 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Carol Steele Back in 1992,
then-Chairman and Executive Director of Chicago Housing, Vince Lancy,
introduced what he called Hope VI, supposed to be the revitalization of
public housing. When they began to develop plans for our new schools,
our new stores, we were joyful because we thought we were to benefit from
such plans. But, as time went on we began to see these plans were not
for the current residents of Cabrini. Because we were located on such
prime land, a block from Michigan Avenue (what they call "the magnificent
mile"), only 15 percent of our community people was going to be allowed
to stay in that development. At this present time we are in negotiation with the Chicago Housing Authority to make sure that all our public housing is put back and redeveloped for the residents. Wardell Yotaghan and myself formed a coalition to protect public housing because it was not just happening to Cabrini Green, it was happening to all of the public housing in the city of Chicago that was around prime land. As our coalition became stronger, more and more people began to get more involved, we began to find out that it wasn't just Chicago, it was happening in a lot of other states that were located in prime areas. We believe a wide variety of people will become homeless due to the Hope VI program. We also believe Congress OCRA 202 is vouchering out tenants, which will also make thousands of people homeless. They are telling us that they are going to give us Section 8 vouchers, so we can move. However, out of every five families that go out there and look for an apartment in Chicago, there is only one apartment available. The 1937 Housing
Act calls for replacement of every unit of housing that they tear down.
Since 1996 they have suspended that law. So, we say we want all the buildings
to be rehabilitated because a standing building is guaranteed housing
for people, not an empty promise of a Section 8 housing voucher for housing
that does not exist. Then I found out that I was having a child. I found myself confused. I didn't want a child at this time in my life. I felt I couldn't take care of a child living the way I was, but we talked about it, and we decided to move in together and it lasted about five months. Then Fred left because he couldn't take it. But at least two good things came out of that relationship - my son and my GED. After I had
my child, the state child protection agency took him away and I went looking
for Fred. I found him under Lower Wacker Drive, a series of underground
streets in downtown Chicago. Many homeless people who do not like the
shelters live there and many of them have jobs nearby and also scrap for
metal. The people who stay there are like a community of people who care
for each other. I lived there myself until the summer of 1997. On Monday, December 1, 1997 - a few weeks before Christmas and the day before President Clinton was coming to town - the city caravan blocked off the street and took absolutely everything. They took the homeless peoples' clothes, books, blankets, personal items, everything they had. The leader of the caravan called the homeless people many names, like "nigger," "dog," and "animal." The city had moved some of the people from Lower Wacker Drive into a YMCA on the far west side, but many people left the YMCA because they could not afford to start paying rent and needed to get back downtown to work. The city - and the country - want to hide the homelessness because it is bad for tourism. But there are between 40,000 and 80,000 homeless people in the city of Chicago alone. The largest group is children under nine years old. We all need jobs and permanent housing. What my new husband Bo and I want for our children is a decent life which means jobs at a decent wage and a home.
I'm no longer in a shelter. I live in a two-bedroom apartment with ten people, because in the city of New Jersey there is no affordable housing. A one-bedroom can be anywhere between $500 to $600 rent. So I share this apartment with ten people to make it. I ask the government
to tell me, you know, how I can take away my daughter's pain, that I can't
afford to give her her own room, or to put a roof over her head. Yesterday
there was a cut-off of welfare - temporary rental assistance - for hundreds
of people in New Jersey. The government gave them a hand: a three-month
extension. In three months, these people will be homeless anyway. That
does not solve the solution. There is no affordable housing in New Jersey.
The five years I've lived there, Section 8 has been closed. Housing lists
are miles long, before you can even get on them. It'll be years before
I'd be able to get affordable housing for my children. We are in the process
of being evicted now because we can no longer pay our rent, because we
pay $675, not including heat and hot water.
Economic conditions in America today are in sharp contrast to 1937. The motives of the US congress today are different, eliminating housing for the poor. If passed, this will cripple the poor physically and psychologically . With presidential support, the US Congress has brought an attack on the poor. This war could end with millions of men, women, children starving, and for once in American history, living in the streets. This is a war. Congressional funding reduction of the past 20 years has created de facto demolition of public housing across the nation. The last congress
created a mandate to demolish 100,000 units of public housing nationwide.
