On March 19, 2020, mere days into the nation-wide lockdown, during our State of Homelessness Address, I said that we must apply important lessons from the Coronavirus pandemic. “It is teaching us,” I said, “to look out for everyone in our community. It is teaching us that as a community we can and will go to great lengths to keep each other safe. It is teaching us that our community is only as strong as the weakest in our community. It is teaching us that we are all connected. It is teaching us that a home is more than four walls and a roof; a home is healthcare, public safety, family, community.”
I then called on those in the homeless rehousing system, government, and the community at large, to take these lessons to heart and to take specific steps towards ending homelessness. (You can go back and read them.) I summed everything up by saying that, “We have shown we can [end homelessness]; we have shown we must [end homelessness]… The only thing left to show is our will… It is time to show everyone that we will end homelessness.”
One does not get to choose one’s circumstances. This is true for both individuals and communities. One does get to choose, however, how one reacts to one’s circumstances. This too is true for both individuals and communities. Nothing I can say can make up for the losses individuals in our community and our community as a whole have experienced. However, when you look back at what we have done, it is clear that our community well acquitted itself.
We, as a community, showed the will to end homelessness. We, through our government, took the steps necessary to continue to turn the tide in decreasing homelessness. We, as a system, have positioned ourselves, through ongoing transformation, to make measurable reductions in homelessness in 2021 and beyond. We hope you will all join us on this journey, since we need each and every one of you.
