BISMARCK, N.D. - As COVID-19 cases continue to spike in North Dakota, social service support groups are asking the U.S. Senate to act quickly before its August recess and approve more emergency assistance.

Many North Dakotans are on the brink of hunger and homelessness because of COVID-19-related shutdowns, according to Cheryl Ann Kary - executive director of the Sacred Pipe Resource Center, which provides services to Native American families in the Bismarck area.

She said many of the people her group assists are in the service and retail industries, and need extended unemployment benefits, rental assistance and health care to survive.

"We have people who are no longer able to keep their heads above water," said Kary. "They're sinking. And I think that just, with a little more assistance, we can help people, you know, at least keep afloat."

Unemployment in North Dakota was just over 9% in April and just over 6% in June. That's almost triple what it was in June 2019, at 2.4%.

Kary said the need seems more critical among Native Americans who don't live on reservations, as the reservations received some CARES Act funding this year. She said those living in urban areas are more likely to have seen job losses and evictions.

"Of course, we still have a lot of racial tensions here, remaining from the Dakota Access Pipeline protests," said Kary. "And I think that definitely plays into the choices - whether someone gets evicted, or whether someone gets hired or not."

Deborah Weinstein, executive director of the nonprofit Coalition on Human Needs, said Congress needs to move fast now that federal unemployment benefits have run out, and before the extended eviction moratorium ends in October.

"We have not experienced anything like this for 100 years," said Weinstein. "We've got a stubborn disease that is keeping our economy from functioning the way it should. We cannot let our families suffer in this way. The consequences to children are so grave."

She also urged lawmakers to approve an additional $1 trillion in aid to state and local governments to avoid funding cuts to critical health, education and social service programs.

Connecticut advocates are distressed about the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Grants Pass v. Gloria Johnson.

The ruling said public camping bans are not "cruel and unusual punishment" as defined by the Eighth Amendment. It means municipalities can fine homeless people for making encampments in public parks.

Sarah Fox, CEO of the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness, said criminalizing homelessness never works.

"People who are arrested are then returned to our community without resources," Fox pointed out. "So those that are engaged in the criminal justice system rarely come back to the community with the resources they need to thrive."

She added expenses such as court fees can stall a person's efforts to get housing. States such as California, Texas and Utah have bans similar to Grants Pass. Other states are either considering bans or saw legislation fail when it was introduced. The ruling comes as the last two annual point-in-time snapshots showed homelessness in Connecticut is rising after an 8-year decline.

Nationwide, homelessness has only grown since 2017. A 2022 U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development point-in-time snapshot shows more than 582,000 people were homeless on a single 2022 night.

Fox argued a multipronged approach can reduce homelessness and developing affordable housing is a primary concern.

"We need to take a deep look at zoning," Fox contended. "What other models of housing are available in the near term, and how do we actually build deeply affordable units in the long term to meet the need?"

Recent estimates showed Connecticut is short 100,000 affordable housing units and current housing is too expensive even for higher-paying jobs in the state. The National Low-Income Housing Coalition finds Connecticut rental prices far exceed the pay of most if not all jobs the state has to offer.


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A group formed to fight for the rights of Bozeman's lower-income renters is pushing for mandatory legal assistance for people facing eviction. Opponents say it's unfair to landlords.

Bozeman Tenants United calls itself a multiracial, intergovernmental movement to win safe, dignified and affordable housing for working-class renters.

Benjamin Finegan, director of the group, said rising rents and less availability are proving to be "death by a thousand cuts" for renters, who he pointed out are forced to spend as much as half of their income on housing, if they can afford it at all. He called evictions "acts of violence," and claimed they are at the heart of Bozeman's housing crisis.

"Where an eviction, in a lot of ways, is a death sentence," Finegan argued. "It means that you are out on the street with nowhere to go, possibly with kids. It means that you have a red stamp on your rental record, and it will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to find new housing."

Finegan is working to get financial support from Bozeman to pay for legal representation for low-income households facing eviction. The state landlord's association is among the groups pushing back on the idea, saying rent prices are simply driven by market conditions and supply and demand.

