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!
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.
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.
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.
One model of financial social work believes people need two things to get them in the right direction to financial wellness:
Financial social work can offer pathways for people experiencing homelessness (or the risk of it) to achieve both of these things.
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.
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.