WRAP News

Give Today To Support House Keys Not Handcuffs Campaign!

Posted on May 10, 2012 by WRAP Comms

On April 1st, WRAP and our allies launched a national organizing campaign, “House Keys Not Handcuffs,” with direct actions in 17 cities: 16 across the U.S. and 1 in Canada.

There were street theater, skits, music, and parades. Most importantly, we sent a clear message that — even though we know how to have fun on April Fools Day — we’ll never consent to laws that treat people like criminals because they don’t have a place to call home. Nor will we accept the pitiful level of federal funding for low-income housing that’s at the root of the problem.

As communities across the country look to WRAP to take leadership on these issues, I’m turning to you to help us raise $15,000 by June 15. I’m asking you to consider a gift of $100 – or as much as you can afford – at this time of great need and opportunity. Continue reading →

Posted in Actions, Affordable Housing, Civil & Human Rights, Organizing | Leave a comment

The Power of WE

Posted on May 4, 2012 by WRAP Comms

The days of “Please sir, may I have some more?” are over. As of April 1st 2012, the message has changed to “We are ENTITLED to exist in our communities, whether you like it or not.”

When we are able to pull together 17 communities and unite behind one banner of justice for all, when we are able to express ourselves with art, music, song, dance, spoken word, direct action, documented experiences and of course 100’s and 100’s of people — then we are able to use words such as COMMUNITY, OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS, and WE, use them with integrity and accountability. We are entitled to be treated with dignity and respect. Continue reading →

Posted in Actions, Affordable Housing, Civil & Human Rights, Federal Government, Local Government, National Allies, Organizing, Poverty, State Government, Urban Homelessness, WRAP Members | Leave a comment

Fed Up With Housing Policy

Posted on April 12, 2012 by WRAP Comms

More than 1.46 million households are currently living on less than $2 a day per person in the wealthiest country in the world, more than double what it was in 1996. This shameful fact has had an especially harmful effect on children, whose numbers in these households ballooned from 1.4 million to 2.8 million. Two dollars a day is the figure the World Bank uses to measure global poverty.

For people scraping by on $2 a day, public housing, Section 8, and other HUD rental assistance programs are lifelines, very thin lifelines. For hundreds of thousands of households, these programs make the difference between having a home and being homeless. And yet both Congress and the White House are now proposing significantly raising rents in these programs. Continue reading →

Posted in Advocacy, Affordable Housing, Civil & Human Rights, Family Homelessness, Federal Government, Legislation, National Allies, Poverty, Urban Homelessness, WRAP Members, Without Housing | Leave a comment

I Ain’t No Broken Window

Posted on April 5, 2012 by WRAP Comms

James Q. Wilson, the person credited with coining the theory of broken-windows policing, died last month and people are starting to ask what “Broken Windows” is all about. Those of us who have been identified as no more than a broken window are sick of it. Continue reading →

Posted in Civil & Human Rights, Local Government, Organizing, Poverty, Urban Homelessness, WRAP Members, Without Rights | Leave a comment

April 1st Day of Action

Posted on March 18, 2012 by WRAP Comms

WRAP and USA-Canada Alliance of Inhabitants are designating April 1, 2012 “No Fooling Day.” We’re organizing 17 simultaneous actions across the USA and Canada to protest the appalling treatment of homeless and poor people and to launch a national civil rights campaign to stop the inhumane and wasteful process of criminalization. Continue reading →

Posted in Actions, Advocacy, Civil & Human Rights, Federal Government, Local Government, National Allies, Organizing, Poverty, WRAP Members | Leave a comment

April 1st Day of Action: The Time to Organize is Now

Posted on March 16, 2012 by WRAP Comms

If ever there was a time to organize, it is now. Property and business owners are creating private “Business Improvement Districts” (BIDs) to police downtown areas across the country. The stated goal is to “improve” these neighborhoods for “visitors and businesses.” The effect is to remove “undesirable elements” from downtown business and tourist centers. Continue reading →

Posted in Actions, Advocacy, Civil & Human Rights, Federal Government, Legal Defense, Local Government, National Allies, Organizing, Poverty, Urban Homelessness, WRAP Members, Without Rights | Leave a comment

Help WRAP Raise $10,000 Before April 1st!

