Homelessness has a myriad of causes and dimensions—from foreclosure, job loss and domestic violence to mental illness, medical expenses and addiction. If we as a community are to properly respond and act, we must take a more comprehensive view of why homelessness occurs and how we can effectively combat it.
The federal government says affordable housing should take no more than 30 percent of a person's income. In reality, no one earning minimum wage in any state can afford a one- or two-bedroom apartment at Fair Market Rent. In 1999, the national two-bedroom housing wage was $11.08; in 2011, the national housing wage was $18.46, a 66 percent increase. The lack of affordable housing is widely considered to be the main cause of homelessness in the United States today.
Homelessness is growing at an alarming rate locally and nationally, and many cities’ solution to the crisis is to criminalize poverty by passing constitutionally dubious laws crafted to harass the homeless. Sadly, Memphis is no exception to this. Such efforts are not only inhumane and immoral, but have been legally challenged as violations of the First, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. More to the point, these efforts are ineffective, counterproductive and fiscally irresponsible.
Homeless Organizing for Power and Equality (H.O.P.E.) is the name of a Mid-South Peace and Justice Center sponsored organization who's members are exclusively people who are currently or have formerly experienced homelessness.
H.O.P.E is currently working very hard to organize around issues of core concern in this year's Shelby County Commission budget proceedings.
The Road Home is the umbrella name give to three specific funding requests that H.O.P.E. is making before the Shelby County Commission addressing housing and the intersections between homelessness and criminal justice.
A proposal coming before the Shelby County Board of Commissioners could muffle opposition to controversial land developments. Child impact statements currently provide a comprehensive means to communicate—to the county commission and city council—the concerns of children, families, and entire neighborhoods over new land developments that could affect their health, safety, education, and physical environment. Right now, the county commission and city council cannot consider any proposed resolution or ordinance involving safety, health, education, or land use without first receiving a child impact statement. The land use requirement could be lost if a proposed change to the Commission's rules of order is passed.
The training started with one of the most successful slogans in the past 40 years: “We are the 99%!”
But who are the 99%? Have you ever thought that you were part of the 99%? What does it mean to be part of the 99%? Who are the 1%? Those and many other questions were answered after sharing in the 99% Spring Action Training, Dozens of trainings took place all around the country, getting together approximately 100,000 people concerned about the issues happening in our country. This included people who already are involved in some kind of social action or people who only want to know what this 99% concept is about.
Homeless Organizing for Power and Equality (H.O.P.E.) is the name of a Mid-South Peace and Justice Center sponsored organization who's members are exclusively people who are currently or have formerly experienced homelessness. Over the past few months our members have been hard at work not only planning, mobilizing and organizing a movement for justice on our streets but also building community through mutual emotional support within the group itself.
For the past 5 months organizers with the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center have been working with the real experts on the issue of homelessness, those persons who have directly lived and experienced it for themselves.
Homeless Organizing for Power and Equality (H.O.P.E.) is the name of a Mid-South Peace and Justice Center sponsored organization who's members are exclusively people who are currently or have formerly experienced homelessness. Members of this organization will receive training and support as they direct and lead street campaigns around the host of issues,challenges and injustices suffered by our brothers and sisters who live on the streets of our community. These campaigns are all centered around H.O.P.E.'s four principle values of DIGNITY, SELF DETERMINATION, SOLIDARITY and MUTUAL EMOTIONAL SUPPORT. Currently H.O.P.E. has weekly membership meetings on Thursday nights at the MANNA HOUSE, with an open discussion group meeting on Thursday mornings.
“The Homeless people don’t have a lobby. So they’re not going to be down at city hall and the legislature.” Those were the words spoken by Memphis Mayor AC Wharton while giving a speech on the need for Ten Year Plan To End Homelessness in April of 2010. The Mayor was correct; people who are experiencing homelessness did not have a lobby or organization whose chief priority was to ensure that the needs of this constituency were being heard loud and clear by our elected officials. That was true until now.
Over the past four years the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center has worked to make the struggle against of homelessness and poverty cornerstone issues of this organization. Together....
People First is a Mid-South Peace and Justice Center supported partnership with residents and activists working in the Binghampton community to raise voter turn out during elections and assist in long term resident-driven grassroots community organizing after the elections end.
The Mid-South Peace and Justice Center is thrilled to announce the completion of the 2011 Memphis Survival Guide (MSG.) MSG is a an updated version of our handheld user-friendly directory of all homeless service providers, runaway services, drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs, shelter and meal services offered in the City of Memphis.
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