Years ago when we first started working to serve the homeless we had three basic beliefs.

We believed:

1. We serve the needs of the community by assisting the homeless get a hand up on their journey from homelessness to stability. …

There are five major myths about homelessness

1. The homeless have caused their own situation and deserve to live in it.
2. The homeless are basically lazy and don’t want to change.
3. The homeless are all criminals and scary. …

There is a movement in society to change the term homeless to houseless. Reasoning moves along the line of removing the stigma the word homeless may cast on those who are experiencing the dilemma of not having a house to live in.

We’ve had the unique opportunity to work with these communities and talk to their un-housed, community leaders, and service providers to identify where the gaps in services are and to help them create a roadmap to follow forward.

Homelessness is like falling into a well. It doesn’t matter how one falls into a well. It could be due to their own bad choices, it can be someone pushed them in, it may be from an economical landslide or a health catastrophe. Alan Graham of Mobile Loaves and Fishes calls homelessness is the result of a “profound, catastrophic loss of family.”