A call to action from Michael Dahl

This post is a transplant from the facebook page. Here’s what Michael Dahl said:

Campus Activists … check out my post on the “Interested in Policy Ideas?” Discussion Board. If you want more details for any or all of the suggestions, I’ll get them to you. Just as important, the Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless would love to strategize with you and other college students on how to build community support / political pressure so that policy-makers commit to ending homelessness.

We live in troubled times. Our economy is in its worst shape since the Great Depression. People are losing their homes. Homelessness is on the rise. Jobs, credit, healthcare, and affordable housing are scarce.

Big problems require bold solutions. It is time to take action on all we can accomplish together.

Please contact the Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless if you want to take action on the following policy proposals:

1) Create affordable housing options for all households. Our common goals to educate children and youth, maintain a strong workforce, keep ourselves in good health, and end poverty will only succeed when everyone in our community has the stability a home provides.

We must build, rehab, buy, and help extremely low-income people rent, affordable housing. The unhealthy housing economy contributed greatly to our current economic situation. A healthy housing economy must be part of the solution.

2) Help households in crisis before they become homeless. No community is made stronger or safer by allowing vulnerable people to fall through the cracks. Allowing homelessness to become the natural outcome of poverty, violence, or illness only allows those problems to become worse and more costly to individuals and society.

We must support and strengthen successful homeless prevention efforts.

3) Provide immediate help to people who become homeless. Homelessness hurts. The health of children and their ability to learn are decreased when they are homeless. Vulnerable people fall victim to violence and exploitation when they do not have the safety of a home. Workers find it difficult to maintain their jobs when their night’s shelter is in question.

We must provide resources to outreach programs, emergency shelters, and transitional and permanent supportive housing programs to achieve effective results.
4) Quickly connect people experiencing homelessness to community resources and appropriate services. Homeless services increase people’s income, housing stability, and self-reliance over time and assist them in appropriately transitioning into conventional housing and, if needed, services.

We must ensure that we do not have one system for people who are housed and another for people who are experiencing homelessness. Our healthcare system, our education system, public safety, and all our community resources must be accessible to all Minnesotans regardless of housing status.

We must invest in people.

Now is the time to strengthen our communities. Now is the time to invest in our families and our future. Now is the time to make sure nobody is forgotten. Now is the time to make sure nobody is left behind.

Now is the time.