants or funding from), you know that the trend is towards getting people housed and keeping them there.  If you're operating a service funded by Federal grant funds and that discharges folks back onto the streets, chances are you've either seen your funding cut or the cut is coming soon because you're not reducing homelessness with your program.

Barriers to housing are in place both by HUD's regulations as well as state and local restrictions, which are often more stringent than HUD's and end up disqualifying large numbers of individuals for things that are often the result of spiraling into homelessness in the first place.  These barriers include (but are certainly not limited to):

• Bad or non-existent credit
• Outstanding utility bills (most public housing requires all utilities to be on and may cause an eviction if they lapse during the course of tenancy)
• No income source
• Criminal convictions
• Prior evictions
• Lack of references
• Lack of recent rental history
• Pet restrictions
• Lack of complete identification documentation including a government issued ID, Social Security card, Birth Certificate, and recent TB test (for public housing)

These of course are some of the "official" reasons for refusal of a rental application.  You can rest assured that even though it's not supposed to, discrimination does occur around race, ethnicity, prior housing status (eg being "homeless"), general appearance, inappropriate social media posts (I know a landlord that ALWAYS looks up the applicant's name on Facebook and Twitter to get a more fuller profile of the individual) and word of mouth from other landlords and connections in the community.  Discrimination also happens as a result of fear around an applicant's perceived mental status, especially if the landlord believes the individual is "untreated" and/or has no local agency working in conjunction with them.  One landlord I heard talking stated that he "want's to be able to contact someone if Joe Doe lights his hair on fire at 3 in the morning.")

Diane and I began contemplating forming some type of national advocacy group that would work to promote "second chance" opportunities for folks who have these barriers, and are considering how best to initiate the effort.  At about the same time our discussion was occurring, I found a copy of the newly released Advocate's Guide to Housing and Community Development Policy, thanks to the National Low Income Housing Coalition. After reviewing the guide and then re-visiting their website, I threw some support behind the Coalition, since they're organized, powerful and recognized.  They're also well aware of the problems facing folks attempting to access housing, so this issue is definitely on their radar.

 I have learned over the years however that the more voices singing in unison, the louder the message is to those who hear it.  It may still be worthwhile to set up an advocacy group around the removal of barriers because this particular aspect often gets lost or diminished as we fight for funding crumbs to assist through vouchers and the building of affordable housing units.  I say again that it doesn't mean squat to have vouchers and units available if restrictions are so severe as to ban folks before they ever get near the door.

 I've set up a recurring donation to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, because not only do I fervently believe in their mission, priorities and agenda for 2012, I know Board member Mark Allison personally, having worked with him for the past year, and know him to be one of the most ardent advocates of the idea that housing is a basic human right.  If that man's voice is helping to steer policy at the board level, I know that the organization will always be committed to fair, affordable, accessible housing for everyone.

Check out the National Low Income Housing Coalition when you have a sec, and let them know you support their efforts with a donation.  The work they're doing is not just important, it's crucial to those who remain chained to the streets in homelessness and to those who struggle every single day just to have a roof over their heads.

Diane and I will be doing some additional talking around this issue, and I may reach out to Mark Allison to get his input as well, since I know of no one better to help us come to some decision on whether we're heading in the right direction.  The advocacy guide appears to have enough info in it to allow us to get off the ground, so if we decide to go forward, I think we're in good shape already to make some noise.

At the end of the day, the only thing we really have to remember and strive toward is this fact: housing ends homelessness.
Housing is a basic human right.
Everyone should be housed.
Period.