Dear Reader,
November is Homelessness Awareness Month. This year, in the midst of a housing crisis and continued inflation, our neighbors experiencing homelessness face even greater barriers to finding safe, stable housing. The journey towards stability is all the more difficult, and feels even more hopeless, when there aren’t homes to find.
Addressing this growing housing affordability crisis will take all of us, working boldly and creatively together. For our part, we’re proud to be expanding our work by creating new affordable housing solutions. In partnership with Dwelling Place, we’re pursuing a multi-site affordable housing development in Holland. I’m excited to share that the project is moving along, with plans to add 61 affordable housing units with groundbreaking anticipated before the end of 2024. We’re excited to see progress - but we know that for people struggling with housing, right now, long term solutions don’t meet immediate needs.
Every day, our Outreach team works to provide critical resources - food, clothing, showers, and more - while partnering with our unhoused neighbors to pursue long term stability. Every day, our team learns the names, stories, hopes, and challenges of people in our community who are unhoused. And every day, our team celebrates stories of hope, and small wins, while walking with our neighbors through incredibly difficult trials. Since July, we’ve celebrated 15 homeless-to-housed success stories; each one the culmination of a remarkable journey that we’re honored to be a part of.
Everyone deserves a safe home. Everyone deserves good food. Everyone deserves the opportunity to build a strong foundation for their family. And everyone needs a community that believes in them - their worth, their dignity, and their potential. This month, we invite you to read guest stories, learn about housing insecurity in our own community, and help meet urgent needs while our team works one-on-one with guests to build towards a brighter future. As the weather turns colder, you can support our unhoused neighbors by:
Pursuing people. Partnering for progress. Delivering hope through action. All of our work is made possible through a community that believes in and supports our efforts - thank you for building a community where all of our neighbors can thrive.
Sincerely,
Scott Rumpsa | CEO