The temperatures downtown dipped into the teens last night. As I drove in, grateful for my '92 Corolla's efficient heater, I wondered how many of the more than 2,000 people in King County that sleep out found an emergency overflow spot on an indoor floor.
I thought of how the number of those who survive outdoors has, over the years, only grown. I thought of Real Change's work, and how much more there is to do.
In a city this affluent, no one should have to struggle for bare survival, but the gap between what is and what should be remains huge.
What will it take to reverse the momentum of growing inequality? How do we best nurture the transformational community that can bring about the system change we all need?
When the weather gets this cold, body heat is essential. People walk. Since the feds mandated that the one-night homeless counts be performed during one of the final seven calendar days in January, many of us have had the opportunity to observe this activity firsthand.
One of the first vendors I saw this morning was Gary, who, in recent months, has been regularly rousted from downtown doorways between four and five a.m.
"Damn cold to be sleeping on a loading dock last night," he smiled, "but I did it." He said this with the pride of someone who'd just run the New York Marathon.
I understood where he was coming from. Survival, under these conditions, is something to be proud of.
It won't be news to most of you that Real Change has struggled in recent years to keep up with demand. Seattle's Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness -- with its long-term strategy of lowering the demand for emergency shelter through the provision of affordable housing -- has turned a blind eye to the increased desperation that is there on the ground for anyone to see.
Our region's affluence has inexorably driven the cost of housing skyward, and affordable housing has only grown more scarce. In 2007, according to King County sources, 45 percent of renters paid more than 30 percent of their income for housing. Less than 1 percent of King County apartments are affordable to those earning 30 percent of median or less.
According to seattleapartments.com, "One bedroom Seattle apartments currently rent for $1,098 to $1,683 per month. Seattle renters report average rents are up $7 a month this year."
Monthly income for an "extremely low-income person" (earning 30 percent of the median wage or below) for 2008 was $2,036. A full-time worker earning minimum wage brings in just $1,398.
The meaning of the math isn't hard to comprehend.
The logic of the Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness, that homelessness will be "ended" with more affordable housing, and no longer simply "managed" through the expansion of emergency services, is rooted in denial.
The more than 800 plans that now exist across the nation are less a strategy than an ideology. They are the mechanism by which the Bush administration controlled federal funding for homelessness, co-opted the base, and decided who speaks for the poor and on what terms.
Homelessness is not being ended. Demand for shelter is up. The supply of affordable housing is down. Unemployment is high, especially among the disabled and less skilled. Car camping is exploding, as is family and rural homelessness. The human services safety net is under continual attack, and, as a host of strategies which criminalize the poor gains traction in cities across the nation our jails and prisons have become America's best-funded federal housing program for the poor, black and mentally ill.
We punish the poor, deepen the cycle of poverty and congratulate ourselves on our local and national commitment to "ending homelessness."
It doesn't have to be this way. The possibilities for change -- with national and local mandates for new approaches -- have never been so great. Our challenge is to come together across race, class, and issue boundaries and be the change we want to see.
Barack Obama won't do this for us. Mike McGinn won't do this for us. Dow Constantine won't do this for us. Not even Peter Holmes will do this for us. We need to do this for ourselves.
And if we do, our newly elected leadership might just do more to help than to stand in the way.
Organizing takes resources. Real Change is a progressive voice in our community that humanizes the dehumanized and stands up for those who have the least.
We have proven that organizing works, and that the relationships that exist between our readers and vendors are a powerful engine for change.
Our high-profile work on the homeless sweeps took on the city-led "discourse of filth and contagion," created accountability and built broad public support for community-based solutions such as Nickelsville.
Our work to oppose the proposed new City Jail "questioned inevitability" and reframed the issue in terms of race, class and civic priorities in a time of scarcity. During the last election, candidates lined up to oppose the new facility.
The stakes involved in meeting our Winter Fund Drive goal of $160,000 come down to this. Real Change meets the immediate survival needs of those on the street while we organize for structural change. Without the resources to do both, we are forced to choose between the two. This, for all of us, is a losing choice.
Help us meet that goal. Please. With $75,385 raised since Nov. 1, we are close to halfway, and with your help, the next three weeks will take us over the top. Please make your tax-deductible gift to Real Change, 2129 2nd Ave., Seattle, WA 98121, or visit realchangenews.org to make a secure online donation.