Day one of a week in the life of KWRU. Day two of a week in the life of KWRU. Day three of a week in the life of KWRU. Day four of a week in the life of KWRU.   Read more about the Kensington Welfare Rights Union. Take a Tour of Kensington online. Read more about our organizing model.

A Week in the Life With the Kensington Welfare Rights Union Search for Affordable Housing in Philadelphia Campaign - Day 5: Friday, July 25, 1997 Several of us start the day with a visit with a KWRU member to Dixon House, trying to see if this United Way funded agency can help her to pay her electric bill so it will not be cut off. She has three children. We are told they are unable to help her. All they are able to do is to tell her how she might spend less on her utilities and budget better (as usual, the "blame the victim" mentality). How is it possible to budget money you don't have? How can these agencies be funded with millions of dollars to provide services they are obviously not providing? Where is the money going? The morning is spent back in Center City at City Hall where our week long search for affordable housing began (across the street at Love Park). The City wants to ensure that homelessness and the homeless are invisible while it funnels all of the city's resources into tourism and into bureaucrats' pockets. We return to City Hall to ensure that the homeless are not invisible or ignored and to send a clear message that we will not let this issue be covered up. We are there also in an attempt to reach out to people in Center City in the hope that those concerned with homelessness and poverty in this the richest country in the world are outraged at what is happening and will join us in this struggle for our lives. After disbanding at City Hall, we divide up to meet with and help the dozens of people who have called into the office over the last two days seeking help with survival needs. Several people are in need of help locating safe and affordable child care so they can work or go to school. Another had complications receiving her welfare check. One woman who several people went off to meet with has no phone, her gas and electricity are shut off and her water is about to be shut off. She has no food, is behind in her mortgage payments and could be evicted and is receiving almost no welfare or health care. She has three children and just recently had to leave work because of a disability. We traveled out to her house and met with her. We listened to her situation in horror and explained what the organization is about and how we might help her. The only thing we ask, is that you too join the struggle to help other people to fight for an end to poverty. One student spent the afternoon surveying Housing Counseling Agencies. The consistent answer, when we asked whether affordable housing was available in Philadelphia - especially for families in crisis situations - wan an unmistakable no. While there appear to be ample resources for families with jobs who are capable of buying a house, those in situations without such means are short of options. What follows is only a sample of the community agencies surveyed. People's Emergency Center offered counseling for first time home buyers, but nothing more. Project H.O.M.E. said they had "no answers". New Kensington CD rehabilitated and sold properties, but provided nothing that would be accessible to families in crisis situations - an answer we found from many CDCs. Such families are not the targets of their activities. Dixon House did provide assistance through the "REACH" program, to single people cut off welfare or to those legally evicted. During a six-month job training/job search program, they provided an initial $750 security deposit on a house and $205 a month which goes directly to a landlord. When one looks at the cost of housing in Philadelphia, especially for families, this level of support falls well short of the mark. Philadelphians Concerned About Housing had not available housing, and their representative was extremely pessimistic about the chances of finding affordable housing anywhere in Philadelphia. Norris Square Civic Association provided mortgage counseling, but nothing in the way of affordable housing. As this search for affordable housing in Philadelphia comes to a close, the number of homeless families in Philadelphia is increasing at an alarming rate. The Kensington Welfare Rights Union, a multiracial organization of poor and homeless families, has been housing these families by any means necessary in the last few weeks and years. Our search for affordable housing in Philadelphia has come up with NOTHING! Everywhere we went, every person we spoke to, every agency we visited had the same answer "There is no affordable housing available". The KWRU has put out a call for help to the public to house families in desperate need of housing. They need help to raise money to house families in some of the 20,000 empty houses in this city. We need to challenge the Mayor and the President, to ask "Where is the Affordable Housing?" The KWRU will hold a speak out for affordable housing and announce Their search and survey results on Friday, August 1 at the west side of City Hall.