Platform - Green Party US
II. Social Justice
J. Housing and Homelessness
Measures to Address Homelessness
The Green Party recommends the following actions:
Measures to Address Homelessness
Prevent homelessness before it occurs by addressing its structural causes, through raising the income floor under the working poor, creating living-wage jobs, providing job training and education that will enable low-wage workers to obtain living-wage jobs, preserving and expanding affordable housing, providing affordable health care, ensuring sufficient mental health care and substance abuse services, availability of healthy food and providing effective, holistic assistance that connects vulnerable individuals with sources of income and essential services.
Recognize that there are multiple, related and individualized causes of homelessness, and develop solutions that address them.
Maintain and expand the social services necessary to address the varied aspects of homelessness.
Move people rapidly into stable living arrangements, where they will not be under constant threat of displacement or worrying about untreated health problems or other personal difficulties.
Support and encourage service integration at all levels and move beyond the shelter approach to provide supportive housing that combines accommodation and an array of necessary services, to transition people out of homelessness.
Responding creatively to provide additional transitional housing through master leasing of private apartment blocks; purchase for-profit single room occupancy hotels; and where feasible, conversion of short-term emergency shelter facilities into permanent supportive housing.
Provide the resources necessary to advocate, develop and monitor discharge practices of local hospitals, jails and foster care through a zero-tolerance policy for discharging people to the streets.
Increase employment for homeless people.
Set aside a share of public-sector jobs for homeless people who are able to work.
Ensure that public agencies devoted to job creation are active in providing job training and work opportunities for homeless residents.
Support non-profit agencies that do the same.
Ensure that public assistance is enough to allow recipients to afford a roof over their head.
Help homeless who are entitled to federal Social Security benefits and veterans' disability payments to obtain them.
Repeal laws that criminalize homelessness.
Involve homeless people in decision-making about short- and long-term solutions to homelessness.
Educate homeless people about their right to vote.
Encourage voter registration and voter participation among homeless people.