Economic Rights, Poverty, Homelessness, and Welfare
Housing is a Human Right
These are organizations and web sites about homelessness, primarily in the United States
The National Alliance to End Homelessness is a national federation of private, public, and non-profit organizations dedicated to ending homelessness. Their site has fact sheets, articles for students, ways you can help, and information about their work.
The National Coalition for the Homeless another excellent advocacy organization with fact sheets, stories of real homeless people, articles, many internet resources, and information about their campaigns
The National Law Center on Homelessness in Poverty - the "legal arm of the movement to end homelessness" is a real organization that does great work, and I say this not just from reading a web site, but I talked to them on the phone when I was homeless myself. Pro-bono lawyers who work to help homeless people are an extremely valuable resource and they are across the United States in many places, getting very little credit for their work.
The National Low Income Housing Coalition is "dedicated solely to ending America's affordable housing crisis". This is important not just for people who are in low income housng but for people who are homeless because they cannot get affordable housing.
Opening Doors is a housing publication for the disability community with valuable information for disabled people which you can read online or order for home
Homeless People and the Internet explains how resources on the net can be useful to homeless people. This site is not meant just to be looked at on the web, but for the information be printed out and given to homeless people. People may not realize this but it is easy for some homeless people to get internet access, at places like public libraries and colleges (I did this myself while homeless all the time), and there are web sites that give information about shelters and food banks and legal rights. This web site has information on shelter and an email list for homeless people.
Homes not Jails is an activist group with contingents in Boston, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. One thing they do is take over abandoned houses to convert them into living spaces for homeless people (and, yes, this is illegal and people can go to jail for it).
Resources for Low Income People on Welfare (State Assistance), Welfare "Reform" and related issues
The Poor Peoples Economic Human Rights Campaign is an important activist effort started by the Kensington Welfare Rights Union (KWRU), which is an organization that has made some amazing accomplishments and was founded by a woman named Cheri Honkala. You can take a visual tour, find out more information, subscribe to their email list, and learn how you can become involved at their site. It is worth really worth visiting. KWRU started as a group that made a tent city in protest in Philadelphia, PA but it has grown to have a national reputation and the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign is a national effort which many other groups are also involved in.
A related site , The University of the Poor has a chat area, a library of articles, and forms you can use to document abuses of economic human rights
The Welfare Organizing Media Project of the Sojourner Feminist Institute and Survivors Inc. has articles on topics such as what to do when you are getting evicted, the rise in homelessness among elderly women, depression in poor women, and related resources and links
Welfare Warriors - "Fighting for the Lives of Mothers and Children in Poverty Since 1986" is an activist group with a newspaper you can order
WIN - Welfare Information Network is a huge clearinghouse of information and resources related to welfare reform and many issues related to welfare. They have an incredible amount of links.
Welfare-Workfare Links is an international site in more than one language with a large number of links on welfare and similar programs in several different countries, and an email list called "Workfare Fight"
The Welfare Law Center "works with and on behalf of low income people to make sure that adquate public funding is available"
Dress for Success is an organization that helps low income women in seventy cities return to the work force, by other women providing clothing and interview tips
The Women's Alliance is another organization of women that provides low income women with work clothing, and career skills training
