Members of the Faith and Advocacy Coalition to End Hunger and Homelessness were a significant part of efforts that led to progress made in addressing family homelessness during the 2024 general session of the Utah Legislature. We organized a "Faith, Hunger and Homelessness Day" during the first week of the legislative session, communicated with our individual legislators throughout the 45 day session, gave them Valentine's Day messages, and sent a sign-on letter to legislators during the final week of the session. The most important accomplishment made during the session for improving Utah's response to family homelessness was securing funding to staff and open a second shelter for families with children in Salt Lake County. In the summer of 2022 we learned that the existing family shelter was full and that children were sleeping in cars and tents. In 2023 funding was secured to purchase a hotel and convert it into a second family shelter so that every child sleeping outside could be offered a warm, safe place to sleep. A hotel in South Salt Lake City has been purchased for this purpose and is in the process of being renovated so that it meets fire code and other safety requirements. With funding for staff becoming available at the beginning of the state fiscal year, on July 1, 2024, we can expect this facility to open soon. This funding was FACE Hunger and Homelessness's top priority for the session and we are grateful that Governor Cox championed it and the Legislature included it in the budget. The second accomplishment in addressing family homelessness made by legislators was the inclusion of family homelessness as a category for specific study and planning by state leaders charged with addressing homelessness. This change to state law was made in HB 298, sponsored by Representative Tyler Clancy from Provo. The original version of the bill made other changes to the state's strategic planing process but did not require developing plans to meet the unique challenges faced by families with children experiencing homelessness. We want to thank Representative Jennifer Dailey-Provost and Representative Gay Lynn Bennion for working on a floor amendment to add the consideration of family homelessness to the state strategic planning process and to also thank Representative Clancy for understanding the importance of the amendment and supporting the change to his bill. Given the fact that our state has just decided to officially include the study of family homelessness in it's strategic planning process for addressing homelessness, I would like to propose a twelve month plan for promoting two important bills that would reduce family homeless in Utah:
We will be having a meeting to discuss these two ideas for bills next week on Zoom on Wednesday, March 13 at noon. If we reach an agreement that we want to prioritize these two bills I would like propose that we proceed to set up two meetings a month with elected officials and potential allies to build support for them. The first monthly meeting would be in-person in Salt Lake County and would focus on policymakers and partners in that county. The second meeting would be virtual and would focus on talking to leaders from other counties so that our understanding of this issue can be more statewide. |
We want to thank all of the people who filled the Capitol Building's Board Room yesterday to help draw attention to policies that would dramatically reduce homelessness in Utah. Below are a pictures from Faith, Hunger and Homelessness Day. Here are news stories about the event:
Faith Hunger and Homelessness Day January 18, 2024 Draft Agenda I. Multi-faith responsive welcome 10:00 AM Representatives from First United Methodist Church of Ogden, First Congregational Church of Salt Lake, Holladay United Church of Christ, First Unitarian Church of Salt Lake City Mt. Tabor Lutheran Church, First Baptist Church of Salt Lake City and Community of Grace Presbyterian Church III. Presentation on Governor Cox’s proposals for reducing homeless 10:10 AM Wayne Niederhauser, Director of Utah’s Office of Homeless Services IV. Thanks for progress made during past year, 10:20 AM Rev. Vinnetta Golphin Wilkerson, Kena Matthews from Provo Community Church and Rev. Tyler Doherty from the Cathedral Church of St. Mark V. Presentation on child and youth homelessness 10: 25 AM Students from the Salt Lake Center for Science Service Leadership VI. Why more progress is needed this year 10:35 AM Rev. Lora Young from South Valley Unitarian Universalist Society And Brianna Jackman from Powerful Moms Who Care VII, Presentation from legislators working on key bills 10:45 AM Representative Jim Dunnigan, Representative Jim Dunnigan and Representative Carol Spackman Moss VIII. Read clergy sign-on letter 11:00 AM IX. Meet informally with individual legislators 11:10 AM Photos from prior Faith, Hunger and Homelessness DaysThanks to our amazing volunteers, community partners, and supporters, we were able to provide 3,500 households with turkeys and side dishes at our annual Thanksgiving Food Giveaway last week. We are so grateful for everyone who showed up to help make this event possible!
All of the food that we distributed at the Giveaway was donated by Harmons Grocery and their customers. This is the 26th year that Harmons has supplied turkeys and other food items for this event. Funding and support for the Giveaway comes from Harmons, the Salt Lake Bees, Utah Food Bank, Rowland Hall School, Rocky Mountain Power, the B.W. Bastian Foundation, the Army ROTC, Christ United Methodist Church, AECOM, and dozens of other volunteers, nonprofits, and local churches. Did you know that the infant mortality rate in Utah went up by ten percent last year?
This month a woman called one of Crossroads Urban Center's food pantries and asked for help. She was homeless and had recently given birth to a premature child who was staying at the newborn intensive care unit at a local hospital. The family shelter in Salt Lake County was full and she had called every resource she had been referred to in order to find a place indoors where she could live with her newborn child when that child was released from the hospital. She is not the only person who has ever encountered this problem in our state. In Salt Lake County there are several homeless shelters but only one is allowed to make beds available to children. That means that a woman who is pregnant while staying at one shelter will need to be admitted to another shelter after she gives birth. The family shelter in Salt Lake County is consistently full and so it is unlikely a bed will be available on the day a newborn child is released from a hospital. Unfortunately, not every pregnant person is able to get into a shelter because the shelters for childless adults are also generally full in Utah at this time. Research shows that being unsheltered while pregnant increases the risk of an infant being born prematurely and of needing to be admitted to a newborn intensive care unit for an extended period of time. An article from Shelterforce from last year notes that, "women experiencing homelessness were more than twice as likely to experience a health complication during labor and delivery." The article notes that these averse effects disproportionately impact African American infants, "Since there are notable racial disparities in homelessness, this might be one contributor to the racial disparities in birth outcomes." This is a problem that can solved. A study conducted in Ohio showed that when low income mothers experiencing homelessness were given assistance to stabilize their housing pregnancy outcomes improve by so much that overall Medicaid costs related to childbirth go down by an average of over $17,000 per birth. This month the United States Department of Health and Human Services released a Playbook to Address Social Determinants of Health like housing and hunger and a specific guidance on how states can use Medicaid and CHIP funds to address social determinants of health The Faith and Advocacy Coalition to End Hunger and Homelessness urges state and local policymakers to study the links between infant mortality and homelessness and to develop programs to increase housing stability for low income pregnant women. |
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