Houseless and In-Crisis Delegation (Including Formerly)
Houseless People and Those In-Crisis Deserve Immediate Aid and Lasting Community Solutions
People who have been or are currently houseless and those actively in-crisis, including sudden loss of stability or chronic food and housing insecurity, have seen most starkly the true face of this system, one that would rather see a person die, go to prison or degrade themselves rather than honestly care for those with nothing, those in immediate need. And not just in its lack of stabilization policy, in its unwillingness to create accessible paths to fill self-actualization, to eliminate absolute poverty altogether, to secure safe housing, work, medical care, and other crucial amenities to every person, ESPECIALLY those in critical need, but also in its outright hostility to them.
This system wields and carries through on the threat of houselessness, jail, death, and exclusion not because it can’t help people, but because that practice forces compliance with the institutions and rules of this system. This weaponization of our basic survival needs means that for the vast majority of people, losing everything can be instant, no matter how much you follow the rules, save, or make. If you’re not an investor, an employer, or a landlord, this system is holding a knife to your throat while not even seeing you as a real person.
Because people who are houseless and in-crisis require both immediate and sustained aid, and because this system will throw as many of us into dire straits as possible, and because it will never accept representation from those of that status, the solution is clear.
End the Weaponization of Survival and Community
If we want to remove the power of this system over us, we have to take it’s ability to control whether we are housed and cared for, fed and educated, able to defend ourselves, and a full member of our communities.
The Worker-Tenant Council holds a permanent place for those who are houseless and in-crisis, not just with rhetoric, but with immediate and continual access to crisis aid, with nutritious meals, with actions for delivering permanent housing and crisis solutions, and with a permanent, co-equal delegation that has actual, distinct, political power.
Every Worker-Tenant Council meeting begins with a neighborly greeting, free nutritious meals for all, and direct access to immediate crisis-aid for any who need it, all before any Council business takes place, to ensure that needs are addressed and people are enabled to full participation in Council business without hunger, fear, pain, or stress making it difficult.
The Houseless and In-Crisis Delegation is a co-equal delegation, meaning no matter how few members it contains, it still gets one full vote as a delegation. Members of this delegation are both people actively in these situations and people who have formerly been in those situations. All members are voting members, and members will elect their own, non-voting delegation leaders, as other delegations.
On all issues related to housing accessibility, disaster relief, and crisis response, this delegation, along with the mutual aid, community organizations, and co-operatives delegation, will jointly open, lead, and close discussions. A member of this delegation will chair any topical committees. This delegation also retains automatic veto power on all Council proposals made on the above topics.