What's New

Why should homeless service providers care about maternal health and mortality?

Unstable housing is a contributing factor to pregnancy-related deaths, according to the Washington State Maternal Mortality Review Panel. Having determined that 60% of pregnancy-related deaths in 2014-16 were preventable, the panel emphasizes addressing social determinants of health and social inequities to prevent pregnancy-related deaths. Recommended strategies include prioritizing funding for housing and addressing the housing crisis to ensure women and children have access to safe, affordable, and stable housing during and after pregnancy. The panel also urges applying a racial equity lens to policies, programs, and resource decisions, and expanding the Health Care Authority’s Maternity Support Services (MSS), a Medicaid program that helps pregnant women in low-income households to receive the health and social services they need. Our policy & research associate, Megan Veith, breaks down data and recommendations from the panel's recent report, and discusses Building Changes' current and future work supporting MSS to better serve people experiencing homelessness or at-risk of homelessness. Learn more.

Reactions from the field

Here’s what people are saying about a recent study funded by Building Changes that confirmed the existence of racial inequities within a process that determines who among people experiencing homelessness receive priority status for housing referrals.

“There’s always a way to systematically marginalize us.”
—Michelle Merriweather, president and CEO of the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle, commenting for The Seattle Times

“I think, for us, what we hope to spur from this is continuums of care across the country take this as an opportunity to see how our practices disproportionately impact POC in ways that we don’t see.” 
—Catriona Wilkey, deputy director of research and evaluation at C4 Innovations, commenting for Real Change News

"When we use tools, we often think that they're objective. And when you see a study like this come out and actually show that there are differences in terms of how folks are scoring based on race, that demonstrates that that's just not right."
—Daniel Zavala, director of policy and strategic communications at Building Changes, commenting for KNKX 

“This research matches with Solid Ground’s experience and what our front-line staff have been saying. I look forward to seeing what changes will be made to address the issue!”
—Maya Hemachandra, resource development director at Solid Ground, via LinkedIn

“The Minnesota Tribal Collaborative has been saying this for the past 4-5 years - yet it remains the CE tool across MN.”
—Mike Manhard, executive director of the Minnesota Engagement on Shelter & Housing, via Twitter

“Our tools to end homelessness were built on white dominant culture and structures that perpetuate racism; so this is no surprise. People of color with lived expertise have been telling us this. The fact we even need data to prove it perpetuates this culture. But here we go.”
—Amanda Misiko Andere, executive director of Funders Together to End Homelessness, via Twitter

We Are In

“We urgently need real solutions to homelessness, informed by those who have lived it. Community must include all of us, and everyone has a role to play in making sure that our region is a place where we can all thrive.”
—Dr. LaMont Green of the Lived Experience Coalition

This week, advocates with local service providers, businesses, philanthropic organizations, academia and people who have personal experience with homelessness, partnered together to declare, ‘We Are In.’ We Are In is a campaign to raise awareness and generate momentum for smart, common sense solutions to ending homelessness in King County. Building Changes joins this group of dedicated community leaders in hopes of bringing needed awareness about youth and family homelessness in our region.

Worth a Glance

• "An estimated 11,000 people in our community without a home is an emergency — one that requires us to get to work now," writes Building Changes executive director, D'Artagnan Caliman, in a letter to the editor. (The Seattle Times)

• Funders Together to End Homelessness releases its Commitment to Racial Equity, outlining 8 commitments and 4 aspirations for its work around addressing structural racism and inequities that contribute to housing instability and homelessness. (Funders Together)

• Tensions grow between homeless advocates and the Trump Administration after top homelessness official is ousted. (NPR)

• How the Family First Prevention Services Act can be leveraged as one of the tools to address homelessness for youth and young adults involved in the foster care system. (National Network for Youth)

• Reduced educational attainment increases a young person's likelihood of homelessness, and experiences of homelessness reduce the likelihood of school completion. (Chapin Hall)

• For the more than 114,000 students in New York City who are homeless, school is the only stable place they know. Follow a day in the lives of 8-year old Darnell and 10-year old Sandivel. (New York Times)

• A unique pilot program in Spokane, Wa. has shown remarkable success in helping to stabilize students and families and prevent them from becoming homeless. (The Spokesman Review and The Inlander)

• Student homelessness isn't just a city issue. (Schoolhouse Washington)