Philly Homeless Union

Mission of the National Union of the Homeless:

The heart and soul of the National Union of the Homeless is to commit our lives to ending homelessness and poverty and to work tirelessly for the human right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, for social and economic justice for all. We dedicate ourselves to raising the awareness of our sisters and brothers, to planning a sustained struggle and to building an organization that can obtain freedom through revolutionary perseverance. We pledge to deepen our personal commitment to end all forms of exploitation, racism, sexism, and abuse. True solidarity demands that we create not only the new society, but also the new human being.

What We Do:

• Outreach every Friday morning at Appletree Family Center: coffee, cigarettes, hot food, snacks
• Document and report and follow up on grievances & complaints against shelters and other places that discriminate against the unhoused
• Use the court system to fight for our rights to housing
• Fight to have an ombudsman (inspector) over the shelter system (we won this and are working with the ombudsman to protect our rights!)
• Fight to have Hahnemann Hospital re-opened by the city as a 24-hour drop-in resource center with private rooms, showers, laundry, resources, detox, etc.
• Host community events, protests, and meetings
• Create our own media: sharing stories, videos, and memes to educate and be heard
• Share information, experiences, and resources

Resources We Offer:

• List of landlords that accept Section 8 and have rooms, apartments, or houses available
• List of places with hot meals and food around the city
• Help filing grievances
• Help making calls, contacting legal services
• Information about the rights we are supposed to have around housing & shelter
• Connections to lawyers that can speed up SSDI applications

Resources We Don’t Have:

• We do NOT have funding to help with rent, security, etc.
• We are NOT landlords and don’t personally have available rooms or houses
• We do NOT operate a shelter and don’t have a place for people to stay

Join Us:

• Friday morning, 7am - 9am at 1430 Cherry St. (Appletree Family Center)
• Email: phillyhomelessunion@gmail.com
• Phone: 215-360-3086

We are looking for new members! Can you help serve coffee, tell your story, listen to others, or help someone make a call? We need you!