You make a Living by what you get,

You make a Life by what you give .

Winston Churhill

From the Newsletter:

January 1999

A recent column in the Chicago Tribune raised the question "Do individuals have a right to affordable housing?"  Commenting on the protest that took place at the demolition of CHA housing on the South Side of Chicago this winter, Steve Kerch cited lengthy historical data indicating how civilizations before us have handled the question of housing for citizens.  Frequently housing was provided for military service, or some form of slavery or servitude. 

He recalled that in our own American history, early settlers staked out pieces of land and helped build one another's houses.  In short, housing was not a "right" but earned through hard work.

Is there a right to affordable housing? Mr. Kerch indicated his answer is an unequivocal — no!  Yet, he offered no suggestion as to how one should address this critical social issue.

Aside from the obvious practical question of how the thousands of low-income and homeless men, women and children of our cities should be housed, there was obviously the question of how we as human being are related to one another in any given society.  "Am I my brother's keeper?" echoes from centuries long past.  Do those who have been more fortunate through birth, or effort or fate have some obligation to "give back" to society some of the fullness which they have enjoyed.  Do those who are weaker, for whatever reason, have a right to the simple human dignity of decent housing? Do we not pride ourselves that as human beings we are developing in our capacity for compassion and insight as well as our capacity for technological and scientific progress?

I strongly suspect that none of us would want to return to the health care, transportation or communication limitations of past centuries.  No alderman would suggest that we resolve our grid -locked highway problems by returning to horses and buggies. Why should we return to earlier traditions to solve the complexity of today's social problems?

Thus, here at Casa, we are very aware of the other side of the reality of homelessness which is — you our benefactors.  Your capacity to see beyond your own needs to extend a hand to those who are less fortunate, offers the possibility of dignity not only to our homeless women and children, but also to our understanding of ourselves as human beings at the dawn of the new millennium.

So we include here a thank you to the corporations, businesses and individuals who continue to share their abundance in order to affirm the dignity of all people.