Tuesday, March 16, 2010

One Day to Prevent Homelessness

One Day to Prevent Homelessness

On any night in Sacramento: 2800 are homeless, 57% of those are sheltered, 43% are unsheltered, 20% are families (including couples). Over the course of a year in Sacramento up to 4,257 people in Sacramento experience homelessness.
THE NEW FACE OF HOMELESSNESS:
The economic crisis has produced a new face of the homeless: families and individuals displaced by job losses and the rise in foreclosures. These are people that have never been homeless before and are new to the social services system. In this economic climate, these new homeless are not just the chronically homeless, they are our former co-workers who were laid off and our former neighbors that couldn’t make the rent or the mortgage. The new face of homelessness in Sacramento looks like you or me and they need a helping hand.
FROM SACRAMENTO MAYOR KEVIN JOHNSON:
Please join hundreds of Sacramentans engaged in a region-wide initiative to end homelessness. This campaign—Sacramento Steps Forward—is a call to join together to ensure that all Sacramentans have a place to call home. Sacramento Steps Forward is a united effort to find solutions to the complex and long-standing issues of homelessness. Other cities and counties across the country have tackled this problem. We have studied their lessons and know that Sacramento can become an example of how a region can end homelessness. You can help by contributing just one days rent or mortgage payment to the Sacramento Region Community Foundation for One Day to Prevent Homelessness.
Mayor Kevin Johnson is the Chair of the "Policy Board to End Homelessness."