February 4, 2009

Shelter provides much needed aid to vulnerable homeless population

By Tom Barry

To be single, female and homeless on the streets of Denver is to have few help options available, experts said.

“Single women that are homeless are a very vulnerable group facing challenges and dangers that are more significant than other homeless people,” said Linda Barringer, program supervisor of housing for Family Tree in Wheat Ridge, a nonprofit serving youths and adults with programs for those in crisis.  “The opportunities for single women are less than for family groups.  There are fewer programs that focus on single women that are homeless.”

On Jan. 29, 2007, there were 10,604 homeless people counted throughout metro Denver.  Eleven per cent or 1,166 of the total were single women, while 552 were “unaccompanied women (those without children with them),” noted the 2007 Point in Time Survey conducted by the Metropolitan Denver Homeless Initiative (MDHI). 

 “We know the economic crisis is hitting people hard, as evidenced by a recent rise in demand for homeless services in Denver,” said Jamie Van Leeuwen, executive director for Denver’s Road Home, the city’s 10-year plan to end homelessness.

Nationally it is estimated that 17 percent of all homeless people are single woman.  There are 750,000 homeless people in the United States on any given night, stressed Barringer.

“There are now estimated 133 beds to serve single homeless women without children with the addition of the Gift of Mary Homeless Shelter,” noted Terrell Curtis, executive director of the Delores Project, a Denver shelter for homeless women.  “This will help fill the needs of the 552 women that were counted in the latest published survey.”

Single, homeless women tend to be invisible among the homeless population, but they are very much like anyone’s sister or aunt, Curtis said.

“I find myself having much more in common with the homeless women than I do differences between us,” declared Curtis.

B.J. Iacino, director of education and advocacy with the Colorado Collation for the Homeless, cited statistics from a study released in 2005, “Premature Mortality in Homeless Populations,” commissioned by the National Health Care for the Homeless Council, that show the dangers homeless women face.

“The burden of early death is especially high in young women between the ages of 18 and 34,” Iacino said. “They are between four and 31 times more likely to lose their lives than their housed counterparts.”

Homeless people have limited access to health care and are three to four times more likely to die prematurely.  Most Americans can expect to live to 80, yet for those who routinely experience homelessness the approximate life span is 47, Iacino said.

“As our economic situation goes downward, we need to pick up the mandate of those who are hungry and poor,” asserted Father John Lager, O.F.M. Cap., who formerly directed Catholic Charities’ Samaritan House homeless shelter. 

“The journey is not about having more stuff, but getting rid of the clutter in our life, both material and in our hearts,” the priest said. “The Missionaries of Charity can assist single homeless women regain their dignity and mentor them in positive ways.”