Declaration For Greater Independence

They help to perpetuate a Façade of Homelessness due to misunderstanding the scope and meaning of its extent, and pass misguided legislation which may become laws (that we have no hand in formulating but are forced to comply with) to "combat" homelessness instead of developing methods of prevention. By perpetuating antiquated and bogus stigmas, cultural beliefs, ideological slants, and societal views surrounding homelessness, they are able to dismiss the issue as simply a product of indolence, chemical addiction, or mental illness. They have successfully convinced a majority of the public that in a true "democracy" (which in its current form is nothing more than a euphemism for unabashed capitalism) any citizen can pull himself up by his or her own bootstraps and that those who don't have access to adequate housing have brought that burden upon themselves through laziness or poor decisions. Yet they fail to recognize (or seek to hide) the fact that, even in so-called "developed" nations, many working families and individuals are unable to secure stable housing. Having thus blinded the public to an authentic understanding of homelessness, they are then able to enact policies that seek to criminalize certain activities that the homeless often engage in just to survive, usually on the grounds that these activities hurt business or give the community an unfavorable image. At the end of the day, such policies do nothing to address the root causes of homelessness and only manage to further marginalize those in true need. Adequate shelter is one of the most basic of human needs. And yet, access to it is currently determined by the madness of the market and the lunacy of legislators. We demand that shelter be treated as the right of all those that wish it, and not a privilege that can be taken from us; not by government policies nor by the reaper-like "invisible hand" of an erratic free market.

D.J.