By Kevin Michael Briscoe November 18 , 2021<\/p>\n
Over the course of 26 years being clean and sober, Donald Whitehead has carved out a name as a top advocate to end homelessness in the United States. Twice homeless himself and addicted to drugs and alcohol at a very young age, the executive director for the\u00a0National Coalition for the Homeless<\/a>\u00a0is at the forefront of a new effort to a make affordable housing a \u201chuman right.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIn essence, we are a collective of agencies, individuals and people who themselves have experienced homelessness that work together to organize around [this] issue,\u201d Whitehead said of the Washington-based organization he heads. \u201cOur first principle of practice is that homeless people should be in leadership positions in all the work that we do and be the ultimate solution to homelessness.\u201d<\/p>\n He added that 80 percent of the National Coalition for the Homeless staff and 60 percent of its board of directors are formerly homeless.<\/p>\n The Journey to the Streets and Back<\/strong><\/p>\n As a kid, Whitehead was forced to \u201cdouble-up\u201d with numerous aunts and uncles and five siblings at his grandparents\u2019 home in his native Cincinnati. Despite the challenges of living with 20 or so people in a single-family unit, he said that he managed to carve out a pretty good life.<\/p>\n \u201cMy mom worked in the education system, so we all did well educationally,\u201d Whitehead said. \u201cI was voted most likely to succeed, prom king, and I played football and basketball. I had all the trappings of success, but I started using [drugs] at a very young age. And, for the most part, I was a functioning addict.\u201d<\/p>\n Brief stints at both the University of Cincinnati and in the Navy left Whitehead with too much time and opportunity, giving his addictions (\u201cmostly alcohol at that time\u201d) a chance to take hold of him body and soul.<\/p>\n \u201cI eventually left the Navy \u2014 not by my choice \u2014 went back to Cincinnati and started living the American Dream,\u201d he said. \u201cI had pretty decent jobs as a restaurant manager, car salesman and environmental activist with Greenpeace. But, then I started experimenting with other substances, and, in the end, I was overwhelmed to the point where I got a divorce. I ended up in my sister\u2019s basement and then my brother\u2019s spare bedroom and then another brother\u2019s third-floor apartment.<\/p>\n As is the case with many addicts, Whitehead \u201cfinally ran out of relatives\u201d and found himself living in shelters, abandoned buildings and even the back seats of cars.<\/p>\n But, after six months in a treatment facility, he began his new life\u2019s work.<\/p>\n \u201cIn order to get into the program, I had to do community service, and that was with the\u00a0Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless<\/a>,\u201d Whitehead said.<\/p>\n After two years, he was named executive director of the organization and eventually became a board member for the national organization. In 2000, he was named the first African-American executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, where he served until 2004 before launching his own consulting firm. In August 2020, Whitehead came back to lead the National Coalition for the Homeless as its current executive director.<\/p>\n He has been clean and sober since April 26, 1995.<\/p>\n Blacks Most at Risk<\/strong><\/p>\n Whitehead asserts that homelessness boils down to two basic factors: lack of affordable housing and poverty.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are a lot of other factors that play a role in people becoming homeless, but those themselves are not the reason for homelessness,\u201d he said. \u201cSure, there\u2019s substance abuse, mental health issues, issues of domestic violence, which is very prominent among women in the homeless community. But really the issue is a lot of structural issues that started 60 or 70 years ago that we\u2019ve not fully addressed, and that is most common when we talk about people of color.\u201d<\/p>\n The\u00a0State of Homelessness 2021 Edition<\/a>, released by the National Alliance to End Homelessness, highlights these structural issues.<\/p>\n \u201cAs with so many other areas of American life, historically marginalized groups are more likely to be disadvantaged within housing and homelessness spheres,\u201d the report states. \u201cHigher unemployment rates, lower incomes, less access to healthcare and higher incarceration rates are some of the factors likely contributing to higher rates of homelessness among people of color.\u201d<\/p>\n The report points out that the black homeless population was 228,796 in 2020 or 52 per 10,000 people, and that while White people make up the largest racial group in the homeless community at 280,612, the rate per 10,000 of them is nearly five times less than it is for blacks.