Finegan noted Bozeman would join more than a dozen other towns and cities around the country that have instituted some form of legal assistance for people facing eviction. In Bozeman, Finegan said at least two-thirds of residents are low-income renters and as the number continues to grow, his group will push for the funding to pay for legal help.

"Fighting for approximately $670,000 per year in order to actually fund enough attorneys to give people full legal representation through eviction court filings, as well as illegal, dangerous living conditions," Finegan outlined.

Finegan added mandatory, city-funded legal representation for low-income people has sharply reduced the eviction rate in other places across the country that have adopted it, including a dramatic drop in evictions in Kansas City.


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By Marilyn Odendahl for The Indiana Citizen.
Broadcast version by Mark Richardson for Indiana News Service reporting for the Indiana Citizen-Free Press Indiana-Public News Service Collaboration.

A letter signed by nearly 500 Hoosier organizations and individuals was presented to Gov. Eric Holcomb on Monday as part of a continued effort to persuade him to establish a statewide housing commission to tackle Indiana's "extreme housing crisis."

The 485 signees to the letter, which include housing providers, developers, community service organizations, faith-based groups and individual Hoosiers, are asking the governor to issue an executive order creating a Commission on Housing Safety, Stability and Affordability. They see a commission as improving coordination among government agencies and assorted stakeholders to help address the state's housing shortage and a shortfall in enforcing health and safety standards.

"Our state is in the midst of an extreme housing crisis," Amy Nelson, executive director of the Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana and a signee to the letter, said in an email. "This is not new to housing consumers, whether renters or wannabe homeowners, who have been struggling to keep roofs over their heads or build generational wealth through homeownership. There is a dire lack of affordable housing options in both our home sales and rental markets. We need a Commission that can thoroughly address these issues impacting so many Hoosiers."

The idea for the commission was born from the failure to pass meaningful housing legislation during the 2024 session of the Indiana General Assembly and in previous legislative sessions. Despite 10 bills related to housing needs being introduced into the legislature in January and the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus focusing its agenda on housing concerns, the issue did not gain any traction.

The signees see a commission as overcoming the frustration in the Statehouse in two ways. First, they explained in the letter, a commission could find avenues through administrative and court rules to expand the housing supply without the need for legislation. Second, a commission could speak in a united voice to Indiana lawmakers and recommend new state statutes.

In the letter, the signees highlight Indiana's ongoing housing problems. The state currently has only 34 affordable and available rental homes for every 100 extremely impoverished Hoosier households, the second-lowest rate in the Midwest, and 76% of those households spend more than half their income on housing expenses, the single-highest rate in the Midwest, according to data cited in the letter.

Moreover, housing instability is threatening many Hoosier families. The signees said more than 72,000 Hoosiers households had an eviction notice filed against them in the past year, and an estimated 86,000 households - which includes 98,000 children - remain at risk for eviction.

In March, Prosperity Indiana and the National Low Income Housing Coalition released their report - "The Gap: A Shortage of Affordable Homes" - which detailed the depth of Indiana's housing problem. The Hoosier Housing Needs Coalition, at that time, encouraged housing advocates to sign the letter asking for the commission.

"Contrary to the common claim that Indiana is an affordable place to live, the Hoosier Housing Needs Coalition believes that the findings of this report confirmed what our members have witnessed on the ground throughout the state - that Indiana is failing to supply safe, healthy and affordable places for the most vulnerable Hoosiers to live," Andrew Bradley, policy director for Prosperity Indiana, said at the March news conference.

Those who signed the letter to the governor see a housing commission as functioning like the Indiana Commission on Improving the Status of Children, established in 2013, which has brought numerous stakeholders together to address the problem of abused and neglected youth. Similarly, the signees said, a housing commission could get administrative agencies, courts, local governments, legislators and advocates to work together to find solutions, rather than working in silos.

"Safe and stable housing is fundamental to the physical and mental health of all Hoosiers," the letter states, "to the education and development of children, to the employability of adults, and to a thriving state economy."


Marilyn Odendahl wrote this article for The Indiana Citizen.