Between the cities of Chicago and New York, 19, 000 units of public housing
will be demolished and 450, 000 men, women, and children are being forced
to leave their homes and rely upon Section 8 certificates or vouchers
to find placement of housing. Section 8 or other public housing programs,
going back to the Public Housing Act of 1937, gives people vouchers to
help them pay rent. Section 8 is a subsidy, not a department. Those who
cannot get Section 8 are unable to find suitable replacement housing.
According to US of Department of Housing a year ago, there are 61, 000
families in Chicago on the housing subsidy waiting list. Of them, 15,
000 men, women, and children are homeless every night, competing for 5,500
shelter beds. The remaining 9,500 continue to sleep in our parks, our
streets, under bridges and viaducts. I graduated from Lorain County Community College in 1973. I was hired in the records office at the Community College and worked for 12 years. My boss hired me knowing that I was an epileptic. My employment there ended for reasons that I never understood.
Since 1989, since being diagnosed with epilepsy, the special medication I need has been covered by Medicaid. In May of this year I was refused the medication that prevents me from having seizures. The pharmacist told me that because I have a Medicaid card that I would not be given the effective medication, which I have been using for years, but would be given a generic substitute. I have tried in the past to use the generic brand but it is not strong enough and does not stop the seizures related to my epilepsy. When you have a Medicaid card, the state labels you, saying, "You have a Medicaid card - you get generic medication, whether it works or not." I started using Medicaid about two years ago, on the generic medication. At that time, after about two days of using the generic medication I started having a series of seizures. This caused me to lose my driving privileges in Ohio. My license has since been restored but still requires recertification each year. In essence, without proper medication, the seizures will occur, and then I will be unable to work or to get around to any of my doctors or grocery stores or any aspect of my daily routine. When I was told in May of this year that I had to requalify for the non-generic medication that I had been on I had only a few days of the medication left. To get more of it, they would charge me $71. I was told first that the process would take a month. Then I was told it would take seven days. The pharmacist didn't have a fax machine. I had to go to my doctor to get a "letter of medical necessity." He said that he wanted the original prescriptions back. The pharmacist would not do that. He would not fill the prescription as written but he did give me a ten-day supply and told me that it had been taken off the market. I had enough medication to last until June 9th. The lady at the Lorain County Human Services Office in charge of the Medical Department told me to get another letter from my neurologist, Dr. Good, in Cleveland. He can't understand why Lorain County is so backwards. In this letter he stated the medical necessity for the name brand medication rather than the generic and to get a prescription for the medication saying "fill as prescribed." I found a pharmacist in Oberlin who would fax these to the state capital, which they did. I felt well enough to go through this process. I have found people willing to take time and help me. So far I have not missed a day of medication with the effective brand name. But I am one of the lucky ones. What a nightmare this new provision of the welfare changes has caused.
I am 25 years old and I have two sons - Kyle and Spencer. I have severe epilepsy and have all sorts of seizures. I have been on and off welfare for the past six years. For one of those years, I was homeless, living in a place called Community House. And I moved in when my son was two days old. I first heard about the welfare reform when they cut me off. In Idaho, they disqualify you for cash assistance if you receive Social Security disability. Since I receive disability benefits because of my epilepsy, I lost all of my state cash assistance under this new rule. Idaho is only one of three states in America to enact this "reform." When I was first cut off, I was left high and dry. Luckily I had an extra pair of diapers. I started getting about $204 in child support from Kyle's father. This small amount of money helped replace AFDC welfare, but Kyle's father lost his job, I lost that support. We were barely scraping by. Now, we have to get help from food banks, but many of the food banks only allow you to go once every two or three months. I was down to one meal a day, if that. I try to save all of our food for my children, because I cannot let them go without. I still can't afford clothes, everything they wear is hand-me-downs. My family has disregarded me, because of being on welfare. Now that I am cut off, I do not have the extra help or moral support from them. Welfare reform put me deeper in debt when it is supposed to help people. People with disabilities have been cut off with no alternatives or places to go. I do not think this is fair because I was not told I would lose my benefits until the last minute and with my disability I am trapped in poverty. I want to find a way to work. I want job training and job placement for people with special needs. But not low-wage prison-like jobs. But, even that is really hard. I once worked at a fast food restaurant. I do not mind the work, but they watched over me like I was in prison because of my epilepsy. This stress and pressure made me have seizures and I had to quit. Working would be great if was a place that really understood and respected people with disabilities. We need your
help. Idaho is doing nothing to help families like mine and aren't even
tracking what is happening to thousands of families who were cut off.
I do not understand how anyone can call this program successful.
