Housing is a Right: No People-less Houses or Unhoused People | Stephanie Sena | TEDxVillanovaUStudio

Ending homelessness is possible if we shift our laws and policies away from housing for profit and towards housing as a right. Housing as a right means freedom from the cruel or unusual punishment of criminalizing homeless encampments in the absence of adequate alternatives. Housing as a right will lead to better health outcomes, because housed people are healthier people. It will lead to greater racial justice when disparately homeless and poor BIPOC are not thrown in jail or subjected to crippling fines and fees for simply trying to sleep or shelter themselves. Housing as a right means ensuring safe and affordable housing for all. When we work together on the goal of housing for all, we will win a world that is better for all of us. A world where there are no people-less homes and no homeless people. Stephanie Sena is the inaugural Anti-Poverty Fellow and leads the Initiative to End Poverty and Inequality, an interdisciplinary enterprise housed in the Charles Widger School of Law. Her area of expertise is the intersection of poverty, policy and sustainability.

Sena is also the founder and executive director of the Student-Run Emergency Housing Unit of Philadelphia (SREHUP), a non-profit community and rehousing center, operating since 2011. The center provides shelter, food, community, legal aid and medical care to individuals experiencing homelessness.

Sena's awards include the Villanova University Pohlhaus-Stracciolini Award for Teaching Excellence, for “demonstrating a commitment to the life of the mind and to the well-being of students through teaching that is intellectually stimulating, challenging, and accessible, with efforts extending beyond the classroom,” and the Greater Philadelphia Social Innovators Award for Social Impact in the area of housing and homelessness. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx