Today is the first day of winter, National Homeless Persons’ Remembrance Day for 2024. Great respect and solitude to the families of anyone who lost a family member due to being homeless and not having enough resources. . .
Homeless Hoarder courtesy of Openverse
Homelessness remains a persistent issue throughout the year for numerous individuals. The winter season heightens the stress related to securing adequate shelter. During the holiday period, media outlets often concentrate on raising awareness and enhancing opportunities for those in need. This presents an opportune moment to bring public attention to the matter, and local organizations are urged to engage with their regional media channels to promote related events.
🔷 Accessibility:
The quality and accessibility of homeless shelters differ significantly from one state to another, and the number of homeless individuals in each state also fluctuates. Nevertheless, as reported by endhomelessness.org, there are approximately 553,742 individuals experiencing homelessness on any given night. Furthermore, there is a rising trend in unsheltered homelessness.
🔷 Awareness:
Numerous families remain unaware of the whereabouts of their loved ones. When these individuals fall ill or sustain injuries, and subsequently pass away in an emergency room or on the streets, their families are left in the dark. There are instances where they departed for specific reasons or found themselves without a place to turn. Regardless of the circumstances surrounding their lives, they are entitled to a memorial service to honor their memory.
🔷 Map: Homelessness in the U.S. in 2023:
Image: Courtesy of r/dataisbeautiful in MapPorn on Reddit – Homelessness in the US [OC]
Above images used by way of “fair use” as per 17 U.S. Code § 107 of the U.S. copyright law.
🔷 History:
Since 1990, the National Coalition for the Homeless, in collaboration with the National Health Care for the Homeless Council, has organized National Homeless Persons’ Remembrance Day. This initiative aims to raise awareness about the challenges faced by the homeless population in the country and to motivate the public to take action in support of their needs.
🔷 What Causes Homelessness?
Numerous elements can converge to lead an individual or family to experience homelessness. Domestic violence, substance abuse, mental health disorders, and the struggle of living from one paycheck to the next can all significantly contribute to this issue.
🔷 Is There a Resolution to the Issue of Homelessness?
Various communities and governmental bodies have implemented multiple strategies to tackle the problem of homelessness. One prominent strategy is the Housing First model, which prioritizes providing individuals and families with a pathway from shelters to transitional and ultimately permanent housing. Establishing a stable and secure address serves as a crucial foundation for individuals seeking to rebuild their lives. Another strategy employed to combat homelessness is known as the “systems approach.” This approach emphasizes the need for coordinated efforts among various services and programs to effectively reduce or prevent homelessness. Key areas of focus within this coordinated framework include housing, healthcare, education, treatment programs, and additional support services.
Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash
🔷 Getting Out of the Complex:
The common complex between getting out of a homeless situation is the same for being homeless that it is for all of the conditions that cause it:
- Domestic violence: If someone is living within the home of a violent nature, the victim must always:
- Convince them to leave if they haven’t already.
- Report incidences to the proper authorities and shelter for connection to community resources.
- Get support: They don’t have to live this out alone. That is most certainly going to impede the foundation for growing out of the situation.
- Stay Away! Working on the abusees life must be obtained, despite the denial and dangerousness of the abuser. Even though there may not be help for the abuser, the abusee must remain strong. Use the phone in any dangerous situation.
Any other outcome always leads to bad results, no matter how much love is a consideration. While living away homeless not doing the above will most certainly not resolve the initial problem.
- Substance abuse is a major portion of remaining homeless. The insanity of thinking that doing the same behaviors, expecting different results is insanity. Somewhere between a certain amount of days, weeks, months or years, the number 1 to 1,000 is trouble. It is very expensive, dangerous, and clouded under the demise of addiction, an addict loses thing by thing, until it’s the home, and then its being homeless. The addict must get assistance and not do it alone. Getting support is crucial for beginning to build the foundation for the way out of addiction, and then homelessness. Addiction is a disease due to the onset of denial, not a moral deficiency, so jobs, family and other non-addicts will certainly be less effective resources to having the disease of addiction be resolved.
- Mental health disorders: A lot of people were released, especially in Illinois when the money ran out in the late 2000’s. This is a tremendous portion of homeless people, and needs to be worked on in a legislative and medicinal method. If anyone becomes entrenched in a situation whereby someone is threatening safety in any manner, for safety, call police at 9-1-1.
- The struggle of living from one paycheck: I wish I had an answer for the person who is just struggling with an economy as putrid as it has been for more than a couple years. Turn the God, the economy is about to take a severe turn to the black, instead of running in the red. We have been going with raising minimum wages, and other governmental tactics that always lead to despair because of the resulting lost jobs, and spiking inflation.
🕵️♂️ Resource:
Contact the following department to obtain help for anyone you know that needs help with resources. The fact is though that they need to want the help first:
National Coalition for the Homeless
2201 P St.N.W.
Washington, DC 20037
202-462-4822
Fax: 202-462-4823
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Photo by lannyboy89 courtesy of Pixabay
National Homeless Persons’ Remembrance Day
