Please send this to your Representatives and ask them to support the Bringing America Home Act!
(If you do not know your Reps. or their contact info, please go to www.house.gov)
Date
Dear Rep. NAME:
I am writing to request your support for legislation that was recently introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Bringing America Home Act (H.R. 4347) is the most comprehensive initiative to date that addresses modern homelessness and is based on research, data, and the experience of front line providers and advocates.
In the United States, 3.5 million people - almost 40 percent of them children - experience homelessness each year. Many of these individuals work, but due to high rents, tight rental markets, and low paying jobs, they have found themselves living on the streets, in cars, in shelters, in abandoned buildings, in motels, or in over-crowded, temporary accommodations with others.
The current economic downturn puts even more Americans one paycheck, one illness, or one rent hike away from homelessness. Today, a worker making minimum wage cannot afford housing at fair market rent anywhere in the United States. In fact, in your town, a worker must make $x.xx to afford housing. Today, over a million children are without housing -- xxx of them in your town. Today, access to health care is out of reach for many, including at least xx,xxx in your town. Today, approximately 40 percent of men who are homeless served in the armed forces, including an estimated xx in your town."
People experiencing homelessness are working mothers and fathers, older adults who are unable to make ends meet with their social security benefits, children trying to succeed despite their circumstances, teenagers escaping dangerous situations, and veterans who fought for this country.
Therefore, I strongly urge you to support the "Bringing America Home Act." This Act was introduced in Congress by Representative Julia Carson (D-IN) . If passed, the legislation would provide affordable housing, job training, civil rights protections, vouchers for child care and public transportation, emergency funds for families facing eviction, increased access to health care for all, and Congressional support for living incomes. The Bringing America Home Act would also provide the critically needed resources to make ongoing local and state efforts to end homelessness a reality.
This legislation is crucial to assisting people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. It would end the disgrace of the worst form of poverty in the richest nation in the world. It's time for Americans to take a stand to help our most vulnerable citizens. It's time to Bring America -- and Your Town - Home.
To co-sponsor this legislation, please contact Hilary Swab in the office of Julia Carson at 202-225-4011. For more information on the Bringing America Home Act, visit www.bringingamericahome.org.
Sincerely,
YOUR NAME
To find data on homelessness and demand for shelter, visit http://www.usmayors.org/uscm/news/press_releases/documents/hunger_121802.asp.
To find data on housing costs in your local area, visit www.nlihc.org and click on 2002 "Out of Reach Report" |
