Mark Beasley
Tom Waddell Health Center
Gary Cobb
Central City Concern
Dan Rabbitt, MSW
National Health Care for the Homeless Council
Brian Zralek, MSSW
National Health Care for the Homeless Council

Alcohol and drugs, right?
don’t want to work?
Don’t they want to be homeless?

Contemporary homelessness is the product of conscious social and economic policy decisions that have retreated from a commitment to insuring basic life necessities for all people.

Federal Policies: State/Local Policies:
• Federal housing policies
• Shortage of rental housing
• Reductions in incomes
• Reforms to the Ellis
Act
• Healthcare system
• Behavioral health/disability
• Insufficient affordable housing investment
• Mass incarceration
• Immigration status issues

• Increased access to affordable housing
• Universal access to health care
• Living wages
• Health Care for the Homeless and other programs
• Permanent Supportive Housing

WE CAN END HOMELESSNESS
Source: Think Progress

HCH CONSUMERS ARE NATURAL
ADVOCATES AND STORY TELLERS
• Real-life experience
• Can speak to how policies have affected their lives
• Dispel stereotypes
• Powerful stories

MARK’S STORY

After being incarcerated for most of his life, Ernest was recently paroled. He was hanging out in his old neighborhood when his friend encouraged him to visit the SOS van to pick up some hygiene supplies, over the counter medications, and a snack. Upon his release, the county jail set him up with basic medical coverage and a primary care clinic but
Ernest was welcomed by our team to use SOS for urgent & preventive care when he can’t get in to see his regular doctor.
Photo: Marlena Hartman-Filson

When Mario first visited the SOS van, our outreach team discovered that he had dangerously high blood pressure. At the time, he was spending his nights sleeping in a local church and was unconnected to regular health care services. SOS now regularly checks in on
Mario to ensure his chronic conditions are adequately monitored in collaboration with his new primary care clinic. Mario says, “it’s important that SOS comes directly to a place that people like me can access easily”.
Photo: Marlena Hartman-Filson

• HUD cut 83% from 1978-1983
• Disinvestment in Public Housing
• Prioritizing homeownership
• Inadequate response to the foreclosure crisis
• Inadequate Homelessness Assistance resources

HOUSING EXPENDITURES
Source: Western Regional Advocacy Project

HOUSING EXPENDITURES
Source: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

• Attacks on unions
• Globalization leading to loss of blue collar jobs
• Changes in tax policy
• 1996 Welfare Reform
• Stagnant wages and rising housing costs

STAGNANT INCOMES
Source: United for a Fair Economy

INADEQUATE MIN. WAGE
Source: National Low-Income Housing Coalition

CALIFORNIA HOUSING WAGE
Must earn $26.04/hr. on average to afford housing in California
Source: National Low-Income Housing Coalition

• Decrease in employer sponsored health insurance
• Increase in health care costs
• Medical bills cause 62% of bankruptcies
• Pre-existing conditions
• Health problems lead to homelessness

RISING MEDICAL COSTS
Source: Commonwealth Fund

• Many but not all experiencing homelessness have behavioral health needs (mental health/addiction)
• State psychiatric hospitals shut down
• Community treatment scarce
• Disability determination challenging
• SSI insufficient for rent

DEINSTITUTIONALIZATION
Source: Treatment Advocacy Center

• Mandatory minimum sentences
• Racial disparities
• Barriers to getting a job, housing or benefits once incarcerated
• Parole/probation policies
• Criminalization of homelessness

MASS INCARCERATION
Source: International Center for Prison Studies

• Extreme lack of affordable housing
• Very low vacancy rate
• Median rent is $3,400/month

• Allows landlords to evict tenants if they want to move in themselves
• Increasingly used to convert units to condos or higher-rent units
• Evictions have been going up

• Many Northern California residents are undocumented
• They are not eligible for Medi-cal and other benefits
• Contributes to homelessness

THE EIGHT-MINUTE SPEECH
1. Introduction
Your name and a very brief background statement; for example, your connection with Care for the Homeless or your current job
2. Personal Experience - 5min
This will be the biggest piece of the speech where you can elaborate on your own personal story that revolves around homelessness. You can choose whether you want this to be a specific experience/memory or a more overarching summary of your life.
3. Aspect of Policy or Advocacy – 2min
Your experience should lead naturally into a specific topic on homeless policy that has been covered in the trainings. Recommended examples include:
Appropriate Healthcare and Supportive services for homeless people
Availability of Affordable Housing
Rent Subsidy Programs
Programs to Prevent Homelessness (funding, legal, aftercare etc)
Mayoral Candidate involvement in homeless issues
Importance of Interagency council on homelessness
4. Conclusion – 30sec
Your conclusion is a very short wrap up of what you covered in your speech or the key point that you hope your audience will take way.

