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Boots on the Ground. More and more individuals and families are moved, often forcibly, from their last resort “encampments;” sometimes even fined up to $500! Often their belongings are tossed as they are told to “move on” – but to where? It’s reported that, In the downtown area, 584 people were found to still need shelter, but open beds are virtually nonexistent. In fact, the May /July Points in Time counts reported a 25% increase in Austin area folks living unsheltered.
Thank you for helping House the Homeless (HtH) volunteers to bless remote camps with relief – spreading love through education, advocacy, navigation tools, much needed bus passes, etc. -- to help our friends progress towards sustainable housing and life skills. We especially thank last year’s contributors of $100 or more that helped to provide temporary sanctuary, along with basics to meet critical needs as our friends work towards housing.
We brought critical supplies and direct guidance to those seeking housing and emergency assistance. This last year we have supplied tents, sleeping bags, blankets, bus passes, flashlights, hygiene supplies. Guiding all to transitional services, 12,000 HtH Plastic Pocket Resource Guides were distributed during 2022-2023. Uniquely designed by Richard Troxell, these PPGs were provided to multiple camps, individuals on the street, and direct services providers. Donations toward cost makes this durable resource accessible (2024, 18th bi-annual).
Work on the ULW calculator will soon be completed https://universallivingwage.org/fmr-api/. Bo, with yanbosolutions.com, is helping us to calculate work wages automatically and by area and…wait for it…zip code. This all coincides with HtH and the National Coalition for the Homeless in our letter to President Biden. Watch both web sites for the letter and word on the new Calculator quality up-grades. As long as we have blood, a breath, and time, we will fight for a better wage. Much love, Richard”
Richard continues to serve on the HtH Board of Directors & Executive Committee.
He also sits on the Core Team of the National Coalition for the Homeless campaign to end and prevent Homelessness. We call this, Bring America Home Now, BAHN, campaign.
www.bringamericahomenow.org/. House the Homeless, Inc. is a partner-organization.
More Big News! Blythe Plunkett has been elected as the 2024 President of House the Homeless. After 34 years since co-founding HtH with Richard, Cecilia has asked to move to the Advisory Board, along with long time Board members, Jo Ann Koepke, and Greg Gibson. Please join us in welcoming Blythe to this higher leadership role and in supporting Will Hyatt, Charles Guidry, Danny Marrs, and Richard Troxell as the voting board of directors for 2024.
Blythe Plunkett is a native Austinite who has worked with Austin's homeless for decades. It became more than a casual act after working as a corrections officer and seeing how impacting small circumstances can be on one's life. Experience includes employment, advisory and board positions with Project Transitions, CommUnityCare, Downtown Austin Community Court, ECHO, Mobile Loaves & Fishes, Hill Country Ride for AIDS, Community Advancement Network and the Austin Poverty Initiative. Join us in welcoming and supporting Blythe in 2024!
House the Homeless (HtH) provides direct outreach to encampments and other unsheltered neighbors, life-saving advocacy and education while giving VOICE to all experiencing homelessness. At least half of the HtH Board has lived experience and HtH is a member of the National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH) and the Bring America Home NOW campaign.
USING ART TO EDUCATE: HtH founder Richard R. Troxell dedicated the second set of The Home Coming Statues in Washington, DC this past October. Thanks to individuals who have donated funds over the past five years, HtH was able to place the first Home Coming statues permanently at Community First! Village in Austin and now this second set at the Basilica. The Home Coming is a movement, using art and education to put a put a human story with the faces of homelessness for all generations. The statues include a Veteran, representing one-third of all unsheltered in the U.S; his 9-year old daughter, representing the average age of all homeless children; and representing the disproportionate number of unhoused individuals who are persons of color, is an older African American woman, the 65% who are "not seen". Regularly surveying our homeless clients, we ask, "How does it feel to be homeless?" The answer remains, "I feel invisible." So, Richard conceived the Home Coming.
MEMORIAL SERVICES. More than 270 children, women and men died while homeless in Austin, Texas this past year. HtH held its 31st Memorial Service at our Living Memorial Site on Town Lake. The Memorial Service was held in December to coordinate with a national service acknowledging those who die without homes cross the nation.
HUGSS GIVE EVENT. On New Year's Day 2024, HtH held its annual HUGSS event at First Baptist Austin with 200 individual guests and volunteers. HtH raised funds to help "winterize" the guests, again providing Hats, Undergarments, Gloves, Scarves, and Socks ++ in new backpacks. A hot lunch was enjoyed by all, with music by Rockin' Gospel Band, led by long-time volunteer and advocate PJ Liles.
UNIQUE RESOURCE GUIDE. Presently, HtH is working collaboratively to update the HtH Plastic Pocket Resource Guide. For 30 plus years, this 8-pocket fold, laminated tool has equipped our unsheltered friends with the most useful, dependable, and accessible resource contact info. The Libraries, HOST teams (Integral Care, APD, Austin Downtown Alliance, and others), various outreach groups, churches and many others directly distribute this durable guide, along with HtH volunteers.
NEW BOOK BY RICHARD R. TROXELL. Richard launched his latest book SHORT STORIES IN LONG JOURNEY: WHAT IT TAKES TO END AND PREVENT HOMELESSNESS in May of 2022. It was soon a top seller in its category and available on Amazon and bookstores everywhere. Proceeds go to support our work.
Help us do more to "House the Homeless," provide education and advocacy around issues of homelessness, and incubate solutions to end homelessness in our time.
We also continue to do two ACTION DAYS each year for our Universal Living Wage campaign, endorsed by thousands of businesses, nonprofits, churches, and others across the nation. Richard derived a wage formula that is indexed to the cost of HOUSING where ever a person lives -- so that anyone who works a 40-hour week can afford the most basic of housing. www.UniversalLivingWage.org
Founded in 1989, HtH is the oldest all-volunteer, action, homeless organization in Texas. Our mission is education and advocacy on issues of homelessness -- fighting to combat, prevent and end homelessness in Texas and across the nation.
House the Homeless, Inc. has no salaries or occupancy costs thus at your donations directly benefit our programs and services. Your support can also be used for our annual Thermal Underwear give away; the homeless memorial project, and other needs. Please check our website Https://HousetheHomeless.org for our recent separately funded Go Fund Me appeal to "Generate Hope" and furnish freezing families where they live in the Ukraine! Since we started HtH three decades ago, we have worked to remember others in need - whether following a major hurricane or now in a battle for for democracy where citizen women and children remain.
Annual Thermal Underwear drive, followed by give away celebration for hundreds of homeless individuals. Complete with a hot lunch, gospel music, and the provision of winter survival clothing, more than 100 volunteers are enlisted. The event is usually on New Year's Day at and in partnership with First Baptist Austin, a centrally located church. Other projects include humanitarian aid to those living under area bridges, as well as our annual Memorial Service for the homeless who have died while living on the streets. There are numerous opportunities for advocacy and community education.
PO BOX 2312
AUSTIN, Texas 78768-2312
Blythe Plunkett
BLYTHEPLUNKETT@AOL.COM
Phone: 512-217-6238
https://HOUSETHEHOMELESS.ORG