Homelessness: on Whidbey Island it seems like a foreign condition, something that happens far away in busier or lesser places, not wholesome communities home to iconic state parks and charming waterfront towns.
Yet, it’s real. Last year hundreds of people on the South End alone were sleeping on friends’ couches, in cars and even in camps in the woods. It’s estimated that 80 of them were children. Kids.
Homelessness isn’t just an urban reality, it exists right here, right now and many of us don’t even know it. Fortunately, some do and on National Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week, these selfless crusaders deserve both thanks and, perhaps more importantly, support.
While several organizations have worked to address the issue, such as Langley-based Helping Hand of South Whidbey, the South Whidbey Homeless Coalition formed this past year with the singular purpose of ending homelessness on the island. To that end, members are trying to establish a permanent shelter on the South End.
Had it existed in 2013, the facility would have helped house an estimated 300 people in the community who lacked permanent housing. To put that into perspective, that’s almost three times the amount of the 115 seniors enrolled at South Whidbey High School in October.
On a national level, over 610,000 people are homeless on any given night, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness. Of those, nearly 390,000 are individuals and about 222,000 account for people in family groups.
According to the alliance, families usually become homeless as a result of an unforeseen financial crisis, from medical emergencies to a death in the family. Most get back on their feet quickly, without help, but some struggle on.
The image that may come to many people’s minds when thinking of the homeless is men with unkept beards who push carts and speak to themselves, but they are actually a minority. Usually categorized as “chronically homeless” — defined as those who have been on the street more than one year, have experienced at least four episodes of homelessness in the last three years and have a disability — they are among the most vulnerable but only make up 18 percent of all homeless people.
Furthermore, just 9 percent of the homeless are veterans, according to the Alliance.
The point is, discard common stereotypes. They don’t always fit the bill, especially on South Whidbey. There’s a good chance those struggling with homelessness are people we know, people we count as friends or are former neighbors. We bump into them at the grocery stores, their kids go to school with our kids.
The effort to end homelessness here at home is ours, all of ours, not just those leading the fight. The Coalition is working to establish a permanent shelter and it should be realized.
The Coalition meets at 12:30 p.m. the first Monday of each month at Trinity Lutheran Church in Freeland, and hosts dinners each month from 3-6 p.m. on the third Wednesday, also at Trinity.
