Mental Health Awareness with Sara Troy and her guest Michael Fischer, on air from September 29th
HOMELESSNESS EXPERT: Community advocate and President of New York’s-Central Park South Civic Association, Michael Fischer, discusses the crisis-level homeless epidemic. The highest number since America’s Great Depression.
Over the past decade, Alison Eisinger has helped more than 1,000 people experiencing homelessness in Seattle register to vote. This year, despite the stakes involved in the U.S. presidential election in November, Eisinger isn’t making the same effort.
Seattle already has 7,000 individuals who lack shelter, a number that could swell if a moratorium on evictions is lifted.
“It would be irresponsible for us to think that voter registration is a top priority for someone who is wondering where they’ll get their next meal, or lay their head,” said Eisinger, who directs the King County Coalition on Homelessness, a nonprofit group. “Even for those of us who deeply, profoundly believe in the power of organizing and voter registration, we’re focused on other things, because that’s the nature of a crisis.”
The same dynamic holds true across the country. Between 30 and 40 million American households may face eviction this year, according to one recent study. A federal program to block evictions for a third of the renting population has expired, as have eviction moratoriums in more than half the 50 United States. Others may run out just weeks before the election.