National Coalition for the Homeless

==Ralph Nader Note==
One of America's premier charities, the National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH) goal is to end homelessness by aiming at four crucial fields; housing justice, economic justice, health care justice, and civil and voting rights. The NCH acts through grassroots mobilization, public education, advocacy for the homeless, and technical assistance to member groups of the coalition and partnering with these local and state groups to fight homelessness in their communities. For each aspect of homelessness, the NCH has a response.
Homelessness is an issue that has proportionally disappeared from the agenda of mainstream politicians as it has worsened and spread. The NCH increases public awareness by holding panels on homelessness on campuses and organizations across the country, convening conferences, and educating the public through written publications, its website, and by distributing fact sheets on the different facets of homelessness, from homelessness afflicting veterans to the urgent need for healthcare of the homeless and Americans most likely to fall into homelessness as well as answering basic questions �Why are people homeless?� The NCH is one of the few groups that tracks homelessness and produces reliable studies and figures that chart the progression of homelessness to put a face on an anonymous and misunderstood section of our society.
According these stereotype-crushing NCH figures, some 42% of the homeless are employed. Yet as low-end wages have depreciated in value during the past thirty-five years it has become increasingly difficult for these lower-wage earners to attain the most basic of needs, a roof over their heads and health care. The two issues are linked: disease forces many to homelessness while the homeless suffer the most from disease. The NCH therefore endorses the campaign for a Living Wage and Universal Health Care, a bill introduced to Congress that would break the growing phenomenon of the �working poor� by enabling the poorest Americans, including the some three million day laborers and temporary workers who risk falling into homelessness, to secure adequate housing and medical coverage. The NCH fights for housing justice by campaigning for the right to affordable housing for all.
The homeless have frequently become the targets of exclusionary laws and measures passed by communities that deprive them of fundamental civil and voting rights by practically segregating them from the rest of the population and preventing them from gaining redress. Seen as a public nuisance, the homeless are frequently the targets of law enforcement. Unaware of their legal rights and deprived of legal counsel, the homeless rarely contest charges and usually accept pleading �no contest� or �guilty as charged� to get off with time served or a minimal sentence. The criminal record entailed further excludes them from the mainstream population and renders their reintegration into society all the more difficult. To protect the voting rights of the homeless the NCH attempts to register as many homeless to vote as possible, thereby empowering them in the electoral system.
As the homeless have become progressively excluded from mainstream society they have increasingly become the targets of violence. Shockingly, the NCH counted some 212 acts of violence against homeless men, women and children, including 123 murders of homeless people between 1999 and 2002. Harassment of the homeless continues. To protect the homeless from such abuse the NCH is supporting the application of the Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2003, and lobbying Congress to investigate hate crimes against the homeless.
A non-profit group that depends on the generosity of contributors, the NCH sponsors charity events to raise money to protect the homeless. The NCH is exceptional in its creative approach: it raises funds with the support of a series of internet shopping malls (available on their website at http://www.nationalhomeless.org/thankyou.html), where a significant portion of the proceeds go to support the coalition, as well as the more traditional annual Help the Homeless Walkathon in Washington, DC.
While the homeless face an uphill battle and a myriad of barriers, the NCH is at their side and has workable solutions for their problems. Whether lobbying the Department of Housing and Urban Development to take on homelessness issues or raising public awareness in grassroots campaigns the NCH ensures that the homeless are not forgotten and that the issue of homelessness remains on the minds of Americans.
To find out more about the National Coalition for the Homeless, visit their website.
category:wellness