Stay tuned for our upcoming episode of the Voices for Human Needs podcast, launching next week! In this episode, co-hosts Abigail Alpern Fisch and Leo Nguen will discuss issues of housing, health care, and policy to address the challenges for those experiencing poverty and facing homelessness. You will hear from two members of the National Health Care for the Homeless Council: Dr. Courtney Plasden from Portland, Maine, the council’s clinical director, and Art Rios Sr., the Chair of the National Health Care Consumer Advisory Board based out of Portland, Oregon. Courtney and Art share how their lived experiences with homelessness influence their ongoing work providing direct services to homeless populations both before, and during, the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition, we will be joined by Steve Berg, the Vice President of Policy and Programs at the National Alliance to End Homelessness in Washington D.C. Steve shares how advocates at the grassroots and federal levels must continue to push forward policies during the budget reconciliation process and economic recovery legislation that could make a real difference in the lives of those at risk of, or facing, homelessness.

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The sense of urgency to enact the policy priorities discussed in this next episode are all the more relevant by the just-announced Supreme Court ruling overturning the extended federal eviction moratorium issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The extended moratorium was scheduled to be in effect through October 3rd for renters living in communities with high transmission of COVID-19, as declared by the Center of Disease Control and Prevention. The Supreme Court’s decision puts millions of renters immediately at risk of losing their housing. Many of CHN’s partner organizations are calling upon state and local governments to take immediate action to keep renters stably and safely housed. See below actions you can take now.

Actions you Can take now!

• Join CHN to demand Congress provide rental vouchers for tenants with low incomes.
  • Send a letter to Congress today!
• If you or someone you know needs emergency rental assistance:
  • Call 2-1-1 or visit www.211.org. 2-1-1 will connect you to a local call center that can share information about local programs that might be able to help.
  • Find Rental Assistance Programs near you which can help landlords and renters who are struggling to keep up with rent and other bills.
• National Alliance to End Homelessness: visit their website to read more about their research, campaigns, and action items.
  • Take Action by signing onto action letters and signing up for action alerts.
  • Learn more here about key policy areas that will affect homelessness, and how you can make your communities’ needs known to Congress.
  • Donate to the National Alliance to End Homelessness.
  • Follow on Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook.
• National Health Care for the Homeless Council (NHCHC) visit their website to learn more about their work and advocacy resources.
  • Take action with Mobilizer, a monthly action alert newsletter by the NHCHC
  • Become a member to network, collaborate, and advocate alongside an expansive group of leaders and professionals who work every day at the intersection of homelessness and health care. 
  • Donate to the National Health Care for the Homeless Council
  • Follow @NatlHCHCouncil on Twitter, and @NationalHCHCouncil on Facebook, 
• Take Action with the National Low Income Housing Coalition:
  • Join more than 1,000 organizations nationwide by signing the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s #HoUSed campaign petition and by circulating it among your networks. This letter is one of the most effective ways to show congressional leaders the broad support for the #HoUSed campaign’s long-term policy agenda, and this letter is regularly shared with members of Congress to make the case for the #HoUSed campaign’s priorities for the infrastructure/economic recovery bill.