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May 28, 2020 | Volume 24, No. 5 | Archives
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Stay up to date on the latest COVID-19 guidance with
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We are all working in a tumultuous and unpredictable environment right now, and it’s easy to be overwhelmed with all the short- and long-term solutions to injustice that need to be enacted. However, while the flaws in our health care and housing systems are heightened during the COVID-19 pandemic, our policy priorities remain clear. Join us in the fight for Housing and Health Care Justice by taking action on the issues outlined below.
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COVID-19 Response: In the immediate, new and existing resources must allow an effective public health response that mitigates the spread and impact of COVID-19 on people without homes, with an emphasis on housing, medical respite care, and telehealth expansion.
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Take Action! (National)
Tell Congress we need housing resources in the next stimulus. A fourth stimulus bill, H.R. 6800, the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act, passed in the House this month and includes significant resources for homelessness and health care (see our summary). Senate leadership and the Trump Administration show no indication they are willing to move forward with a fourth stimulus. We must push our Senators to pass a bill that includes needed resources provided in the HEROES Act. Contact your Senator and ask them to move quickly to include homelessness relief in the next bill. Sign-on (organizations only) NLIHC’s letter calling for housing resources (and use this as a template for suggested language when contacting your Senator).
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Take Action! (State/Local)
Using our issue briefs, talk with your elected officials, public health authorities, and other community partners about medical respite care, testing, harm reduction, and more. Education and advocacy are needed to ensure new resources and new isolation/quarantine facilities provide necessary health and supports for people experiencing homelessness. We’ve developed a series of briefs intended to guide public health authorities, emergency response systems, and others in your community, on Medical Respite Care & Alternative Care Sites *new*, Comprehensive Testing & Services, Reducing Harm for People Using Drugs & Alcohol for Alternate Care Sites Programs, Needed Actions from Public Health and Emergency Response Systems, and Needed Policy Responses for a High-Risk Group.
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A note on permanency: As we talk about appropriate response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we must keep pushing the importance of permanent solutions that end homelessness, rather than temporary housing measures that put people back in shelters and on the streets.
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Medicaid: Until a universal health care system is achieved, we will work to ensure the ACA’s health insurance expansions extend to all eligible individuals, especially those experiencing homelessness.
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Take Action! (State/Local)
Be active with your governor and state legislators, continuing the drumbeat on the importance of expanding and protecting Medicaid. As the number of sick and uninsured continue to rise, and the impact on state budgets threatens reductions in services and/or provider payments, stay vocal that the only acceptable action is to expand Medicaid coverage (in the 14 states that have not yet expanded), and to not make cuts to services, eligibility, and payments. See a summary of expansion status by state from Kaiser Family Foundation, and use the state-based Medicaid fact sheets from Families USA (a good resource to use when you speak with your governor and state legislators).
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Single-Payer Health Care: We remain committed to a publicly financed and privately administered national health care system structured around a “single-payer” financing mechanism as the most effective and efficient way to provide comprehensive, high quality, and affordable health care coverage to everybody in the United States.
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Take Action!
Send us your stories to illustrate the need for single-payer. While Congress is not expected to pass single-payer legislation this session (see House and Senate bills), national advocates continue to push the need for single-payer. Next Thursday 6/4 our Senior Director of Policy will speak at the Congressional Medicare for All Caucus meeting. Look for more materials from the Council on Medicare for All in next month’s Mobilizer. In light of these conversations, we are collecting stories from members of the HCH community on how your experience during COVID-19 illustrates the failures of our current system and the need for change. Send us your thoughts or set up a quick 15-minute interview—no policy expertise required! Contact Regina at rreed@nhchc.org and 443-286-5537.
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| Self-Care is Advocacy, Too!
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Fighting the structural injustices that cause homelessness is a form of self-care, but so is practicing self-care that allows you the healing and bandwidth to advocate for your clients and yourself. Plug in to self-care materials here:
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Watch our COVID-19 Coffee Chat webinars from last week on how organizations can support mental health and wellness and how providers can practice self-care (hint - we talk about advocacy!)
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Listen to our Poverty Policy Podcast Episode 9 on Resilience, featuring a discussion on self-care for front line providers with Lawanda Williams, LSCW-C, MPH, from Baltimore’s Health Care for the Homeless, and Carrie Craig, LCSW, from Colorado Coalition for the Homeless. Poverty Policy Podcast on Soundcloud, Stitcher, and Itunes.
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Write poetry and be featured in next month’s Mobilizer. We are taking submissions for haikus on homelessness, health care, and COVID19. [A haiku is a three-line poem: 1st line- 5 syllables, 2nd line- 7 syllables, and 3rd line- 5 syllables.] See this month’s winners under Good News!
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It is unclear how the federal government will move forward with the November election, and many states are acting on their own to push back primary dates and conduct votes by mail. With much uncertainty and confusion, we’ve narrowed down resources to help ensure that all members of the HCH community know what’s happening in their state and how to cast a ballot. Share these resources with your colleagues and clients.
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Health Care for the Homeless community members are doing incredible work on the front lines of this pandemic. Every email you send, temperature you take, and intake form you process is part of a collective action that creates justice and compassion for people experiencing homelessness. Submit your good news by email to rreed@nhchc.org to be featured in our next Mobilizer.
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From Nashville, TN: The pandemic is bringing in new people as active allies in our mission to end homelessness.
“While they [people in the community] occasionally passed a person on the street with a sign or saw an intoxicated person under a downtown awning, they report that it was not until the shelter in place order was given that they really considered how precious it is to have a home, and how vulnerable you are if you cannot be safer at home. These concerned community members are partnering with local agencies like the Tennessee Valley Coalition for the Homeless to find out more about practical ways to help – and we are excited to be a part of the conversation and the change.”
- Cindy Manginelli, TennCare Shelter Enrollment Project Coordinate at the Council, on her work with the Tennessee Valley Coalition for the Homeless.
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HCH Haikus
Thank you to the winners of our monthly haiku contest! Submit a haiku to rreed@nhchc.org and be featured next month.
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Heroes Among Us
Homeless Health Care Providers
Inspiring Healers
by Julia Hulstein
Executive Director
Community Health Association of Mountain/Plain States (CHAMPS)
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Trying every day
To end homelessness for good
HCH is Love
by Barbara DiPietro
Senior Director of Policy
National Health Care for the Homeless Council
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Did you receive Mobilizer as a forwarded email or hear about it via social media? Register now to receive our action alerts each month!
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This publication and all HCH advocacy are funded by dues from Organizational Members of the Council and by private donations. Consider joining the Council to support this work.
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PO Box 60427 | Nashville, TN 37206 US
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