Last Updated on August 20, 2021
Progress Report – August, 2021
Friends,
Here are some updates,news items and resources from our research and outreach since our last progress report.
- A State That Can’t Even House Its People…. “Widespread homelessness is both a symptom of democratic decline and a harbinger of worse to come. It should never have gotten this bad. Homelessness is solvable. Its primary driver is housing unaffordability (not a sudden recent increase in mental illness or substance use disorder, despite claims to the contrary), and so the solution has always been more housing, particularly for those who don’t currently have it. But California has allowed homelessness to metastasize over the past few decades. As the humanitarian crisis has gotten worse, it has become a political crisis. Homelessness is one of the major themes in this year’s campaign to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom, and a growing number of commentators have cited it as evidence that the “California dream” is dying.” See NY Times article, “It’s Hard to Have Faith in a State That Can’t Even House Its People”
- Pallet Introduces Bathrooms. Ensuring Pallet Shelter Village residents have access to bathrooms is an integral part of our community model, along with on-site social services. Having a safe, private space for hygienic needs is one element of our commitment to creating a dignified community for people experiencing homelessness. We’re excited to announce Pallet’s engineering team has designed a series of bathrooms for communities. Read article here.
- Housing First. “Housing First policies start with the premise — validated by a wealth of empirical research (including from University of California, San Francisco’s Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative) — that people who are homeless need stable housing…
Read more here.