<\/p>\n Racially driven real estate practices (commonly called\u00a0redlining<\/a>), as well as urban renewal plans that wiped out entire black neighborhoods, bear some blame for the discrepancies but so does the lack of support for returning military veterans, Whitehead said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe inability to access housing has created a tremendous wealth gap in this country,\u201d he said. \u201cMost people of color experience \u2018network poverty.\u2019 Because of this lack of wealth generation, which has been an intentional policy of the federal government, many people of color don\u2019t have that network to rely on to support them when something traumatic happens.\u201d<\/p>\n Bring America Home Now<\/strong><\/p>\n Whitehead and his National Coalition for the Homeless team recently launched\u00a0Bring America Home Now<\/a>, which its website describes as \u201ca comprehensive grassroots campaign to end homelessness in the United States\u201d through a cross-sector group of national and community-based partners. There are now more than 50 partner organizations involved in the effort.<\/p>\n \u201c[We are] proud to join the \u2018Bring Home America Now\u2019 campaign spearheaded by Mr. Whitehead and our longtime partner, the National Coalition for the Homeless,\u201d said Deborah De Santis, president and chief executive officer for the\u00a0Corporation for Supportive Housing<\/a>. \u201cThe campaign is notable for bringing together a diverse array of stakeholders … and aligning grassroots support around housing, health, education, racial equity and employment to scale resources to address this national issue.\u201d<\/p>\n The initiative, said Whitehead, has both short- and long-term goals.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re looking at things that have to happen right now, like protecting people from criminalization, doing a better job of planning for discharges from hospitals, foster care and mental health facilities,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we\u2019re also looking down the road. We have to make housing a human rights issue, we have to provide the income that supports people with the ability to stay in their housing, and we have to do a better job with health care in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n U.S. President Joe Biden\u2019s\u00a0Build Back Better<\/a>\u00a0bill is directing historic funding to housing issues, including $24 billion for housing vouchers, with $7.1 billion earmarked for the homeless and victims of domestic violence; $1 billion for rental assistance and $65 billion to repair and renovate public housing units.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have seen historic dollars coming out of the Biden administration through Build Back Better,\u201d Whitehead said. \u201cThis housing funding is at levels we haven\u2019t seen since the New Deal. But we\u2019re looking to build on that.\u201d<\/p>\n Biden\u2019s program is just the beginning, said Joel Segal, who is spearheading the Bring America Home Now campaign.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Build Back Better housing provisions are a significant first step in an unprecedented commitment by the federal government towards ending homelessness,\u201d said Segal, a former legislative assistant to the late Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.). \u201cAn expansion of\u00a0Section 8 vouchers<\/a>\u00a0is going to help scores of working families and the physically and mentally challenged stuck in homeless shelters.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever, on any given night, there are over a half-million homeless people without a place to call home. While most are individuals (70 percent), the rest are families with children, which is a national disgrace.\u201d<\/p>\n Segal added that homeless people who don\u2019t qualify for Section 8 are forced to sleep in hotels, bus stations or in temporary living conditions that can often be unsafe.<\/p>\n The Bring America Home Now campaign \u2014 headed by Whitehead and Segal \u2014 plans to advocate that Congress pass a comprehensive bill to end homelessness that includes universal access to quality and affordable health care, jobs, job training, access to higher education, child care, transportation services and improved mental health and drug and alcohol treatment programs.<\/p>\n The campaign also supports the\u00a0Ending Homelessness Act of 2021<\/a>, introduced in July by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), and working with the National Organization for Women on a national call-in day urging key Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Kyrsten\u00a0Sinema (Ariz.) to forego additional cuts to housing funding.<\/p>\n