How we can prevent homelessness

[Applause]

this

is michelle she’s a single mom of two

kids

ages seven and two she recently split up

from her partner who was the main

breadwinner

she now works two jobs just above

minimum wage

and her average take-home pay each month

is sixteen hundred dollars

rent for her two bedroom apartment is a

thousand dollars

she pays 400 in child care each month

and that leaves her with 200

to cover food gas utilities and other

essential expenses

she tries to save money but unexpected

expenses often come up like

last month when her seven-year-old boy

got a bad case of the flu and school and

daycare wouldn’t take him

she had to miss a week of work without

pay missing out on 400

in wages she does the math and after

paying for

her kid’s doctor bill food utilities and

gas

she’s now 200 short on making her rent

she pays what she can but her landlord

isn’t willing to give her more time and

puts an eviction notice on her door

michelle is terrified in my work

i meet people like michelle every day

the good news is

we can prevent michelle’s eviction and

potential fall into homelessness from

happening to her

and we should housing is a basic human

need

without a safe and stable home and a

place to sleep shower prepare

food do laundry and gather with loved

ones it’s nearly impossible to do

anything else

i’ve seen this in my work in our

community supporting tenants at risk of

eviction

from working with indigenous communities

in asia and africa at risk of losing

their lands to agro industry

to working with people in the bay area

who had been living outside for decades

i’ve seen this fact again and again

across all kinds of different people

and communities without housing it’s

impossible to think about anything else

housing is everything unfortunately

there are so many people around the

world right now that are housing

insecure

or living without housing this has only

been amplified by the coven 19 pandemic

in the u.s the cost of housing has

continued to increase at an

unprecedented pace while urban centers

experience population growth

and struggle to keep pace with housing

needs

at the same time the cost of other

essential expenses such as child care

health care and education have also

continued to

increase and wages aren’t keeping pace

as a result the gap between income and

basic

essential expenses continues to grow

people aren’t able to save money let

alone save up for a down payment

which decreases their ability to control

the cost of housing

year to year the reality is

the united states is in the middle of

what many are calling the great

affordability crisis it’s why two out of

five americans

can’t come up with four hundred dollars

in an emergency why

three out of five can barely pay their

monthly bills

it’s why any unanticipated expense or

shortfall like a doctor bill

traffic ticket or job loss can easily

lead to an eviction

and potentially homelessness can you

imagine what you would do

if your kid got sick and you had to

choose between getting needed care for

your child

and paying your rent this is the kind of

choice

many people like michelle are having to

make every day

it’s the main driver behind increasing

rates of eviction

and homelessness around the united

states there is now

one eviction filing for every 17 renting

households

and one legal eviction for every 40

renting households the majority of these

evictions are happening

because people can’t pay their rent

alongside the increased cost of housing

and eviction numbers

the rates of homelessness around the

country are also

increasing this isn’t a coincidence

eviction and homelessness are a housing

affordability problem

at the root people want to have a home

they just can’t afford it

in our community a large majority of

people requesting rental assistance

around 80 percent are unable to pay

their rent because of job loss

while the rest have experienced some

other unanticipated expense

or shortfall national data confirms that

eviction

and homelessness are a housing

affordability problem

at the root virtually anyone could be

susceptible

to eviction and homelessness given the

right set of circumstances

and the impacts of housing loss are huge

research has shown that housing

insecurity of any kind

causes physical social and mental health

impacts that last a lifetime

especially for children a record of

eviction and homelessness

operates similar to a criminal record

precluding people from housing and

employment opportunities

for decades tenants apply to dozens of

rentals

pay hundreds of dollars in application

fees and may not get a single response

back

in a high demand rental market with a

low vacancy rate

affordable housing is even harder to

find

housing loss is also expensive for a

family

it costs around five thousand dollars on

average for a family to find new housing

after they’ve lost their home it costs

the community as well

in our community it costs around fifty

thousand dollars per person

per year who’s homeless taxing our

health care system

first responders and non-profit

organizations

