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Faith-Based Organizations Must Reinforce Our Safety Net

Published October 22, 2009 @ 07:38PM PT

As the negative effects of our economic woes continue to trickle down in the form of lay-offs and evictions, our nation's homeless prevention and shelter system will continue to shoulder the ever-increasing burdens of meeting rising demand with declining resources. Faith based organizations - with their philanthropic interests, human and financial capital, and ability to mobilize quickly - are needed now more than ever to reinforce our social service safety net.

Virginia Beach, like many other cities across the country, does not have enough shelter beds to meet the needs of the city's homeless. Pilot Online detailed how 30 or so people sleep in the seaside porticos of a church each night because the shelters are filled. Even more people sleep in cars around town. As the weather cools and winter approaches, local advocates worry that demand will increase even more.

Indeed, this concern is being echoed in communities across the country. In the event of a full-fledged crisis this winter, it is unlikely that government money will be able to meet the need. Case in point: it has taken months for the Recovery Act funds to trickle down from the federal government to communities and from communities to the people who need assistance. So what's the answer?

One possibility is faith-based organizations. Why? Many churches have little/no bureaucratic red tape, structures in which to provide shelter, financial and human capital, and a propensity to serve. The combination of these assets might just be the safety net reinforcement needed to save lives during potential homelessness crisis that many predict is awaiting us this winter.

Image: mudpig

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Comments (7)

our government should use our money to help us.......charity is not the answer. our lawmakers waste our money on war, special intrest, and trying to buy world support while leaving us in debt.......

Posted by Cherokee Fred Jesus on 10/23/2009 @ 10:57AM PT
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in these hard economic times the church down the street spent millions building a new church they could care less about the homeless......

Posted by Cherokee Fred Jesus on 10/23/2009 @ 10:58AM PT
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Great article! I am fortunate enough to go to a church here in Greenville, NC that has been using tithing and offering money to help people in our community keep their homes AND they have helped people to purchase homes! However, I know this is not the case with many churches. I wonder how we should get them more involved? You would think in being a "church" that this would already be a top objective for most churches, but I think a lot of them need a wake up call!

Posted by Lisa Taylor on 10/23/2009 @ 11:29AM PT
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Most if not all churches sent no less then 30% to the church home to run the church nation wide.

If they took the same amount and gave it to the homeless they would be truly helping but they give less then 10%. So what is so good about the Churches and their help? From what I have seem private people give more the churches in total.

Posted by James Brouillette on 10/24/2009 @ 10:37AM PT
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In 2008 when the price of any kind of oil was up to $500 a gallon I called churches on the Maine Coast, in Rockland ME. The town was giving a family a hard-time, ignoring state law, says towns are suppose to aid, they were a refusing to pay their hotel rent.

This was a mother and father and their two children the 40 year old mother was 9 months pregnant with her little girl. When I called Churches to help put her up they said "We are now aided the people with no heat." As if not having a home was less important then having heat.

Personally I do not think that answer was very compassionate. But churches, like most of us- have their limitations also. The government should have fairly applied the law, but they are too busy trying to save a dollar.

As a society we must call for 100% of the need for 100% of the people in need.

Posted by jan Lightfootlane on 10/23/2009 @ 12:51PM PT
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I'm an agnostic, but when I was homeless, it was faith-based organizations which housed and fed me.

If there's an Agnostic Soup Kitchen in my home town, I never found it.

Posted by Black Keytag Tim on 11/01/2009 @ 02:42PM PT
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I am delighted a faith based group was their for you.

Know in my town we had people not with any one church, open and maintained a homeless shelter for two years. Not all people wanting to do good, belong to a church.

So while Not agnostic, I know that someday to end poverty all we need to do is listen to those who had to rob Peter to Pay Paul, say "I just need enough money to completely cover our bills." that is the solution to live in a world without poverty.

Posted by jan Lightfootlane on 11/03/2009 @ 03:58PM PT
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Author

Shannon has worked in homeless shelters and service organizations in San Francisco, the Triangle region of North Carolina, and currently in the greater Boston area. She is a graduate student studying housing and urban policy at Tufts University.