As the Partnership to End Homelessness celebrates its three-year anniversary, the Partnership’s staff and Leadership Council are taking time to reflect on the Partnership’s accomplishments and to begin planning for our work ahead.
In order to better understand what has changed since the Partnership launched and where we go from here, the Partnership invited several partners and experts to join our most recent convening. These experts shared their perspectives on the changing landscape of homelessness in DC and emerging challenges that require the support of private sector leaders.
Here are the top three takeaways from the conversation with Marisol Bello, Executive Director of the Housing Narrative Lab, Lara Pukatch, Chief Advocacy Officer at Miriam’s Kitchen, Theresa Silla, Executive Director of the DC Interagency Council on Homelessness, and Robert Warren, Director of the People for Fairness Coalition.
The stories we tell about the causes of homelessness drive the solutions we create and the policies we make. Since the end of the critical phase of the pandemic, there has been an increasing focus in local and national media on homelessness being a result of bad choices made by individuals. This unfortunately has led to more calls for punitive actions against people who are experiencing homelessness, such as criminalization of camping.
This growing narrative ignores the fact that the primary causes of homelessness are failures in systems like housing, healthcare, and criminal justice. Research demonstrates that by telling this true story, we can focus our collective efforts on supporting proven solutions by addressing the root causes of homelessness. We can all become storytellers and make change by speaking out and influencing our families, friends, and organizations.Advocacy drives change, and we can all be advocates. In the past two years, the District has invested a record number of resources in ending homelessness in our city. This is in part thanks to the advocacy of those with lived experience of homelessness and our advocacy partners – together with members of the private sector -- who have tirelessly lobbied policymakers to make these historic investments. Making a meaningful impact can be as simple as sending an email or making a phone call. We all have a role to play as advocates.
We can end homelessness for everyone in the District if we “hold fast and stay true.” The fight against homelessness has made many exciting strides in recent years. Since 2015, family homelessness is down by 80 percent. Veteran homelessness has also fallen – down by 50 percent since 2017. But we cannot become complacent – we need to continue our work to end family and veteran homelessness through tested, proven practices.
At the same time, we need to take what we’ve learned in the family and veteran systems and apply that knowledge and intensity to addressing homelessness among single adults and youth.
The Partnership to End Homelessness will be continuing the conversation over the coming months.
If you’re interested in learning more about the Partnership’s plans, and how you can support this work, please contact Jennifer Olney at jolney@thecommunityfoundation.org.