Oakland, CA – Mayor Libby Schaaf will attend the US Conference of Mayors in Washington DC this week to seek more federal resources to address the homelessness crisis and affordable housing.
She will also participate on panels regarding women’s rights and leadership, as well as civic resiliency in emergency preparedness and income equality.
Mayor Schaaf, a member of the West Coast Mayors Alliance, will meet with federal officials and the National Alliance to End Homelessness to strategize and advocate for more resources to address the unsheltered homeless crisis that has exploded in cities along the West Coast.
“We are fighting the cost-of-living crisis on the street level every day in Oakland,” said Mayor Libby Schaaf. “More attention, legislation, empathy, and resources from the federal government is imperative. Cities have become the stopgap for first response in terms of public health, mental health, affordable housing and shelter. We are the richest nation in the world and the fact that our federal government continues to hope this issue will miraculously fix itself is shameful.”
Mayor Schaaf will also join 11 other big city mayors to launch a unique initiative to protect and expand federal investment in affordable housing and homeless services. “Mayors and CEOs for U.S. Housing Investment” will develop private-public partnerships to actively oppose federal funding cuts to affordable housing and homeless services, as well as advocate for upstream intervention that can prevent people from becoming homeless.
In addition to meetings on homelessness and infrastructure policy, Mayor Schaaf will participate on a panel discussion on Oakland’s “Resilient City”status, the importance of women in leadership, and give remarks at a gathering to honor former San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee.
“Washington D.C. must hear Oakland’s voice and values,” Mayor Schaaf said. “We bring creativity and compassion to our solutions, and we’d like to see our federal government do the same.”
Follow the conference of mayors on twitter: @usmayors.
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