I'm writing this at the start of the Labor Day holiday and am reminded of those heroes who fought and sometimes died for the rights and privileges that many Americans now enjoy. We owe them our gratitude and our commitment to the struggle. In their names, we continue to work for jobs, and housing and health care--for fundamental human rights.

 

The idea of human rights is not universally accepted. In a grotesque distortion of the concept, some people hold individual rights paramount, arguing that individuals must be allowed to accumulate staggering wealth, even as others starve. They believe in a right to greed.

 

Today, such distorted values actually prevail in our government, to our great detriment. Of all the many social determinants of health, income disparity is the most telling. The greater the gap between a nation's rich and poor, the poorer the health status of the entire population. In our United States, the chasm and its consequences have never been greater, and our Congress of millionaires seems quite content governing a country that includes both untaxed billionaires and people who die penniless on the streets.

 

Our job is to change that. Our job is to implement human rights as best we are able in our time. In the National Health Care for the Homeless Council, we have taken on just one piece, succinctly described in our organization's name.   For over a quarter century we have built and improved health care delivery systems, tweaked public policy, and provided quality health care for millions of our neighbors who would otherwise have had none. Throughout this newsletter, you will find evidence of our continuing work to these ends.

 

Our small piece of the work inexorably leads us further, like to the realization that housing is health care, and thus to active involvement with our friends who focus on housing needs and resources, to name just example. Like our forbearers in the labor movement, we are one part of something much larger, a claim for human rights that has moral force and historical momentum, despite the disappointments of the day. Greed will fall of its own weight, and human rights will prevail.

 

Thank you for your part in this work, and for your support of the Council. Please take a good look at the rest of this newsletter; register for webinars, on-line trainings and the regional trainings; read our written resources; and find that "Donate" button to help us keep going!