This week ALC’s Client Services Director and Co–Executive Director Tim Best wrote an op-ed urging the community to consider how close each of us is to homelessness. “The recent assault on homelessness in Washington, D.C.—where unsheltered living is being criminalized and encampments bulldozed—is only the latest example of our society’s collective intolerance of our most poor and vulnerable,” Tim writes. “It leaves me angry, unsettled, and deeply concerned. And it should concern you too. Could this happen to you if hard times struck?”
He goes on to outline systemic causes of homelessness, and calls for empathy plus action.
“Today, hundreds die each year in the U.S. from exposure to heat, cold, or storms while unsheltered. Imagine enduring a Leadville winter with nothing but a tarp or the thin walls of an RV to protect you. A local count this January, organized by the Bridge Program at the Advocates (the program I direct), identified 105 individuals in Lake County sleeping in places not meant for habitation. Nearly two-thirds were experiencing homelessness for the first time, many within just the past two years. Our housing crisis is producing these outcomes — yet affordable housing proposals, like Harrison Park, are facing community resistance.“
Read his full guest article in the Leadville Herald Democrat.
To learn more about ALC’s services for people who are literally homeless or at risk of becoming homeless in Lake County, visit our Bridge–Leadville webpage.
To support ALC’s efforts to end homelessness and create safety for all in Lake County, please consider donating to our Operation:Safety Net fundraiser. All donations are completely tax deductible.