national coalition for the homeless
TRANSCRIPT
By Maya Alexandra
The National Coalition for the Homeless is a
non-profit organization that
provides assistance for
homeless people including shelter, food, affordable
housing, and opportunities to work and earn a
living wage.
Their goal is to protect the rights of
the homeless as citizens and human
beings.
The National Coalition for the
Homeless, founded in 1982, is a
national network of people who are
currently experiencing or who have experienced
homelessness, activists and advocates,
community-based and faith-based
service providers, and others
committed to a single mission.
That mission,
our common bond, is to end
homelessness.
We are committed to creating the systemic and attitudinal changes necessary to prevent and end homelessness.
“We work to meet the immediate needs of people who are currently
experiencing homelessness or who are at risk of doing so.”
In addition to housing, the Coalition helps provide a variety of services to the homeless, near-homeless and formerly-homeless community such as job
placement, medical assistance, food and
clothing distribution, legal advice and aid,
transportation, and self-help counseling.
80,000 homeless individuals in Chicago
cannot find permanent, adequate housing.
The cost of housing in Chicago is 37% higher than the national average.
Michael Stoops tells reporters that the
organization has named Little Rock the
meanest city toward the homeless in the
nation. The group ranked it above
Atlanta, Los Angeles and New York.
According to the National Coalition for the Homeless,
Los Angeles is one of the top five “meanest” cities in the
United States. Municipal laws criminalize homelessness by
prohibiting “anyone from sitting, lying or sleeping on any public sidewalk, street,
or alley at all times anywhere.”
Homeless persons are at great risk of hypothermia, poor nutrition, chronic health problems, physical attack and even death.
We take as our first principle of practice that people who are currently experiencing homelessness or have formerly experienced homelessness must be actively involved in all of our work.
Thank you.