









































When researching homelessness and the housing crisis, the 
first thing I notice is the cruelty. 

For example, from the Heritage Foundation (Rufo, 2020):  

“First, policymakers must ensure a baseline of public order—
in short, enforce the laws against public camping, drug 
consumption, and homelessness-related property crimes—
which is a prerequisite for any successful intervention.” 
(emphasis added) 

Notice the language: “public order,” “drug consumption,” 
“property crimes.” Unhoused people are not human; they are 
public nuisances. Often editorial pieces and news coverage 
employ language that is insensitive, dehumanizing, and 
based on fearmongering about people living with addiction 
and mental health issues. 

The concept of “law and order” is a fundamental core of the 
conservative movement. But “order” is entirely superficial. 
“Order” means not seeing unhoused people in desperate, 
vulnerable situations out in public; it means hiding them 
from public view—not working with them to provide 
resources, not making structural changes to address cyclical 
poverty and systemic inequities that are frequent causes of 
homelessness.  

This became especially clear during the COVID-19 
pandemic, as companies cut hours and jobs, and rent and 
mortgages grew increasingly unaffordable. Many were 
forced onto the streets and into vulnerable situations, 
perhaps the least of which was putting them at increased 
risk of COVID. Both COVID and housing instability 
disproportionately affected communities of color (Lake, 
2020). Some temporary relief came in the form of stimulus 
checks and a freeze on mortgage payments. Then we decided 
COVID had ended, and the money ran out; America moved 
on but the unemployed and unhoused remained.  

Last year, HUD released its annual report on homelessness 
and found, “On a single night in 2022, roughly 582,500 
people were experiencing homelessness in the United 
States” (Office of Policy Development and Research). Black 
and Indigenous people were and are disproportionately 
represented; the 2022 Annual Homeless Assessment Report 
found Black people made up 37% of all people experiencing 
homelessness, and 50% of people experiencing homelessness 
with children.  

Recent legislation attempts to address homelessness. The 
Housing Crisis Response Act of 2023 would provide 
over $150 billion in funding for affordable housing and 
investments in closing the racial housing gap. The Ending 
Homelessness Act of 2023 would include $10 billion to 
provide housing for people experiencing homelessness and 
make the temporary Interagency Council on Homelessness 
permanent. Both acts were introduced to the House by Rep. 
Maxine Waters, D-C.A., and currently sit in limbo. On the 
global stage, the 58th session of the UN Commission for 
Social Development released the first UN resolution on 
homelessness. But these are words. 

The real work is done on the ground, by community 
organizers and activists making do with what little 
resources they have. In America, they tend to fall 
into two categories: prevention and support. The 
prevention organizations are legislation focused. For 
example, National Alliance to End Homelessness 
(endhomelessness.org/) and the Urban Institute (https://
www.urban.org/), each with national headquarters in 
Washington, D.C. Other support organizations work 
with people experiencing homelessness to address each 
person’s unique needs. For example, the Pathways 
Home (pathwayshome.org/) in Birmingham, Ala., 
and the Spokane Homeless Coalition (http://www.
spokanehc.com/) in Spokane, Wash.  

Speaking Up and Speaking Out: 
Systemic Cruelty

Author
H. JAD REA, MLIS Student, Indiana University Indianapolis

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Here in Indiana, Prosperity Indiana (prosperityindiana.
org) supports communities across the state. 
The Indianapolis Liberation Center (https://
indyliberationcenter.org/about/) facilitates community 
collaboration and works to develop policy solutions 
to systemic issues including housing inequality and 
labor exploitation. Community collaboration to meet 
individual needs is vital and necessary support. Policy-
focused organizations are a useful complement to 
community action.  

But real change comes from the top. The key first 
step is recognizing the issue: homelessness is not a 
“punishment” for an individual’s choices. Homelessness 
and housing inequality is systemic, purposeful cruelty. 
No real change will come until lawmakers recognize this 
and involve unhoused people in developing solutions. 
As the maxim goes: Nothing about us without us. 

References

Lake, J. (2020, October 30). 
The pandemic has exacerbated 
housing instability for renters 
of color. Center for Ameri-
can Progress. https://www.
americanprogress.org/article/
pandemic-exacerbated-hous-
ing-instability-renters-color/  

National Alliance to End Home-
lessness (NAEH). (2021, March 
18). New report shows rise 
in homelessness in advance 
of COVID-19 crisis. https://
endhomelessness.org/blog/
new-report-shows-rise-in-
homelessness-in-advance-of-
covid-19-crisis/  

Office of Policy Development 
and Research. (2022, Decem-
ber). 2022 AHAR: Part 1 – PIT 
estimates of homelessness 
in the U.S. https://www.hu-
duser.gov/portal/datasets/
ahar/2022-ahar-part-1-pit-es-
timates-of-homelessness-in-
the-us.html  

Rufo, C. F. (2020, August 24). 
‘Housing First’: Homing in on 
the problem. Heritage Founda-
tion Commentary, August 24, 
2020, https://www.heritage.
org/housing/commentary/
housing-first-homing-the-
problem.  

U.S. House Committee on 
Financial Services. (2023). 
Fact sheet: The Housing 
Crisis Response Act of 2023. 
https://democrats-financial-
services.house.gov/upload-
edfiles/2023_housing_sup-
ply_bill_fs.pdfv  

Fact sheet: The Ending 
Homelessness Act of 2023. 
https://democrats-financials-
ervices.house.gov/uploaded-
files/2023_ending_homeless-
ness_act_fs.pdf  

U.S. Interagency Council on 
Homelessness. (2022, Decem-
ber). ALL IN: The federal stra-
tegic plan to prevent and end 
homelessness. https://www.
usich.gov/All_In.pdf  

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