Shelter in place. Shelter from the storm.
Fallout shelter. Homeless shelter. Tax shelter.

Shelter is the most permanent of the three basic needs. We may tear a hole in our jeans or let vegetables at the back of the drawer meet a different fate than being consumed, but if we lose our shelter, everything else: health, access to food, safety, is affected.

When we think of shelter, we either think of a place for people without homes or fleeing abuse or makeshift coverings from boy scout camp. Shelter relates to the physical structure that keeps us dry, warm or cool, where we lay our heads at night, where we take cover. But shelter also implies a safety from harm, be that from storms, external violence, domestic harm; shelter means to be protected.

In some ways, looking at shelter as protection and not just housing, brings us to a bigger conversation about human rights. It brings us into contemporary conversations of racism, trans visibility, economic sovereignty and the current pandemic.

SHELTER in the time of COVID 

& through the context of BLM

We are in a unique time where sheltering ourselves literally is a way to protect others.

The idea of shelter as protection has become even more pertinent in the time of Covid-19. In NYC this spring, those huddled masses yearning to breathe free suddenly took on another meaning. While many of us have had to shelter-in-place for months, others with the means have sought shelter far from the density of cities, seeking “refuge” in second homes.

But mostly, shelter implies a home, and losing one’s home now is especially unnerving. With unemployment boosts ending next week for many Americans, the subject of immediate shelter is not a conceptual argument. The threat of eviction for many is right outside one’s door. With a global pandemic still raging in much of the world, the uncertainty of income and ease of movement is most pressing in having somewhere stable to live.

On another level, this generation's confrontation of how Black Lives are not only unprotected in our society, but systematically harmed, asks us to examine another aspect of shelter. How as a society do we shelter ourselves from how we have and continue to cause great harm? Being "protected" from this truth has not kept others protected. Racism harms– whether we're talking about fair housing or safety in one's own body, or even in one's own home– so recently showcased with Breonna Taylor's death (among so many) showing that as a black person, even your own home does not guarantee protection.

This time has illuminated the reality that our shelter cannot come at the expense of someone else, and when it does, the health of the whole environment suffers.

(For immediate information for rent relief in NYC due to covid-19, go HERE.)

Home is where the hearth is.

Just as people now are reacting to a crisis, most people without shelter didn’t get there in a vacuum, or without some external circumstances stacking the hand. And when people leave their homeland, the circumstances usually have to be dire enough to feel like there is no other option.

As Warsan Shira, a Somali-British poet, says so well in her poem Home: 

no one leaves home unless

home is the mouth of a shark

you only run for the border

when you see the whole city running as well...*

*To hear Wasan Shire read her amazing poem Home, a refugee poem, go HERE.

Which brings us to our CSA organization this month:

INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE

International Rescue Committee is by far the largest most prominent organization we are supporting through our CSA program. While we like to highlight organizations many of you may not yet know, especially small organizations still making great impact, IRC is extremely far reaching and effective, helping to settle, house and give services to displaced people across the world.  In a time where our global connection is all the more felt through Covid-19, and the pitfalls of one administration can affects millions, highlighting an organization as established as IRC feels especially prudent. 

International Rescue Committee helps people to survive,
recover and rebuild their lives.

We chose IRC because this year there will be 25 million refugees, the highest ever, and over 79 million displaced people, and with the increasing pandemic and climate fallouts, we estimate that number will grow substantially.  

IRC is the largest refugee resettlement agency in New York City and in the country. Part of their success is that IRC knows you can’t just give people a shelter in isolation to help someone who is displaced. 

Refugees need a home, a way to pay rent, resources and access to employment and education and health care.  All of these together ensure that people stay in their homes, integrate into communities and start to build something where they are.

Where IRC Puts Its Focus

Economic Wellbeing - means people have their most basic survival needs met and have sustainable income and assets so they can prosper.

Education - is the ultimate empowerment tool for children, their families and communities to survive and recover from conflict or crisis.

Empowerment - if people don't know their rights or have the power to make important decisions, they will struggle to improve their lives.

Health - millions of people, particularly women and children, die from preventable causes in countries affected by conflict and natural disasters.

Safety - trapped in countries plagues by crisis, many people can not access resources they need to ensure their own safety.

Women & Girls - with the right support and investment, women and girls can change and uplift entire communities. They can change the world. 

If you haven't already, sign up for the Holes in the Wall Collective's CSA to support IRC and 11 other organizations throughout the year, or donate to them directly.

  A Note on Private Property.

Private property is as complicated as American history itself. While having a roof over ones’ head is a basic human right, owning land has always been part of the American dream/mythology.

Seeking refuge from the outside elements, having a roof, a hearth, a place to lay one’s head is essential to being stable enough to do anything else.  And so as long as private property exists, defending equal access to it is essential.