Our annual Point in Time count of the homeless in our region happened this week. Every year in January, on the last Thursday of the month, this count is done all across the nation. We count the sheltered individuals and we also hit the streets and camps and try to count the unsheltered. Unlike Wichita Falls Faith Mission, many agencies and organizations that serve the homeless rely on this count for funding. State and Federal funding for homeless services is based on this count.
The Ufederal Department of Housing and Urban development oversees the count and then compiles the numbers and distributes the funds. We don’t receive any of that funding because there are too many strings attached and there are also too many areas that the government could encroach upon our Faith-based principles. We are unencumbered to share the Gospel without any interference. That is extremely important to us.
But that is not the only reason we avoid public funding. We also have a fundamental difference in the approach that HUD has taken to remedy the homeless crisis in our nation. Where they believe that the answer to homelessness is putting everyone in a house, we believe that in many cases, the causes for homelessness need to be addressed before placing them. It’s not that we don’t think they are worthy or deserving of their own home, but rather, from experience, we have seen the value of addiction recovery, job readiness, and support systems in a person’s life. The “Housing First” approach taken by HUD has had some success, but the recidivism rate of those returning to the streets or shelters is unacceptable.
That is why we do what we do. We don’t just warehouse the homeless nor do we ignore the causes that resulted in them being in our shelters. With careful case management and deliberate programming, we have seen people leave our shelters ready to live independently and self-sufficiently. And at the heart of it all is our emphasis on having a relationship with Jesus Christ and a church home. It all works hand-in-hand.
There’s no silver bullet that will solve the homeless crisis in our world. In some cases, it is an all-of-the-above approach. At Wichita Falls Faith Mission, we believe that if anything should come first, it would be an “all from above” approach. In other words, having the mind of Christ through a personal relationship with Him is the best place to start.
