This weekend, Lab/Shul, Romemu and JFREJ rallied with our multifaith partners, the Church Center for the UN, Judson Memorial Church, Faith in New York, Muslim Community Network, Pamsula Zen Center, and St. James Presbyterian Church, to mark Tisha b’Av, and work to rise together from the rubble of destructive hatred, injustice and violence.
As the morning came, I reflected back on what our goals for Rise from Rubble were – to chisel away at hearts calcified in the face of so much rubble, ancient and current, to build an arc that descended into visceral lament, which included difficult histories and accountabilities through personal story that allowed us to surrender and return back to the fountain or wellspring of faith and love to give us permission to rise to the call and step into an action. All this through the tools of ritual, art, song, movement, silence and a squeeze of the hand.That was certainly my journey yesterday. Each one of your heart-prints has seared my being.
Sometimes when my Sundays get booked I get a little anxious about my energy. But for some reason yesterday it was as if all was meant to be for that time and for that place. I can’t explain it….
Click here to view the full album, photographed by Jesi Kelley.
What’s Next?
We oppose the forcible removal of our sisters and brothers from the hotels. We protest against the “street sweeps” that the city has undertaken to aggressively “return” the residents from single or double rooms into spaces that sleep sometimes 20 or more. In addition to the obvious health concerns with the new COVID variant, the new enhanced City Fheps vouchers and new Federal section 8 vouchers coming on line in the next few months, the negative impact on the lives of those being sent back to shelters can not be overstated.
Last Friday during the “Ask the Mayor” segment on WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Show, two advocates, Thyessa Williams and Olivia Killingsworth, called in and asked the Mayor why he is sending homeless New Yorkers back to congregate shelters instead of immediately implementing a new law to raise the value of rental assistance vouchers and give people a path to housing. In May, the City Council passed Intro 146, which will increase the value of rental assistance vouchers to an amount in line with market rates, but the Mayor has previously indicated he plans to wait 6 months to implement the law. On Friday, in response to Olivia’s question about whether he would immediately implement Intro 146, the Mayor agreed to look into immediate implementation of the law. You can listen to the full segment here.
This week, we need as many people as possible to call and email the Mayor’s Community Affairs Unit (CAU) to tell the Mayor that we want Intro 146 implemented immediately. Call the Mayor’s Community Affairs Unit (CAU) at 212-788-7418, send a message through the Mayor’s website, or tweet at @NYCMayor, and tell the Mayor:
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It’s not right that homeless New Yorkers are waiting so long to get housing.
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With the Delta variant surging, it’s not safe to move people back to congregate shelters.
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Immediately implementing Intro 146 offers a solution by allowing people to move from hotels to housing, not back to congregate shelters.
With a new Mayor and City Council and a much more engaged Federal government, there is a window of opportunity to shift the narrative from one where shelters are the de facto “best we can do” response to homelessness, to an understanding and a city policy that embraces supportive and permanent affordable housing as THE solution to homelessness with the shelters and more transitional (and downsized/humanized) facilities being seen as a short term emergency response to someone losing their home, not the long term solution that is has largely been since 1980.
Want to get further involved? Email Sam@labshul.org.
