Last fall, just before Thanksgiving, a couple acquaintances of mine were on the verge of homelessness. It was crazy timing. They didn’t know each other. One of them I hadn’t seen in 30 years. Our only connection was Facebook. She had been somewhat transient—living with friends or family, house-sitting/pet-sitting, staying in a shelter—for years. Everything she owned fit in the backseat of her car. The other was a more recent friend who had gone through a series of job losses. She had made really good money at one time and had a storage unit full of belongings. They had lived very different lives, but they also shared some commonalities: they are both divorced; they both have one child; they are both in their sixties; and they both were being asked to leave their current living situations with nowhere else to go. They were both in a jam, and I offered them a place to stay.
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Debra was painfully lonely long before she ended up homeless. Alcohol covered the pain...for a while.
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We must develop relief and development systems that stop rewarding behaviors destructive to both homeless people themselves and others.
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Relief is not enough. Unless a move from street to housing is accompanied by development of the person, that person will continue to live in poverty.
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While UGM provides food and shelter, our major contribution to the issue of homelessness is extending the love of Jesus Christ. The government can't do that.
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Amid heated debate around the solutions to homelessness, UGM states as clearly as possible who we are, what we believe, and what we’re trying to do.
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We must first see and know people, not their condition, if we are to love the poor like God calls us to do.
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Homelessness doesn't begin with a lack of housing. Most of the time, it begins with a lack of healthy relationships.
