Background:
The Kensington Welfare Rights
Union is dedicated to ending poverty. We fight for people's basic needs
every day out on the streets and we also participate in the political
process to fight for our economic human rights. A key part of our vision
for change was the creation of the Labor Party in 1996. The KWRU is a
founding affiliate organization of the Labor Party because the Labor Party
is the only political party in the United States of America that has a
program that guarantees every person their Economic Human Rights.
As an affiliate of the Labor
Party, we see it as our responsibility to participate in the party and
to continually strive to make it better. The Labor Party has made a point
of making sure that its program provides solutions to the major insecurities
and problems that the majority of Americans face. Much discussion has
taken place within in the Labor Party of the need for the program to address
the right to housing because, at this point in time, the program does
not address peoples housing needs. The KWRU has decided to address this
by submitting an amendment to the Labor Party Program for consideration
at the July 25-28, 2002 Labor Part Convention in Washington, DC.
A program piece that guarantees
the right to housing would help ensure that the Labor Party program provides
clear answers to American's housing problems. It will give Labor Party
organizers a tool reach out with to organizations that are fighting for
housing. This housing program point also provides an opportunity for housing
organizations to directly influence the Labor Party Program to meet their
needs.
Housing is an issue that takes
on many aspects. While KWRU's focus around housing is mainly around issues
of homelessness this is a broad issue and takes many forms and that the
draft housing proposal should be reflective of that. To truly address
the needs of Americans, a housing point on the Labor Party program needs
to have answers to all of the obstacles prevent people from having stable
affordable housing. We need your help, as an organization or individual
who is involved in the fight for housing to make this proposal comprehensive.
Please read this draft statement
on housing and assist us with suggestions on how to succinctly broaden
it out to address the comprehensive nature of the housing crisis in America
today. Please contact Cheri Honkala of the Kensington Welfare Rights Union
at 215-203-1945 or kwru@kwru.org. Send mail to PO Box 50678 Philadelphia,
PA 19134.
Thank you. We look forward to hearing from you.
In struggle,
Cheri Honkala
Labor Party Affordable Housing
Program Proposal - DRAFT -
Across this country rows and rows of houses stand empty, while an increasing
population of homeless people crowd the streets. A 1994 survey showed
that 12 million Americans have been homeless at least once in their lives.
Now, women and children are the fastest-growing group in the homeless
population, and one in five of the homeless are employed. Shelters represent
only a transient solution. As a matter of fact, over one-fourth of the
requests for emergency shelter are denied each year. But there is more
than enough space! The Labor Party is angered by the position that our
elected officials have taken to "combat homelessness." For them
it is more profitable to allow its property in poor areas to decline until
it is useless to support a reasonable standard of living. Destroying homes
to make way for larger structures also creates displacement, and the illusion
of a solution. It seems that it is easier for them to let neighborhoods
rot until they can be replaced by corporate structures instead of working
to ensure affordable, decent housing for working class citizens. We believe,
therefore, that the government should be responsible for providing housing
on a Federal, State, and local level. This will require it to allocate
funds where they should be-in our neighborhoods-to clean up abandoned
lots, follow through with plans for construction, and to improve the existing
government-owned houses. Homelessness seems like a complex problem, but
wide variety of solutions and funds already exist, and there are plenty
of reasons to pursue them.
- Providing accessible,
affordable housing for everybody will create a population influx,
supporting local businesses and enhancing the economy.
- Responsible urban planning
results in a pleasant, safe, and healthy community. Not only will
efficient, carefully placed homes lower the costs of commodities like
utilities and transportation, but they will be better for the environment,
and improve the overall atmosphere of urban settings. Finland's national
housing program is a fine example of a plan that is affordable, community-oriented,
and ecologically sound.
- Models of successful affordable
housing programs are already in place in the US. Working in concert
with HUD on a State level, the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency has
developed a program known as the Minnesota Families Affordable Rental
Investment Fund (MFARIF), which has utilized $30 million in the "welfare
reform reserve." The program also encourages local as well as
national investors and banks to invest in the construction.
- Big businesses can and
should be held accountable for the consumers that their buildings
displace. At present, however, $40 billion a year is wasted in 68
separate tax and spending programs for corporations, whose expansions
gobble up potential space for housing development.
- Section 8 vouchers are
not always released as they become available. All section 8 vouchers
can and must be readily accessible for housing emergencies, especially
for single mothers, who are often turned away from shelters for liability
reasons.
- To provide accessible
housing, the government must keep the population informed about building
plans and empty government-owned homes that are safe for occupancy.
