Rising Up for the Unhoused

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FEATURING JESSE RABINOWITZ - Our nation and our world is overrun by billionaires and bigots, but they are few and we are many. On this series, exclusive to subscribers of Rising Up With Sonali and viewers of Free Speech TV, we’ll hear from organizers in the movements for social justice, and dig into the nuts and bolts of values, strategies, tactics, narratives, and building power.

This week on Rising Up for Justice, Jesse Rabinowitz, Campaign and Communications Director at the National Homelessness Law Center joins us. He leads the Housing, Not Handcuffs Campaign, bringing together local, state, and federal partners to fight against laws that make it a crime to live outside and push for housing and other proven solutions to homelessness. Previously, he was the Senior Manager for Policy and Advocacy at Miriam’s Kitchen, a DC-based nonprofit working to end long-term homelessness. Jesse spoke with Sonali Kolhatkar about what it takes to end homelessness.

ROUGH TRANSCRIPT:

Sonali Kolhatkar: So, tell me first about what the National Homelessness Law Center's main goals are. Obviously, you center unhoused people and deal with the fact that we do have this crisis around the country. The campaign that you are working on gives an indication of what it is you're most interested in, Housing Not Handcuffs. But lay it out for us what the main goals of the organization are. It is a law center, which suggests there's litigation involved.

Jesse Rabinowitz: Certainly. We use many tools in our toolbox, including litigation, policy, advocacy, communications, all to build a country where everyone has a safe place to live and nobody is forced to sleep outside. We really want a country where nobody is struggling to choose between paying rent and paying for groceries or paying for medicine, because we know that we have enough resources as a country to ensure that everybody has the housing and supports they need to thrive. 

Kolhatkar: So, in looking at this crisis, it's huge. It's a large nation. We have states. And each region's challenges might be different based on geography or local policies or state-level policies, and of course, overlying all of that are federal policies. How do you address the goals? Where do you focus? Is it a case-by-case, region-by-region approach, or do you mostly focus on federal policy? 

Rabinowitz: It's really all of the above. Right now, we're seeing a far-right wing billionaire-backed think tank called the Cicero Institute partner or ally itself with the Trump administration to pass their racist, backwards, and frankly, ineffective solutions to homelessness that focus on jails and arrests and forcing people off of the streets. And we're seeing these right-wing billionaires peddle their lies, both at the federal level, but also at the city and state level. 

So, we are conscious of the fact that there is a well-funded billionaire-backed push to make it a crime to be homeless happening in cities and states and in Washington, DC and across the country, and we're working to use every lever in our toolbox to fight back and say the solution to homelessness has and never will be arresting people or fining people for being poor. The solution to homelessness has and remains getting folks the housing and support they need.