• What makes a good public speaker?
• What makes a bad public speaker?

• Try to establish eye contact with your entire audience
• Smile
• Know your material
• Change the rate, pitch and volume of your voice
• Know your audience
• Practice
• Use your hands
• Show enthusiasm for your subject – it’s contagious

WHAT MAKES YOU NERVOUS
ABOUT PUBLIC SPEAKING?
“There are only two types of speakers in the world.
1. The nervous and
2.
Liars.”
– Mark Twain

Memorize your speech

The adventure begins!

Grounding Yourself
→ Stand with feet shoulder-width apart
→ Steady your breathing – take long deep inhales and exhales
→ Close your eyes if you are able to
→ Feel your feet on the ground
→ Relax your shoulders down your back and straighten the spine
→ Lift your head up

Why move?
→ It adds energy and variety to your presentation.
→ It makes you look more confident.
→ It makes you feel more confident.
Ways to move
→ Use structure of speech to determine movement.
→ Use story points.
→ Use a timeline.
→ Move close for emphasis.

• Pause and think – Silence is ok!
• Repeat your last sentence
• Check your notes
• Take a drink of water
• Walk to the other side of the platform
• Smile
Prevention
- Don’t memorize
- Use key notes
- Practice

“Let thy speech be better than silence, or be silent.” – Dionysius of Halicarnassus
“The best way to sound like you know what you're talking about is to know what you're talking about.”
~Author Unknown

• First 30 seconds
• Grab attention
• Set up your topic
• Lay out organized points
• Be concise
• Be relevant
• Relate your themes
• Summarize the main points of your speech
• Provide some further food for thought for your listeners
• Leave your audience with positive memories of your speech
• End with a final thought/emotion
• Call to action

Humor
Relevance
Intensity
Repetition
Novelty
Compare/contrast
Visuals
Narratives
Examples

A good story usually has: A character, an inciting incident, a point of
conflict, and a resolution of conflict.
Evoke Minds of Audience
→ Aim to create an image or stimulate the senses in some key way. Really effective storytelling allows the audience to put themselves into a situation that you’re describing
Show the audience versus telling them
Speak from within Experience
→ When you’re telling your story, try not to speak from OUTSIDE the experience using memorized words. Speak from within the experience, using personal perspective to help the audience feel, see, and hear what YOU feel about your topic.
Start with an End in Mind
→ Great storytelling has a purpose.

State the rules
→ When and how you will take questions
Keep your answer relevant, truthful and concise
Acknowledge the question/questioner
→ “Thank you for your question”
→ “That’s a good question”
→ Restate the question
Prepare
→ List and practice all possible questions
Above all think about the context of the speech you’re making.
→ What are you trying to accomplish/make the audience understand? Will the question take away from that?

WHAT IF I DON’T KNOW THE
ANSWER?
• It’s ok!
• Don’t make something up
• “I don’t know the answer to that question right now but I’ll follow up with you.”
• Ask for clarification
• “I’m sorry, I don’t quite understand what you’re asking, can you rephrase?”
• Redirect to the end of the speech
• “I don’t have those facts with me at the moment but I’d be happy to talk to you further after this presentation”

There will be some questions that you might feel uncomfortable answering or that you know will distract from the content of your speech.
Steer your answer in a different direction
Simply state that you don’t have time to answer and move on
Redirect to the end of the speech

Practice
Think about relevant policy
Time yourself
Make an outline
Think about your audience

GARY’S STORY

Central City Concern

YOUR STORY CAN CHANGE THE
WORLD!
PRACTICING YOUR STORY
1.
Reflect on your own story/take notes
2.
Tell your story to your group
3.
Group offers critique
4.
Report back