Info forwarded by David Gallegos.
To All Who Want an End to the Suffering of the Most Vulnerable People on the Gulf Coast,
We received word this morning that the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote on or before Thursday May 8 whether to include the long-standing request for $70 million in funding for 3000 Permanent Supportive Housing rent vouchers for Louisiana as part of hurricane recovery. Now is our big chance to get these desperately needed vouchers — We are asking everyone to telephone House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Whip James Clyburn today!! Their offices need to hear from you that as an American you want and expect our government to help the most vulnerable victims of disaster – those who, because of mental or physical disability combined with extreme poverty, need assistance to become stably housed. Please pass this message on to your local and national contacts.
(Permanent Supportive Housing simply means affordable apartments linked to services that help stabilize people with mental or physical disabilities. PSH is nationally proven as a cost-effective way of ending and preventing homelessness and of making it possible for people with disabilities to live independently.)
The 3000 vouchers are a bipartisan request supported by the entire Louisiana congressional delegation, Republicans and Democrats alike, as well as more than 300 national and local nonprofits and faith groups concerned about Gulf Coast recovery. Although virtually every Member of Congress and Hill staffer to whom we have spoken over the past two years agree that this request involves a relatively small amount of money and is clearly an emergency, these rent vouchers for the most vulnerable residents of hurricane-devastated areas have not yet been funded.
With this request for vouchers languishing in Congress for two years, our state’s most vulnerable residents have not been able to participate in the recovery and are now in extreme crisis. In New Orleans and other hurricane-devastated areas, there is an epidemic of Katrina-generated homelessness, with thousands of disabled people sleeping in street camps, in cars, in the woods, and in buildings without electricity and running water. In one large New Orleans homeless camp, one-third of the residents were found to be at risk of dying soon due to their frail medical conditions, using national research indicators of homeless mortality. A recent survey found that 86 percent of the camp residents are Katrina victims – with many suffering from schizophrenia, cancer, AIDS, heart disease, major depression, end stage kidney disease, liver disease, developmental disabilities, or loss of limbs. In the New Orleans area, mental illness among the previously well is on the rise; many of those who were diagnosed with mental illness before the hurricanes have decompensated; and the extended family support system, upon which so many vulnerable people with mental and physical disabilities relied, has been largely destroyed as a result of so many people remaining displaced around the country. Thousands of elders and people with disabilities who are capable of living in their communities remain displaced far from home or unnecessarily institutionalized, almost three years after the storms. Louisiana has set aside hurricane recovery money for construction of Permanent Supportive Housing apartments and for services to the residents of those apartments, but without rent subsidies, these apartments – and the services attached to them — cannot be accessed by the extremely low income people for whom they were intended.
Last fall Louisiana was promised that these Permanent Supportive Housing rent vouchers would be included in the Supplemental Appropriations Bill. But our Capitol Hill contacts tell us that these vouchers may be OMITTED from the bill because once again they may not be considered a high enough priority.
Here’s what we urgently ask you to do immediately:
Please telephone House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Whip James Clyburn. (Rep. Clyburn, the third-ranking member of the House majority leadership, has been very sympathetic to the plight of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, and we believe that if he personally champions these vouchers, they will be funded). You will not be asked questions, and your message can be something like this:
“Please ensure that the 3000 Permanent Supportive Housing rent vouchers for Louisiana’s homeless, disabled and elderly hurricane victims are included in the Supplemental Appropriations Bill. I also urge you to provide additional Permanent Supportive Housing funds for Mississippi as well. The vouchers cannot wait any longer because these vulnerable people are in crisis. Thank you very much.”
Call the Hon. Nancy Pelosi: (202) 225-4965
Call the Hon. James Clyburn: (202) 225-3315
Please email Martha Kegel at mkegel@unitygno.org and let her know that you have called Speaker Pelosi and Rep. James Clyburn. PLEASE also forward this message to all of your friends across Louisiana and across the nation. If you need further information, do not hesitate to contact Martha Kegel.
Thank you for caring enough to do this! All of us who work daily with these vulnerable individuals appreciate your support!
Sincerely,
Martha Kegel
Valerie Keller
Co-Chairs, Louisiana Supportive Housing Coalition