I am here today because I need to address the President, the nation, and the world on the human rights of people like myself to recover from addiction. The right to treatment from addiction is the right to be healthy. Unfortunately, it is often impossible in this country for poor people to gain access to both treatment programs or the ability to support themselves while in treatment. My first day of recovery marked the end of a two-year struggle to find a program which would accept me. I am from Wilmington, Delaware. For two years, I called treatment programs after treatment programs, trying to enter into recovery. I knew I had a serious problem, but I couldn't find any programs where I could get help. Everywhere I called was either full or required insurance that I didn't have, so my addiction got worse. Finally, through a church-run program called CTAC, "Churches Taking a Corner," I learned about a treatment center in Philadelphia that would accept me. I had to leave my wife and two children in Wilmington, but I jumped at that opportunity. Today I am grateful that I found a program but I know a lot of people who are still using because they can't get into a program. I am able to think clearly, make conscious decisions, and see the world as it is. However, I am angry that I was denied recovery for so long. Because without recovery, I was unable to take care of my family, because I was not able to take care of myself. Now I'm on the right track, but my family went through a lot of pain. We lost a lot of time. There is not
enough funding in the budget for rehabilitation from substance abuse.
When addicts seek help and can find no openings, they become discouraged,
continue using, and do whatever they need to do to medicate their addiction,
even if this means they must rob, kill, or steal. This breaks down our
community. In fact, I am one of the lucky ones. Most of the other residents in my program don't receive welfare assistance. Every time they apply, they are denied for one reason or another, even though they are poor, and need the money. Having no money hurts their chances of recovery, since the program requires people to focus full-time on their recovery. People are not supposed to work for the first four months of their recovery. But if they can't get welfare, how can they not work? And if they have to work, how can they focus full-time on their recovery? We as recovering people and people who want to recover from addiction need this nation to recognize our right to treatment, our right to be healthy, so that we can be productive citizens in our families and in this society. I believe in order to fully recover, we must first recover the nation that made us sick. Testimonies - Article 26 Violations
Home | About KWRU | Take Action | Education | March For Our Lives | International Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign Technology training for KWRU provided by Human Rights Tech
|
|
|
Home | About KWRU | Take Action | Education | March For Our Lives | International Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign Technology training for KWRU provided by Human Rights Tech |
Today I come to talk about what's happening
in Chicago. My name is Carol and I was born on the land that eventually
became Francis Cabrini Extension. I'm a single mother of three sons. Now
I reside in public housing called Francis Cabrini Homes. My sons are neither
gang members nor are they drugsellers. Back in 1955, I as a child watched
them build what eventually became Francis Cabrini Extensions. Our family
was one of the first families to move into the high rise in 1957. The
reason I'm talking to you today is because I feel very strongly about
my community and being displaced out of it. 
Hello, I'm Chandra, and I'm from the
Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. I was born in Chicago, I was married,
I had six kids.
Hi, my name is Mercedes. I'm from Elizabeth,
New Jersey. I'd like to tell you a little bit about myself. I am a formerly
homeless mother of two. I was on public assistance when I had my first
son at a very young age. Up until that time I thought that getting a job
was my answer to all my problems of poverty, so I went out in search of
a job. I found one that did not pay me a living wage. I brought my first
pay stub in to my case worker. My Medicaid and food stamps were cut. So
I could not no longer afford to pay for my food, clothe my children, and
pay rent. I became homeless; I was in a shelter for a year.
Today I would like to start with the
parable of No Room in the Inn. Mary had no place to give birth to her
child because she and her husband were poor. 
Hello, my name is Kay. I am from Oberlin,
Ohio. I am an epileptic. I have been an epileptic for 46 years. I was
told for years, "You can't go to college, you're an epileptic"
and "You can't drive a car, you're an epileptic...." So finally
I got mad and said, "You watch me!"
Hi, my name is Krista. I'm with Idaho
Citizen Network and Idaho Hunger Action Council, and I've never been this
far and I'm kind of nervous so please bear with me. I came here today
because there has been a 77% reduction in the number of families on welfare
in Idaho since January of 1996. I don't know what happened, but I'm here
to say I'm worse off.
My name is David and this is Charles.
First I want to give it out to God for allowing me to be here for truly,
if it wasn't His will, then I don't think I would be here today. Today
is my 75th day of recovery from drug and alcohol addiction. Charles and
I both are residents in the New Jerusalem recovery program in Philadelphia.
Charles is my house manager and he's here to give me a little support.