WHEREAS, there are 700,000 people homeless on any given night in America; 
WHEREAS, federal funding for housing programs has dropped 97% in the last 25 years; 
WHEREAS, there is currently no federal money directly allocated for public housing construction;
WHEREAS, $125 billion of our tax money went to subsidize corporations in a single year (1998);
WHEREAS, there is nothing in the US Constitution establishing or supporting profit economics; 
WHEREAS, the Declaration of Independence calls for our government to secure for everyone "Life, 
     Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness"; 
WHEREAS, fundamental to these rights is a person's right to a home; 

      We, the undersigned, 

     One. Call upon the President and Congress to assume responsibility for providing a home--not a shelter, but a safe, well-built, comfortable, permanent home--for every man, woman, and child in America. 
     Two. We call upon our leaders at every level of government to cease and desist all tax subsidies and other assistance to privately owned profit-making industry and redirect that money instead for the common good of all Americans, towards the immediate eradication of homelessness in every city and state of our rich and abundant land.
     Three. We hereby pledge our support for this kind, ethical undertaking and pledge to work with all interested parties in giving the best of our knowledge, experience and abilities to this beautiful, just, truly American endeavor--in keeping with this statement by the great American historian Eli Siegel: "The world should be owned by the people living in it. Every person should be seen as living in a world truly his. All persons should be seen as living in a world truly theirs."

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Please send signed petitions to: Housing: A Basic Right, 170 Second Ave., Suite 5D New York, NY 10003 or fax to: 212-243-5580