Health Care for the Homeless
Advocacy
Agenda 2006 – 2010
Health Care for the Homeless (HCH) provides
health-related services, education and advocacy to reduce the incidents
and burdens of homelessness in
Maryland
. Central
to this mission is a commitment to advocacy with and on behalf of people
without homes and those at risk of homelessness.
“HCH advocacy” is rooted in direct service experience, shaped
by the perspectives and involvement of staff, board, and clients, and
targeted on local, state, and national levels.
In its advocacy work, HCH acknowledges the importance of
emergency safety net services but commits the bulk of its efforts to
addressing the underlying causes of poverty and challenging public
policies which uphold the status quo.
HCH therefore works to ensure access to comprehensive health
care, affordable housing, living wages, and adequate disability
assistance. HCH forms
partnerships with organizations locally and nationally to advance this
agenda.
Between
2006-2010, HCH will commit its time, energy and resources toward the
following agenda:
·
Universal Health
Care:
HCH will work in
Maryland
and nationally to further public consideration of proposals for systems
of universal health care.
·
Medicaid
Expansion:
HCH will work to improve
Maryland
’s Medicaid system and will work on state and national levels to
expand Medicaid coverage to additional populations, especially those
low-income single adults who currently lack access.
·
Addiction and
Mental Health:
HCH will work to improve the public addiction and mental health
systems and will advance harm
reduction practices and strategies to increase access to services
for vulnerable populations.
· HCH Appropriations: HCH will work to ensure continued federal funding of the Health Care for the Homeless Program and continued state support of the organization.
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Affordable
Housing: HCH
will work locally to call public attention to rapidly declining housing
resources, on the state level in pursuit of housing-related legislative
initiatives, and nationally to advance the National Affordable Housing
Trust Fund.
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Incomes
and Disability Assistance: HCH
will work with others on the local and state level to enhance wages and
increase financial support available to people with disabilities.
Nationally, HCH will work to address the inadequacy of federal
benefit programs and to advance the National Living Wage campaign.
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Access
to Resources: HCH
will work to ensure the availability of comprehensive emergency and
supportive resources and to minimize barriers to appropriate services.
- Availability: HCH will continue its local and state-level work to improve emergency shelter and supportive services with particular emphasis on services for women, (including women with children,) families, people with disabilities, including limited mobility, addiction, and mental illness, and for individuals released from public institutions (jails, prisons, hospitals, etc.).
- Location: HCH will continue to work locally to ensure access to services in appropriate and central locations – particularly to promote the availability of HCH services at a new downtown site.
- Barrier
Reduction:
HCH will work locally and nationally to reduce barriers to
services. This work
ranges from technical or administrative barriers (applications,
eligibility criteria, etc.) to systemic barriers (the navigation of
public bureaucracies, inadequate transportation systems, etc.) to
public policy barriers that restrict access to necessary benefits or
services (e.g. ordinances that criminalize behaviors in public
places) to physical barriers (e.g., to buildings).
By supporting coalitions such as Justice Maryland, HCH will work to reduce barriers to reentry
and reintegration faced by individuals leaving jails, prisons, and
other public institutions.
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Collaboration:
HCH
will continue to work collaboratively with Addiction Treatment Advocates
of Maryland, the Homeless Persons Representation Project, the Maryland
Alliance for the Poor, Welfare Advocates, the Maryland Citizens’
Health Initiative, the Universal Health Care Action Network, the
Congressional Universal Health Care Task Force, the National Health Care
for the Homeless Council, the National Coalition for the Homeless, the
National Alliance to End Homelessness, the National Institute of Child
and Human Development, and other local, state and national organizations
and coalitions working to address issues of poverty and homelessness.
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Public
Education: HCH
will continue to educate individuals and organizations about public
benefit programs (such as Medicaid, Food Stamps, and state and federal
disability assistance). HCH
will work locally and nationally to increase the capacity for advocacy
in direct service organizations and will educate homeless service
providers nationally on the advocacy priorities of HCH and the National
Health Care for the Homeless Council.