Last fall, to celebrate the completion of the long-awaited construction and renovation of our historic building, hundreds of friends and supporters gathered at an Open House in our Day Shelter. Clients lead tours, friends offered music, and clerics from various faith traditions blessed us and our work. We honored leaders who provided the financial backing to make our expansion possible. We were full of anticipation. The physical expansion of our building allowed us to house our expanded services and set the stage for new growth.

On March 7, the Raisin’ the Rent Party was another huge display of solidarity with our homeless neighbors. Over 500 people gathered on that night, helping to ensure St. John Center’s ability to provide effective solutions to homelessness through street outreach, day shelter and social services, and providing permanent housing and case management to 90 formerly homeless men.

And then, quite literally the week after Raisin’ the Rent – everything changed. The global pandemic introduced a new vocabulary and new daily practices. To accommodate social distances requirements, we cut the number of people in the Day Shelter at any one time by more than half. We changed the ways we engage clients on the streets and modified case management with our clients in housing to keep everyone safe. We temporarily suspended volunteers serving at the shelter in order to reduce exposure and risk.

We wondered, “How will we get through this?”

The answer came through resoundingly: we will get through this together.

Even in a new, socially distanced world, St. John Center supporters showed up with conviction. In acts of generosity and compassion, you acknowledged that our role in serving people experiencing homelessness is crucial to the health and safety of each person, and contributes to a healthier community. You answered, everyone deserves to be healthy at home.

Your overwhelming response is critical, because the stakes have never been higher. The dramatic increase in clients with highly complex physical, mental, and behavioral health issues underscore the necessity to provide individualized, intensive services that lead to appropriate housing.

To be healthy at home, the answer is housing.

• Housing that is affordable to low-wage workers.
• Housing that includes the support of a case manager to help navigate the inevitable bumps in the road.
• Assisted living for the paraplegic, the amputee, or the stroke survivor.
• Housing that supports those still struggling with addiction, whose mental illness is hard for neighbors to understand, or who have served time in prison and desperately want to move on with their lives if only given a chance.

The lack of housing options for the people we serve is a blight on our community. Not only is another world possible – another world is imperative.

The new fiscal year presents its own question: How will we step up to provide more housing for those who are homeless? I only know that we will make strides if we continue forward in the way we know best – Together.