thankfully there are solutions that work

to prevent

housing loss from happening to our

neighbors and to our community

we know what works to prevent eviction

and homelessness

financial assistance and supportive

services

we have invested in these interventions

in our community and it’s proven to be

successful

so far those interventions have been

shown to reduce

housing loss by over 90 percent in our

community

and nationally and they’re cost

effective

compared to responding to housing loss

after it’s already happened to a family

around five thousand dollars it costs

our community a thousand dollars

to keep a family in their home

so we know what works but because we’re

in a housing crisis

demand for our resources is high we

can’t possibly keep up

this has only been exacerbated by the

kovid 19 pandemic

where the cost of housing continues to

increase

while many remain without work requests

for rental assistance in our community

went up 300 percent during the pandemic

so the next question is how do we decide

who gets

what resources most of us like the idea

of being able to help

everyone who walks through our door

operating on a first-come

first-served basis but because we’re in

a crisis if we did that

we’d run out of resources in a day

so we’ve come up with a system to

care for our most vulnerable neighbors

those at highest risk of eviction

and homelessness first to do this

we use a research-based assessment tool

and algorithm

to decide the level of support people

receive

modeled after the way homeless resources

are administered around the u.s

we asked tenants a series of questions

based on their vulnerabilities and

history of housing and security and

financial insecurity

then run their answers through an

algorithm to assess their level of need

that way we can tailor their level of

support to meet each

individual where they are the approach

can be likened to an emergency room in a

hospital

if three people walk into a hospital one

with a serious head injury

one with a broken bone and one with the

flu hospital staff will assist

each person while also effectively and

efficiently

using their limited resources

in the hospital a person with a flu will

receive over-the-counter medicine

and a referral to urgent care when my

staff sees someone with lower needs

maybe someone with a strong employment

and housing history and a good

relationship with their landlord

they can be provided with information

and tools to set up a payment plan with

their landlord

in the hospital the person with the

broken bone will be sent to a nurse to

get an x-ray done

when we see someone in the middle range

of risk who’s being evicted maybe

someone with a bad relationship with

their landlord

and poor budgeting skills but the

ability to pay rent going forward

they can be provided with supportive

services including landlord mediation

and assistance setting up a budget and

payment plan that works for them

in the emergency room the person with a

serious head injury will go

to the doctor when we see someone with a

history

of eviction and homelessness or someone

going to eviction court

we treat those cases as more urgent they

are provided with financial assistance

to catch them up on the rent that they

owe as well as intensive supportive

services including landlord mediation

employment and budgeting support and

connections to community

resources some folks may need more

financial assistance

including background a security deposit

or a couple

months of rent going forward

so far initial results of our approach

are looking promising

but because we’re in a crisis it’s

important that we continue to triage

like our hospitals to allocate what we

have to people who need it the most

we may not have the immediate power to

raise wages

and solve for our affordable housing

crisis across the country

today but we can deploy what we have

to people who need it the most to our

most vulnerable neighbors and this is

something we

as a community can do right now

and you as an individual can always help

too

keep your eyes and ears open to your

neighbors friends

relatives and co-workers financial

insecurity is

oftentimes invisible and you could be

that linchpin for someone

during their greatest time of need get

connected to non-profit organizations on

the front lines of the housing crisis

by donating or volunteering get involved

in

local government including neighborhood

associations and city and state

government

to advocate for the growth and

availability of affordable housing

and housing supports consider creative

ways

you can grow our affordable housing

stock by

opening up a spare bedroom in your home

or building a tiny home in ba

in your backyard to lease to a long-term

renter at an affordable

rate eviction and homelessness

really could happen to anyone right now

maybe all our neighbors need is a hand

up during a critical

point in their lives if that means more

of our neighbors

like michelle can stay in their home and

we’ve done it at a lower

social and financial cost that’s a big

win for her and for our community

thank you