National Coalition for Housing Justice Letter for Secretary Designee Marcia Fudge

The National Coalition for Housing Justice, of which Youth Collaboratory is a part of, sent the following to U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Designee Marcia Fudge expressing our desire for partnership to achieve racial and housing justice and requesting a meeting to align on priorities. 

December 18, 2020

Dear Representative Fudge, 

On behalf of the National Coalition for Housing Justice, we would like to extend to you our most heartfelt congratulations on your nomination for Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and request the opportunity to meet with you at your earliest convenience. 

By way of introduction, the National Coalition for Housing Justice (NCHJ) is a group of national organizations that have aligned behind seeking housing justice in order to end homelessness. We have come together to coordinate advocacy efforts, develop policy recommendations, and leverage our collective tools to drive change. Housing justice for us means guaranteeing opportunities for everyone in our country to have affordable, safe, accessible, stable housing. We undertake this effort through a racial justice approach, which acknowledges the disproportionality in who experiences homelessness and the structural racism that has created these outcomes. Beyond racial and housing justice, our key priorities include ending youth homelessness, ending veteran homelessness, stopping the criminalization of homelessness, and the production of housing affordable to people with the lowest incomes in order to address supply-side causes of homelessness and housing insecurity. 

NCHJ members include (in alphabetical order):

We look forward to working closely with you and your team in your new role, as we know that together, we can transform our communities and the lives of the millions of Americans experiencing homelessness today. The challenges we face are great as COVID-19 continues to destabilize our economy and place more and more families and individuals at risk of homelessness, but equally great are the opportunities we have to make a meaningful difference for the American people. As you prepare to take on these opportunities and challenges in leading one of our nation’s most critical departments, we offer our coalition and ourselves as a resource. 

We would love an opportunity to brief you in more detail on our team and what we hope to accomplish in partnership with the Biden-Harris administration. Know that you have our support and our confidence in your leadership as we prepare to put this chapter of instability behind us, together.

Sincerely, 
National Coalition for Housing Justice

Contacts: Marc Dones (marc@nis.us), Dylan Waguespack (dylan@truecolorsunited.org), Lauren Bennett (lauren@funderstogether.org)