Groups Call on President-Elect to Prioritize Ending Homelessness

The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty (NLCHP) and over a dozen other national homelessness advocacy groups called upon President-Elect Barack Obama to take steps immediately upon becoming President to address the urgent crisis of homelessness in the United States.

The incoming Administration has previously expressed a commitment to addressing homelessness. President-Elect Obama was a sponsor of the Homes for Heroes Act, which would provide housing assistance for homeless very low-income veterans, and Vice President-Elect Biden was a leader in the Senate working to prevent domestic violence survivors from becoming homeless through the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.

NLCHP and their partner advocate groups are now urging the Presidential Transition Team to commit to ending homelessness by accepting six key recommendations, beginning by demonstrating its commitment in the first year by completing a federal plan to end homelessness and holding a White House Conference to begin implementing the plan.

Other recommended policy priorities include increasing access to affordable housing; ensuring adequate incomes; expanding access to health services; ensuring access to education for homeless children and youth; and protecting homeless people from discrimination.

"Homelessness in America is a growing crisis," said Maria Foscarinis, NLCHP Executive Director. "Increasing foreclosures and growing unemployment are threatening more and more Americans with homelessness, and shelters, soup kitchens and food pantries across the country are reporting surges in demands for help. It's critical that the new Administration act quickly and boldly to stem the crisis," she added.

For more information about the recommendations, contact Foscarinis at mfoscarinis@nlchp.org, or NLCHP Policy Director Laurel Weir at lweir@nlchp.org. A full copy of the letter to the Presidential Transition Team is available at http://www.nlchp.org/content/pubs/Letter_to_Obama.pdf.



Endorsing organizations are America's Road Home, Corporation for Supportive Housing, Give Us Your Poor, National AIDS Housing Council, National Alliance to End Homelessness, National Center for Housing and Child Welfare, National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, National Coalition for the Homeless, National Health Care for the Homeless Council, National Housing Law Project, National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, National Low Income Housing Coalition, National Network to End Domestic Violence, National Policy and Advocacy Council on Homelessness.

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