education, resources, and advocacy
Financial Hardship and Homelessness: How Financial Social Work Can Help
By: Billy Streu, LMSW, CFSW
Have you ever heard of financial social work? I believe that it is a unique and valuable approach to our mission to ending homelessness in Texas. Let’s break it down!
The Money-Housing Connection
Imagine working endless hours but still not having enough money to pay the rent. Sadly, this statement feels like a broken record for Texans struggling to keep up with rising costs. I came across this powerful story of a working single individual sharing her three experiences of homelessness and how she is on the verge of a fourth.
Her story is the same as so many Texans and Americans’. It is one of low wages, high health care bills, unexpected job losses, car breakdowns, rent increases, and dwindling savings, pushing people into homelessness over and over. Financial social work can cultivate solutions to real-world challenges such as these.
What’s Financial Social Work?
In a nutshell, financial social work is all about helping people with money problems. But it’s not just about teaching skills like creating a budget and building up credit. It goes much deeper than that. Financial social workers look at why some people struggle more with money and try to find solutions for these bigger issues that harm individuals, families, communities, and society as a whole.
More Than Just Money Smarts
Some might wonder why people can’t just learn how to use money and fix their problems. Well, it’s not that simple. Particular groups, like People of Color, have been unfairly robbed of economic opportunities for years through policies like redlining. Others fall victim to predatory loans or bank fees that keep them in a cycle of poverty. Financial social workers put their energy towards economic well-being and equity for all people, all the way from individual financial empowerment to the end of global poverty.
Knowledge + Opportunity = Path to Financial Well-Being
One model of financial social work believes people need two things to get them in the right direction to financial wellness:
- Know-how (like understanding budgets and credit)
- Real chances to use that know-how (like having access to good jobs and fair bank products and loans)
Financial social work can offer pathways for people experiencing homelessness (or the risk of it) to achieve both of these things.
Real-Life Examples
- In Hawaii, a financial social worker created a special program to help youth experiencing homelessness learn about money. This program considered their life stage, culture, experiences, and more to set them on a path to financial empowerment. Service providers can consider dedicating staff to develop similar programs for groups experiencing homelessness in their communities, possibly by giving them the opportunity to become a certified financial social worker.
- During COVID-19, a program called Bank On helped people experiencing homelessness get bank accounts so they could receive their stimulus payments. Universal financial services and policies like this are the kinds of creative thinking financial social workers use. The Grand Challenges for Social Work Initiative develops universal policy strategies that can increase financial knowledge and opportunity for everyone.
Why It Matters
The individual in the piece above says, “Economic inequality and a system built to perpetuate it is the problem — homelessness is the result for people without a safety net. A rising economic tide doesn’t lift all boats — it merely drowns the poor.” As helping professionals and advocates dedicated to creating a better world for our most marginalized neighbors, we must add financial social work thinking to our system solutions.
How We Do It
- Advocate at the Dinner Table: It starts in our most personal relationships. Talk with people in your life about the challenges our neighbors face in affording housing and about the realities of poverty, racism, and systematic discrimination toward financial wealth.
- Destigmatize Homelessness: Work to change perceptions and reduce stigma around homelessness. Share stories on social media, host watch parties for a good documentary with your friends, create a book club on social justice, and add homelessness to the conversation. Do the work of talking about homelessness.
- Financial Health for All: Teach loved ones, colleagues, and anyone who will listen about financial health and smart financial habits. Share information about how to protect personal wealth, prevent fraud, spot scams, and spread any other wisdom you have to offer. Host workshops at your church, school, or community center for peer sharing.
- Advocate for Housing: Support policies that protect renters from unfair practices and eviction to ensure that every person can access safe, affordable housing.
- Become a Certified Financial Social Worker: Gain the skills to help others manage their finances and break the cycle of poverty.
Financial hardship, poverty, and homelessness are significant, complicated issues. Financial social work offers a unique approach to tackle them and create a world where everyone has a fair shot at financial stability and a place to call home.
This article is just the tip of the iceberg regarding financial social work.
If you want to dig deeper, please check out the resources below. Or, reach out, and I’d love to chat.