This is my friend Sully. Sully just got housed through Community Support Services. He has lived outside off and on for the last 5 winters. He was the "yard dog" for the 2 years of our tent city. When a new person would come into our village he would always be there to help them set up their tent. And if a tent needed repaired you could always count on him to help as well.
Groundhog Mike, who has been homeless for 22 years, is also housed in this house. It's a 3 bedroom rooming house.
The rapid rehousing program organized by Community Support Services and working closely with United Way is making a huge impact on some of the most difficult to house people.
Close friends of mine: Josh I., Kenny, Gary and now Sully have all been housed through this program. It's truly impressive.
Now... they aren't out of the woods yet. All these people have got to get and keep jobs. They have been given the downpayment and first month or two of rent. And then they have to survive on their own. That's going to be incredibly difficult in some cases. Keeping people in houses is sometimes just as hard as getting them in the house in the first place. (Going to jail for a couple months due to an outstanding warrant will often destroy housing.)
In general, people that stay housed do so because they have something larger than themselves to think about: Kids, a spouse and God are the big ones.
I'm so happy for these people. I have some video of Sully and Groundhog Mike that I'll share with you soon.
Thank you for everyone that made this possible. It takes countless volunteers and paid staff and programs to make this possible.
Paid For By The People for Sage Lewis