This is the first post in a series of essays about the GRACE in Action strategy to provide more affordable housing for our unhoused neighbors in the southeast quadrant of DC.
All too often, homelessness is understood as a moral or personal failure on the part of the person experiencing homelessness. However, this understanding fails to see homelessness as the inevitable outcome of our political and economic system that treats housing as a commodity to be bought and sold in a market.
Once we stop and look at how the housing market operates in the U.S., it becomes clear why some people experience homelessness. And it is understandable why it is the case that those who experience homelessness are disproportionately poor, people of color, those experiencing addiction or mental illness, and those with few family connections.
GRACE in Action understands these two realities—the DC metro area’s lack of affordable housing and systemic housing market disparities. And we have designed our approach to addressing homelessness in light of these two realities through our Housing First strategy.
Grace In Action 