“America is such a wealthy country—no one back in the old country would believe that there is homelessness here.”

Those were my father’s first words when he surveyed the beautiful and sometimes haunting photographs of the National Center on Family Homelessness’ “Looking into Light” exhibit, which the Seattle University Project on Family Homelessness is hosting at City Hall.

Photo by Dan Lamont, 2010

Seattle is the third stop in the exhibit’s national tour. Among the black-and-white prints from all over the country are images taken by local photojournalist Dan Lamont, who followed several Washington State families as a Seattle University Family Homelessness Journalism Fellow.

My father’s comment jolted me outside of my usual worldview. It is a

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What role does advocacy play in a housing-and-services provider's work to end homelessness? “Plenty,” they would say. Many of Building Changes’ grantee providers already have executive directors and staff who actively engage their elected officials for funding and support. But often, they’ve excluded some of their best assets: their board members.

This year, several of our staff, including Executive Director Betsy Lieberman, Deputy Director Alice Shobe, and Public Policy Specialists Seth Howard and I, had the privilege of meeting with the executive directors and board members of four provider organizations to discuss the role of advocacy among board members. We did this under the Board Advocacy Project, run by Common Ground and funded by the Campion Foundation, whose goal is to mobilize board members of social justice organizations to lend their weight and influence to advocacy.

We held trainings with Helping Hand House in Pierce County, Hopelink in east King County, Community Youth Services in Thurston County, and Housing Hope in Snohomish County.

The board members were an impressive and diverse bunch. They ranged from retired community leaders to heads of our region’s major industries to sitting elected officials. All dedicated their free time to fundraising for and managing their organizations, but most had not thought of advocacy as part of their scope of responsibilities. Their staff, meanwhile, are sophisticated advocates. Community Youth Services, for example, frequently sends their clients—youth in foster care—to testify in Olympia about how their programs prevent youth homelessness.

What our team did was to initiate the board’s discussion on how they could become a significant part of their organization’s advocacy strategy and how they could create a tailored advocacy model that served their organization’s needs.

With Washington State facing a $2 billion budget deficit and the legislature looking to make painful cuts in human services, board members are well aware that they need to have all hands on deck to ensure the long-term sustainability of their organizations. At our most recent training with Housing Hope, nearly 20 board members took time off in the middle of their work day to explore their role in securing public dollars to keep their programs running.

Things will not be easy in the near future: The economic outlook remains difficult, and legislators will be making more budget cuts next session. But as they grapple with major funding decisions, we hope to hear a new set of voices reminding them to continue supporting the work of providers that are reducing homelessness in their communities.

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In a budget cutting session--like what we're all sweating in Olympia right now--good news can be hard to come by. But good news is what came out of the Senate Human Services and Corrections Committee yesterday with the passing of HB 1811 on a voice vote. And we're celebrating! HB 1811 has already passed the Washington State House of Representatives unanimously, and once it passes the Senate Rules Committee, we'll be in business.

What's the business? Getting vulnerable and homeless families and individuals assistance as fast as possible in order to prevent them from becoming homeless or immediately re-house them if they already are. HB 1811 allows housing or homeless services providers working on behalf of vulnerable and homeless families and individuals to assist clients more immediately

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New national data shows more children and their families are experiencing homelessness in our country and state. Our state's dilemma is that we have proven programs that end homelessness, but their continued longevity is threatened by ongoing State deficits. Programs like the Washington Families Fund, Home Security Fund, and Housing Trust Fund are good for families and good for our economy. 

Building Changes will soon release new data on an emerging subset of "high needs" families served by the Washington Families Fund. These chronically homeless families are a small subset of the total homeless population but the most complicated. The good news is that the data shows we're making progress in stabilizing families who have been homeless an average of ten times:

• Thirty percent more families

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As I stood outside in the frigid Olympia morning, I glanced up at the gray sky. No rain yet, but later we might not be so lucky. I took a deep breath and exhaled, forcing myself to relax. I gathered what intellectual courage I could muster and fell in-step with more than 450 others who, like me, had gathered in our state capital and donned red garb to show our support for Housing & Homelessness Advocacy Day -- to be a voice for continued government funding for the homeless.

Truthfully, I had my doubts as to the true effectiveness of something like advocacy. I know that in theory our legislative representatives care what "we the people" have to say on each and every issue, but let's be honest -- do they really care? Don't they already have their minds made up on any given issue? Can my one opinion actually matter?

Anne Marie Champoux (center) with co-workers, Seth Howard and Margaret Foster, at Housing & Homelessness Advocacy Day on February 12th

Marching toward the Capitol steps in a sea of red, I turned to my co-worker Seth and said, "So be honest with me, is what we're about to do here -- taking meetings with representative's aides, leaving notes for legislators, pulling legislators from the floor to plug our cause -- does all of that really make a difference?" Seth, a former state legislative staffer, looked at me slightly shocked and taken aback. "Yes," he said matter-of-factly, "absolutely it does!" Surprised by his answer, I entered the Capitol Building with a cautious seed of optimism.

By the day's end I knew for myself Seth had been right. In the first place, I learned that politicians are accessible. All it took was the initiative to set up a meeting. Secondly, I had been expecting cold and disconnected customer service. Instead I found genuine interest and concern in the faces of legislators all around me. I observed representative's aides enthusiastically stepping in when the representative was unavailable and engaging in a thoughtful discourse regarding what we had to say about funding for homeless programs. Each one of us really did matter. Each one of us had something important to contribute to the greater conversation.

As a result, I left Olympia feeling as though I wasn't just another face in the crowd, another ant in the ant hill. In the end, as I dashed toward our car, I was soaked to the bone from the rain, but my optimism was in full bloom.

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