Three Thoughts on the 2016 NAEH Conference
- Kat Johnson
- Aug 18, 2016
- 3 min read
Each year, the US National Alliance to End Homelessness carves out space for leaders to compare notes, build momentum, and get up to speed on what’s working to end homelessness across the country.
The conference is an annual highlight for me, and the icing on the cake this year was the closing keynote by Matthew Desmond, author of Evicted. The book combines embedded fieldwork and deep research to explore eviction, poverty, and exploitation in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA.
I’ve been a fan of the book (if you haven’t read it, do!) – and Desmond’s talk pulled together many of the themes that resonated for me throughout this year’s conference.
1. This work is too important to lose focus.
“Without shelter, everything else falls apart."
In Evicted, Desmond shows that eviction is a cause of poverty, not just a symptom. Without a stable place to live, it is difficult to tackle other problems; finding housing can wipe out time, attention, and resources.
Similarly, being homeless can make it harder to solve the problems that lead to homelessness. As NAEH President Nan Roman put it, “Homelessness is not the simplest problem, but it is also not that complicated. Housing ends homelessness. It also helps people get on with all the other things that will allow them to achieve well-being and self-fulfillment. The first step is ending homelessness.”
There will always be some level of healthy debate about strategies and tools. Those were alive and well in meetings and happy hours in DC – often useful and challenging, sometimes tiring. Disagreement has been a tremendous asset in moving work on homelessness forward, but it has to serve the aim of doing the work better – improving strategies, challenging complacency – and not fall into personal debates that drain energy and time. This work is more important than being right.
There’s no reason not to feel hopeful about this. I heard the same commitment from everyone: we have to end people’s homelessness. We have to do better, and as fast as we can. As long as this stays front and center, we’ll deliver.
2. It’s possible to succeed, and it’s up to us. “We can’t fix poverty without fixing housing. How do we fix housing? That’s your job.”
In his keynote, Desmond pointed to policy solutions, including a universal housing voucher program. But he didn’t let any of us off the hook, at whatever level we work. The more we learn about the impact of homelessness on vulnerable people in the US, and the more we know about what works to end it, the less excuse we have not to work smarter and better.
Luckily, this charge comes sweetened with hope. Throughout the conference were bright spots where cities or states have made steep, meaningful reductions in homelessness. From the announcement that the US has reduced homelessness among veterans by 47% -- a figure that made it into President Obama’s speech the same week during the Democratic National Convention – to specific pockets of success across cities and even states, this year felt like a step forward.
Existing campaigns, like Community Solutions’ Zero:2016, have breathed life into local efforts and fostered a family of leaders across the country driven by curiosity and impatience. New efforts, like the A Way Home America initiative to prevent and end homelessness among young people, launched and generated new momentum.
3. Let’s ask the hard questions. “Eviction is the feminine version of mass incarceration - black men get locked up, black women get locked out.”
In Milwaukee, Desmond found that women living in black neighborhoods were 9.6% of the population, but represented 30% of evictions. That’s 1 in 5 black renters who have reported experiencing at least one eviction. For Hispanic women, that number was 1 in 12; for white women, 1 in 15.
As in evictions, people of color are overrepresented in the homeless population. According to the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, "People of color make up only about a third of the U.S. population but comprise just over half of all sheltered people experiencing homelessness. These disparities are even starker for African-Americans and Native Americans."
This year, a number of conversations tackled this directly, including a workshop led by Funders Together to End Homelessness’ Amanda Andere, Jeff Olivet with the Center for Social Innovation and others. I appreciated the questions being raised and I’m excited to see more.
Homelessness does not exist in a vacuum, and connecting to areas of intersection will help us provide value, find allies and new ways of thinking about the work.
I’m grateful to the staff of the National Alliance to End Homelessness for a phenomenal three days that obviously took months of work. Looking forward to seeing many of you there next year!
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