Homelessness Increasing

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

According to this year's Point in Time count, the need for services that help end homelessness - like the one's that Genesis Home provides - is high. During the 2008 count earlier this year, 1,929 people were found to be homeless in the Triangle. That's up from 1,806 last year and 1,720 in 2006.

The good news?
Family homelessness - the kind that Genesis Home works every day to prevent - is down 11%.

I'm grateful for stories like the one in today's paper about the different approaches to ending homelessness in our community and the one in this week's Philanthropy Journal highlighting our Tri to End Homelessness campaign.

But for me, the real story - the root cause story of the week - is the one about fellow Durham resident Mildred Cannady who is most likely going to lose her home due to foreclosure. Until we as a community stand up for real affordable housing, the homeless number will continue to rise.