The end of the year is nigh, but there's still time for one more reflection. These stories grabbed our attention, tugged at our heartstrings, and made us pay attention to the plight of those living without a home in 2009. Yes, these stories will disturb you. But hopefully, they'll make us resolve to do better in the 2010.

5. Born in a tent city

It would be nice to think that we all toe the same line at the start of life. That we all start at the same place with the same conditions, and have the same opportunities and challenges. But as one shocking story out of Vancouver illustrated, this just isn't the case. Earlier this month, a baby was born on a freezing night in a tent city off of Highway 50. This little girl was one of thousands of children who were born this year without a crib, stocked nursery, or home to return to. Read more here.

4. Frozen in a Detroit building

In January, I came across a picture that stopped me in my tracks. It showed a sheet of ice with two legs sticking out, almost like popsicle sticks. It was the picture of a homeless man who froze to death in an abandoned Detroit building. The building flooded and encased his corpse in ice. He was discovered by urban explorers, but they didn't bother to call officials. Rather, they continued their hockey game in the flooded basement of that building. To me, this story was a gut-wrenching analogy for the tragic indifference that is so pervasive when it comes to homelessness. It's too easy to turn the other way, pretend these devastating issues aren't happening in our own communities. Read more here.

3. 98 years old and living in a car

Back in October, the world met Bessie Mae Berger, a 97-year old woman who lived on the streets of Los Angeles in a 1973 Chevy Suburban, homeless. Empty parking lots, public washrooms, and panhandling for money to buy food are a daily reality for Bessie and her two 60-something sons. Her story exposed the grim realities faced by our nation's aging homeless population. Luckily, Bessie's story has a happy ending; the media attention prompted service providers to quickly move her family into housing. But for thousands of other elderly homeless individuals whose stories never make the paper, this isn't the case. Read more here.

2. Homeless youth and survival sex

It's a sad but ugly truth: the recession has caused an uptick in the numbers of homeless runaway youth. And the lengths these young people are going to in order to survive are troubling: roughly one in four homeless youth engages in survival sex according to the NAEH. Even more disconcerting is that homeless LGBTQ youth are disproportionately represented in this population. Read more here.

1. Catholic Church holds homeless hostage

Call it whatever you want - religious beliefs, intolerance, principles, narrow-minded policies. But the Catholic Church's condemnation of gay marriage and hard ball political tactics have brought the homeless into the center of a nasty ideological battle. In Washington, D.C., the church was threatening to cut off services, which would have closed one-third of the city's safety net services. Shortly after this threat, Mike Jones over at Change.org's Gay Rights blog reported that three churches in Michigan severed their ties with an ecumenical homeless ministry due to disagreements about homosexuality. So much for "Blessed are the poor." Read more here.