Having a safe place to eat, bathe and sleep at night is the foundation upon which every other aspect of our lives depends, said Cathy Alderman with the Coalition.
"It is very difficult to maintain employment, or to maintain attendance at school, if you don’t have a home. It’s very important for your health and for your mental health to have a stable place to be," said Cathy Alderman.
The film release is part of a national campaign aiming to open a window for communities, and politicians, to see the far-reaching impacts of the housing crisis, especially on children. As the gap between rents and incomes continues to grow, the campaign wants to correct long-standing racial inequities that have prevented access to affordable, quality housing for families with low incomes. The film can be screened online on the Coalition’s YouTube channel at youtube.com/c/cocoalition.
According to the most recent data, some 18-thousand children on average experience homelessness each year in Colorado. Because getting an accurate count can be challenging, Alderman said the actual number could be much higher.
"Because those are oftentimes the people that are sleeping in their cars, and they often don’t want to be found and counted. Because they have fears about being separated, or losing custody of their children," said Alderman.
The Coalition is planning additional public events in an effort to convince voters, and their elected representatives in Congress, that ramping up federal funding for affordable housing to pre-Reagan administration levels is necessary to meet current and future needs. Alderman said investments in housing are also investments in children's educational achievement, economic opportunities for families and so much more.
"We need to be investing more in housing and homelessness resolution if we want to achieve better outcomes in the education system, in our health-care system, in our criminal-justice system, et cetera," said Alderman.
