Baltimore’s ABC2 News recently visited Health Care for the Homeless as part of a feature on the rise of child homelessness, both in our community and nationwide.
Reporter Katrina Bush spent time with one Health Care for the Homeless client, Sharon Niles, who became homeless in 2011. Fortunately Niles and her children have recently overcome homelessness, but the frustration of experiencing homelessness remains all too vividly in her mind: “I was going through a period in my life that I would never want my enemy to go through because it was so rough for me because it was so bad to know that my kids cry at me and say ‘Mommy, we need to get out of this shelter, what are you doing to get us out of here?’ I said baby, I’m trying everything I can. I’m fighting everyday to get us a place. And my kids say ‘Mommy, you’re not fighting hard enough.'” With help from Health Care for the Homeless Ms. Niles’s children emerged from homelessness with good health, and she is optimistic that the family will stay housed.
Bush also spoke with the Director of HCH’s Pediatric and Adolescent Clinic, Lisa Stambolis, and Director of Community Relations Adam Schneider. Stambolis and Schneider both emphasized that homelessness will continue until we address its root cause: poverty. As Stambolis put it, “Preventing homelessness, means that we have people who can have good jobs and affordable housing. We’re never going to fix the problem unless those two things happen.”
Sadly, child homelessness in the United States is at a historic high. But working together, our community has the capability to bring an end to this epidemic.
Health Care for the Homeless thanks WMAR and Ms. Bush for bringing attention to the urgent problem of child homelessness.The full story and accompanying video feature are available here.
