Advocacy and
Systems Change

A large audience sits in a church auditorium, listening to speakers on stage near an organ and stained glass windows.

Until no family faces impossible choices

People Serving People centers family voice and choice in leading and advocating for systems change to prevent and remove barriers in the policies and systems that families encounter when experiencing housing instability.

Our systems change work

At People Serving People, we recognize that homelessness is a systemic issue that requires systemic solutions. While emergency shelter is essential and provides immediate relief, actual change happens when we address the root causes of family homelessness—racial inequities, economic barriers, and policies that exclude rather than uplift.

To compel solutions and drive meaningful change so that no family faces impossible choices, e.g., between providing their children with medical care or food, or between being able to work without childcare or homelessness, People Serving People pursues systems change at the city, county, and state levels of government. We do this through:

Public policy advocacy
Partnership connections
Thought leadership

Centering family voice

We center family voice in our advocacy. We do this through three primary pathways:

Guest Advisory Council at our Downtown Shelter
Our Lived Experience + Advocacy Fellowship program
Internal cross-departmental relationships to understand the barriers our families are facing

Explore our new series of articles

August 8, 2025

Punishing Poverty: Trump’s Executive Order on Homelessness

This is part two in our ongoing series, Punishing Poverty. Here we examine the July 24, 2025, Executive Order, which purports to address homelessness and find that it, like the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” promotes a punishment model for responding to poverty and homelessness rather than proven solutions.

August 1, 2025

Punishing Poverty: Initial Reaction to OBBBA

OBBBA is devastating for all families—yours as well as those we serve— making it even harder for families to secure their basic needs for food, housing, medical care, childcare, and employment, which will only increase the number of families experiencing homelessness.

October 18, 2024

Lessons from the attack on St. Anne’s Place: It’s time to build community

The tragic attack on St. Anne’s Place should not be reduced to an argument about policing. Instead, we need to resolve to do the hard work of community building that will prevent anything like it from happening again.