The first time I visited Autumn, I quickly realized that this was not an okay home for a teenager and brought her home to live with me and my mom. To this day, my mom has been known to say to people “most children bring home stray animals, Gina always brought home stray people”. You see, Autumn wasn’t the last person I brought home in my lifetime, and one would say this was an early sign of my passion to ensure housing for all humans.

When people think of homelessness, they often imagine tents under highways or people sleeping on park benches. But the reality is that homelessness often hides in plain sight. It looks like a child in your neighborhood classroom who doesn’t know where they’ll sleep tonight. It looks like a mother working two jobs and still spending nights in her car. It looks like a family living week to week in a motel, trying to hold on until they can find a home they can afford.

As November comes to a close, I want to take a moment to reflect on what has been a deeply impactful Homelessness Awareness Month for HomeAid and our communities across the nation. This year’s theme, “The Full Story,” resonated powerfully as we explored the complexities behind homelessness and highlighted the humanity and resilience of those experiencing it.

Homelessness has become part of our shared landscape—an invisible crisis that we’re almost trained to overlook. According to Sam Tsemberis, the originator of the Housing First model in the US, humans have to essentially shut down our own humanity to be able to walk by another human being experiencing homelessness. For many of us, it probably feels like a problem too big to tackle alone. But among the many dedicated organizations addressing homelessness in Austin, Texas, Mobile Loaves & Fishes did not walk by. They saw the need and responded by creating Community First! Village, a place of community and transformation for those who have been experiencing chronic homelessness.

HomeAid Colorado is the connector between construction-industry professionals and affiliates to complete construction projects and provide critical resources to non-profit care providers who assist those in our community at a high risk of homelessness. By maximizing HomeAid’s relationships within the building industry, new construction and renovations are completed as affordable as possible. 

On a single night in January 2023, more than half a million people (653,104 people) were experiencing homelessness across the United States. Behind this number is another set of numbers pointing to alarming growths in homelessness, especially since the previous year (2022).

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has released their annual Homelessness Assessment Report for 2023.

CEO Scott Larson wraps up Homelessness Awareness Month.

Gina Cunningham, HomeAid OC Executive Director, on why affordable housing is a solution to homelessness.