This week, thousands of our friends and neighbors are harder at work than ever, reporting to their posts as health care professionals, first responders, and essential retail workers. As the executive director of a community-based non-profit organization, my staff and I are reporting to a different kind of front line – with our friends and neighbors who are facing this crisis while homeless.
Our street neighbors live precarious lives at the best of times, but in the upside-down world of COVID-19, many of the services they rely on are suddenly unavailable. Like many people, they are scared. But unlike many people, they are also scared and without shelter, scared and without running water, scared and without a kitchen where they can safely store and prepare food, scared and without a bathroom. Many of our street neighbors have no family they can rely on, which means social service agencies are their primary support network. That means that they are now scared and lonely, which can be a particularly deadly combination.
Many of our partner organizations have made the decision to close, which is certainly the right choice in most cases. Organizations that have closed their physical doors are still actively serving the community through critical advocacy, organizing, and coordination efforts. Our organization has made the decision to continue operating for now, though this is not an easy or obvious choice. For organizations that remain open, things look a bit different, to be sure. Everyone who enters our day center has their temperature taken and gets doused with hand sanitizer, and my staff have new uniforms that include gloves and masks.
With all possible precautions in place, we continue to open the doors of our community center to our neighbors who are experiencing homelessness, where we can provide shelter from the cold and rain, where we can greet our friends by name, and where we can provide some life-sustaining, essential comfort in a deeply challenging time. More than anything, we hope that our friends will know that they are still deeply cared for by our community, even if caring looks a bit different these days.
And when this crisis passes, I hope that we, as a city, will emerge with a deeper understanding of how homelessness isn’t just a problem for people experiencing it, but it’s a weakness in our social fabric that makes our entire community less resilient. I hope, when this is over, that we will be ready to talk not just about homelessness, but about permanent, safe, affordable housing.
Sherri Brokopp Binder, PhD
Sherri is a community psychologist and the executive director or Ripple Community Inc. Ripple Community Inc. operates the first permanent, community-supported affordable housing program in Allentown. Based on the Jubilee Housing Program in Washington, DC, the RCI Village provides safe, stable, affordable housing, and the supports and connections that residents need to achieve long-term housing - and life - stability.