Posted on March 2, 2012 by WRAP Comms

Mark your calendar. WRAP and our allies are designating April 1st “No Fooling Day.” We’re organizing this “National Day of Action for the Right to Exist” to put the appalling treatment of homeless and poor people in the public spotlight and to build pressure for a reinvestment in affordable housing. Eleven cities have already confirmed participation, and the list is growing daily.

“No Fooling Day” will also serve as the launch date for a national campaign to protect the basic civil and human rights of people without housing and to ultimately stop the inhumane and wasteful process of criminalization. Go to our Civil Rights Take Action Page for up-to-date information.

We need your help. We need to raise $10,000 before April 1st to make sure “No Fooling Day” is a success and builds energy for our civil rights campaign. Donations of all sizes are welcome to help us reach this goal. Please donate $50 or whatever you can afford today and forward this to your friends, colleagues, and comrades who can support WRAP in this important campaign. We can’t do it without you! Continue reading →

Posted in Actions, Civil & Human Rights, National Allies, Organizing, Poverty, Urban Homelessness, Without Rights | Leave a comment

Join us on Palm Sunday to defend the inherent dignity of all people

Posted on March 2, 2012 by WRAP Comms

WRAP and USA-Canada Alliance of Inhabitants are calling for a bi-national day of action on April 1, 2012. We are calling on all members and allies throughout the USA and Canada to join the struggle of reclaiming our communities and human rights.

Join us on Palm Sunday to defend the inherent dignity of all people, be they rich or poor. Community groups are holding simultaneous days of nonviolent action to uphold the human rights of all our brothers and sisters. We are gathering to bear witness to the devastating truth that tens of thousands of people are being persecuted simply for being poor and homeless. This inhumane wave of civil rights violations is trampling on the rights of the poorest and most destitute in cities all across North America. Continue reading →

Posted in Actions, Advocacy, Civil & Human Rights, Events, Organizing, Poverty, Urban Homelessness, Without Rights | Leave a comment

Call to the Community to join a Coalition With the Homeless In Fresno County, February 21st

Posted on February 10, 2012 by WRAP Comms

On Tuesday, 2/21, we will hold a forum at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Fresno, 2672 E. Alluvial (between Chestnut and Willow) at 6pm to engage groups, houses of worship, and individuals in beginning a strong Coalition with the Homeless in Fresno County.

Click here to download the flyer.

The Agenda includes a slide show to update you and your group on what has happened to the homeless, keynote speaker Paul Boden from the Western Region Advocacy Project (a homeless organizing group), a panel of currently homeless people will speak, and a call to action will be made. Continue reading →

Posted in Actions, Advocacy, Civil & Human Rights, Events, Local Government, Organizing, Poverty, Rural Homelessness, Urban Homelessness | Leave a comment

WRAP Member Spotlight: Sacramento Homeless Organizing Committee

Posted on February 7, 2012 by WRAP Comms

Sacramento Homeless Organizing Committee (SHOC) was formed in 1987 in response to a new camping ordinance. We organized a legal challenge to that ordinance which was struck down as unconstitutional, but the City soon enacted a new camping ordinance, which has further been altered and no longer takes shelter capacity into consideration. We continue to address civil rights for homeless people, working towards ending laws and policies that criminalize homelessness. Continue reading →

Posted in Civil & Human Rights, Organizing, Poverty, Urban Homelessness, WRAP Members | Leave a comment

No fooling, National Day of Action for the Right to Exist: April 1st

Posted on January 26, 2012 by WRAP Comms

“They want us out of our community!”
“We’re always told to move on, but to where? There are no places for us to be.” — Survey Respondents

WRAP and the USA-Canada Alliance of Inhabitants (USACAI) are calling on our members and allies throughout the United States and Canada to join us on April 1 for a bi-national day of action to protest the ongoing criminalization of poor and homeless people in our communities.

We are building a movement to reclaim our communities for all members: not just those who set the rents. In order to build this movement and assert our human rights, we must make clear the myriad of ways in which our community members are treated as though they are less than human. We must “connect the dots.” Continue reading →

Posted in Actions, Advocacy, Civil & Human Rights, Events, Local Government, National Allies, Organizing, Poverty, Uncategorized, Urban Homelessness, WRAP Members, Without Rights | Leave a comment

Letters of support needed for St. Paul Residents in danger of being evicted

Posted on January 13, 2012 by WRAP Comms

Friends and Allies, members of the National Campaign for the Restoration of Housing Rights and associated enterprises!

