Because they are the poorest of the poor, homeless people are the natural leaders of the struggle for economic human rights. In recent months, "illegal" tent cities have sprung up in St. Petersburg, Florida; Spokane, Washington; Arcata, California, and elsewhere. Important organizing efforts are going forward in New Orleans, Nashville, and Fresno to name just a few places. The American public is largely sympathetic. All that's missing is a unified sense of direction.
It's missing, in part, because some of the most prominent advocacy groups are trying to lead people down the wrong path. A case in point is The National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH), the homelessness prevention group loved by politicians and lobbyists. The NAEH supported Clinton's "Welfare Reform," and provided the model for the various ten-year plans to end chronic homelessness that the Bush Administration is foisting on communities across the country. These plans emphasize partnership with the business community, so little things like universal health care and a living wage are off the table. Beyond that, the entire concept of a ten-year plan is phony. Didn't anybody notice how quickly homelessness can be created, you know, like by a hurricane?
The NAEH just uses the poor to prop up the system that creates poverty. Following their lead means fighting for the privilege of being oppressed.
Another example not to follow is the one provided by the various homeless coalitions. These organizations have proved that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless (CCH), which operates a clinic and even builds housing, paid for these operations with around $22 million, of which about $15 million came from government grants. Not surprisingly, in the process of cozying up to government money, the CCH got cozy with government policy. They endorsed Denver's anti-panhandling, anti-loitering and anti-camping laws, and John Parvensky, the CCH's president, even opposed the grassroots Denver Tent City Initiative, which might have gotten more than 100 people off the streets. Parvensky remains the board vice-president of the National Coalition for the Homeless, casting a shadow over even that organization.
So where do we go from here?
My feeling is that in order to create a unified movement, we need a set of principles by which we can distinguish ourselves from our outright opponents and the people who falsely speak in our name. My organization, the Homelessness Marathon, adopted such a set of principles. Here it is:
1. The most severe forms of poverty must be addressed on an emergency basis.
2. National efforts to eliminate poverty must be funded through the national budget and focus on changes in the system, not in the poor.
These changes should include:
- A universal living wage and universal health care.
- A full employment economy.
- Investment in public housing and public transportation
- Benefits for the truly needy that truly keep them out of need.
- Fair taxes on corporations and wealth.
- Recognition of food, shelter, health care and education as the rights of citizens.
3. Within these guidelines we support a wide variety of approaches to poverty, including approaches based on charity, personal uplift, supportive services and economic opportunity.
No doubt there's room for improvement, but I'm hoping it's a start. Surely the first step in creating a movement has got to be knowing what it stands for.
Jeremy Alderson is the founder of the Homeless Marathon
http://homelessmarathon.org
