04.10.09 :: Press Release - Recruitment Fair Matches District Homeless with Apprenticeship Opportunities April 22 Event, Organized by the Coalition for the Homeless, is One of Many Services for the Community.

10.31.08 :: The students at the Leakie Elementary School in Southwest D.C. held their first mini-walk to support the Coalition as a part of Fannie Mae’s 21th Annual Help the Homeless Walkathon (HtH). Leakie Elementary School’s walk raise $2,000 to support the work of the Coalition. Pictured (l-r) are Sheree Pressley, program analyst for the Coalition, Ijeoma Wright, physical education teacher and Clementine Homesley, principal of the Leakie Elementary School.

02.14.08 ::District government officials, D.C. Councilmember Muriel Bowser (Ward 4), the Coalition for the Homeless and the community celebrate the opening of the new home of the La Casa Transitional Rehabilitation Program at 1131 Spring Road, NW. La Casa TRP provides temporary residential services for homeless men to help them to achieve self sufficiency.

HOW MANY HOMELESS PEOPLE ARE THERE?

In the District of Columbia it is estimated that there are 6,000 -7,000 homeless men, women and children annually.

In the Metropolitan area, D.C., Maryland and Virginia of the homeless 12,000 - 14,000 people may experience homelessness in a year. The eighth annual point-in-time count conducted by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Government on January 24, 2008 indicated that at least 11,752 men, women and children were homeless.

In American, it is estimated that there are 2.5 million homeless people
Some of the homeless we see every day - sleeping in parks, alleyways, or storefronts. Most of them we do not see because they stay in emergency shelters, hide in abandoned buildings, live in their cars, or simply look just like US.

For additional information, please go to www.mwcog.org to download a copy of the Homeless Enumeration Report for 2008.

WHO ARE THE HOMELESS (DC, MD and VA)?

People just like you and me from all walks of life.
Most people are only two or three checks away from being homeless. If you cannot pay the rent or your mortgage you may get evicted and become homeless.
Most of the homeless are single adults. However, it is estimated that at 25% of the homeless in the region are children living in families headed by a single female.

WHY ARE PEOPLE HOMELESS?

For most people, it is a combination of things - some circumstances they have control over and others they do not which causes them to become homeless. The following are some of the most common reasons for homelessness:
- Lack of affordable housing and landlords willing to accept Section 8 vouchers. Some people do not have enough money to pay for food, clothing and housing.
-Mental illness
- Domestic violence
-Physical illness like heart attacks, AIDS and TB
-Substance abuse - drugs\alcohol - this affects more men
-Unemployment - job loss
-Under employment - making less than a living wage. For example, a single mother may not earn enough to pay for someone to take care of her children while she works, and pay for decent housing too.
-Young people who have run away from home