We are organizing with tenants in a 60 unit apartment complex in St. Paul, Minnesota under imminent threat of displacement. We’d like your help. Specifically, some support messages from member groups would be a real shot in the arm for the tenants. Continue reading →

Posted in Actions, Affordable Housing, Civil & Human Rights, Family Homelessness, Local Government, National Allies, Organizing, Urban Homelessness | Leave a comment

National Scandal of Using Jails as Psychiatric Wards

Posted on January 6, 2012 by WRAP Comms

The cruelty and medical neglect suffered by poor and homeless people who are incarcerated for being mentally ill is a national disgrace. It is unacceptable that the prison system has displaced the mental health system as the main institution for dealing with poor people with psychiatric disabilities.

The criminal justice system has displaced the mental health system as the main institution for dealing with poor people with psychiatric disabilities in the United States. Federal cuts to mental health and affordable housing programs are responsible for this shameful reality. Continue reading →

Posted in Civil & Human Rights, Local Government, Organizing, Poverty, Uncategorized, WRAP Members, Without Rights | Leave a comment

Special Report: Photo stories of Asperger’s Syndrome

Posted on January 6, 2012 by WRAP Comms

Below you will find five feature stories produced by Street Roots, Leah Nash and the Regional Arts and Culture Council on understanding Asperger’s Syndrome.

The project was made possible in partnership with Street Roots and the Regional Arts & Culture Council in an effort to chronicle the diversity of this complex diagnosis of autism, illustrating the challenges and beauty of an unconventional life. Continue reading →

Posted in Street Roots Blog, Uncategorized, WRAP Members | Leave a comment

Making a dream reality: Right 2 Dream Too’s success flies in the face of skeptics.

Posted on January 6, 2012 by WRAP Comms

by Joanne Zuhl, Street Roots staff writer (Photos by Israel Bayer)

It was supposed to be about the city’s new plan to allow limited car camping for people experiencing homelessness. But testimony at Wednesday’s City Council meeting became an extended appeal for another camping option, one that’s been, almost unanimously, highly successful for nearly three months.

During more than an hour of testimony, a series of people — many homeless — testified in defense of Right 2 Dream Too, a structured camp at the corner of Fourth Avenue and Burnside that is home to about 70 people experiencing homelessness.

The group has a year lease for the property, tacit support from leaders in the neighborhood and no problems with law enforcement. It has a board of directors, regular meetings and is pursuing its own nonprofit status. It has received financial support from the community and has its own portable toilet. Continue reading →

Posted in Actions, Advocacy, Affordable Housing, Blog, Civil & Human Rights, Events, Family Homelessness, Organizing, Poverty, Street Roots Blog, WRAP Members | Leave a comment

December 12th Hearing on Increased Family Homelessness

Posted on December 9, 2011 by WRAP Comms

Avalos is holding a public hearing on Monday December 12th — THIS Monday — at 10:00 am on the surge in family homelessness.

We now have 2,200 homeless children enrolled in public schools, and the highest wait for shelter ever for homeless families – with more coming every day!

We have been trying to get a meeting with the Mayor on this, and we need your help to get SF to respond to this crisis!

Please come and testify on the need for a strong city response. This is extremely important to keep the pressure on!!!! We need solutions and fast!

Monday December 12, 2011
City Hall Room 250
City Operations and Neighborhood Services Committee

Posted in Actions, Advocacy, Affordable Housing, Family Homelessness, Federal Government, Organizing, Poverty, Urban Homelessness, WRAP Members, Without Housing | Leave a comment

2012 HUD BUDGET FACT SHEET

Posted on November 21, 2011 by WRAP Comms

The purpose of this fact sheet is to provide a historical basis for understanding the affordable housing cuts in HUD that once again were included in the Federal Congressional Budget process. A half-billion or even a billion dollar cut here and there may not sound so severe when looked at in isolation, given the size of the overall budget. But when looking at the 38-year-cycle of draconian cuts to our nation’s affordable housing programs and the direct correlation of how this created and perpetuates homelessness, we can better understand and hopefully fight against these continued attacks on the human right to housing. Continue reading →