You may have missed this story amidst all the other news surrounding the pandemic and the political turmoil over the election results, but last year’s death toll among DC’s unhoused community increased by more than 50%, in large part due to the Covid crisis. It’s not surprising, if you think about it. For those of us blessed with permanent housing, we’re able to stay at home and protect ourselves from exposure to the coronavirus. Public health measures include orders to stay at home, to isolate ourselves from others, and to wash our hands frequently. If one doesn’t have housing, one has no place of safety in which to isolate oneself and no place to wash one’s hands frequently. As one DC homeless advocate, Gerard Skerrett of Miriam’s Kitchen, says, “housing is health care in this situation.”
Now more than ever, the need for housing first is obvious as a primary, essential step to assuring human dignity and survival.
Last year, we witnessed 180 of our unhoused neighbors dying. This reflects a 54% increase over the 117 unhoused residents of the District who died in 2019. Of these deaths, 23 are directly attributed to Covid-19. Further, public health officials acknowledge that these numbers reflect an undercount of the prevalence of the disease’s spread and mortality rate. Eleven deaths from Covid-19 occurred in the month of April alone, during the first peak of coronavirus in the area, when the community was most unprepared to respond to the crisis. Although there is now more testing, personal protective equipment, and available handwashing stations, our unhoused neighbors are still many times more likely to contract Covid-19, experience it more harshly, and ultimately succumb to the disease. It is obvious that if one has no home, it is simply not possible to “shelter in place” for safety and health purposes.
Now more than ever, the need for housing first is obvious as a primary, essential step to assuring human dignity and survival. That is why our mission for GRACE in Action is to acquire affordable housing in which to house our most housing insecure neighbors. Please join us in this effort to provide housing first to enable our neighbors at greatest risk the chance to survive the pandemic, improve their health, and overall enhance their life chances to live a safe and fully realized life.
Grace In Action 