Artists United to End Homelessness is a Southern California-based network of all kinds of artists. We have issued this statement for three reasons.
First, to provide a vision of ending homelessness, not simply managing it.
Second, to provide a connection point for the outpouring of love and solidarity for the homeless expressed by countless artists across the United States.
Third, by putting together thousands of signers of the statement, to create a document that can be used to pressure politicians and inspire artists. We encourage you to sign the statement and to post and share it any way you can.
Overcome the poverty pimps by bringing the voices of the unhoused to the front
Replace the stereotypes of homeless people with fact-based unity
Study the actual causes of homelessness
Understand the full scope of homelessness, from the streets to the college campuses
Unite the housed and the unhoused, including all movements to make housing available and affordable
Unite housed and unhoused artists, whether they do music, writing, visual art, dance, whatever
Don't think of homeless people as second-class citizens with lesser needs than the housed population
Decide what the purpose of housing is. Is it to make billionaires even richer or is it to provide everyone with a decent place to live? It can't be both.
Combine efforts to ensure immediate survival with promotion of a vision to END homelessness
Get off the defensive and go on the offensive
Introduce new ideas into the national discussion. Without the injection of groundbreaking ideas, the discussion of homelessness is limited to various forms of charity
Take the people without homes and put them in the homes without people