Where There’s Inflation, There’s Also an Increase in Homelessness
If you’ve tried to rent a home or an apartment recently, you are acutely aware of how inflation has hit the housing rental market. In 2023, homelessness spiked as many lower-income Americans were forced out of the market. The U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) department estimated that more than [...]
Families Need Homes
For most people, having a safe and secure place to spend time with their loved ones, to sleep at night or a place to clean up after a long day is a given. Having a home or apartment is something that many people take for granted. But for the more [...]
Lack of a Permanent Address is a Cyclical Barrier
For most of us, filling out a job application or a school registration form may be tedious. But we don’t often worry about what to put on the “address” portion of these documents. When you are homeless, however, not having a permanent address is not only conspicuous on an application [...]
Fill the GAPS by Working with Other Agencies
Politicians and the media often seem to focus on the costs of homelessness as these expenses relate to taxpayers. But there are hidden costs in homelessness to the unhoused individual that many officials don’t often consider. Homelessness can adversely affect virtually every aspect of a person’s life. Not only are [...]
For the Homeless, Housing is Healthcare
During the 2016 presidential election, candidates in the Democratic primary routinely discussed the merits of universal healthcare versus the current system of private health insurance. But for the nation’s more than 650,000 homeless people, having a residence would automatically improve their healthcare situation by sheltering them from the elements. It [...]
Myths About Homelessness
Between the 2021–22 COVID-19 pandemic and 2023’s increases in the cost of living, the rate of homelessness in the United States has been steadily increasing every year. In fact, nationwide, the number jumped by 12% in 2023, mostly due to inflation and the high cost of housing. Most people hold [...]
From Hotels to Housing First: TORCH Has Grown Throughout the Years
When Tennessee Out-Reach Center for Homeless (TORCH) Founder Sheila Michel looked around Anderson County in 2012, she saw that many of the county’s homeless had to go to Knox County to get substantial help, and she knew she had to step in. So, she opened what was then known as [...]
TORCH lights the way toward housing homeless families in Anderson County
Oak Ridge, Tennessee homeless assistance group wants to share their model with other communities as a solution to the challenges housing advocates face Tennessee Out-Reach Center for Homeless (TORCH) shares its unique approach to quickly getting homeless families off the street with other communities that face similar housing challenges. [...]