Strange Bedfellows

What does The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation , The
Committee to End Homelessness- King County, and the author Danielle Steel
have in common?
The answer is that they have each made considerable investments
in assisting and finding solutions for individuals who have no personal housing.
According to "A Roof Over Every Bed", The Committee to End Homelessness Ten Year Plan , King County has at least 8,000 persons who are homeless on any given night.
This 8,000 breaks-down into 5,000+ single adults, 400+ single youth,
and 2,400+ individuals in family groups.
Danielle Steele is the founder of Yo! Angel!, an outreach team that brings supplies
and hope to homeless individuals in SanFrancisco. After a decade of anonymity she
is making her work with the homeless public. She published her article "A Secret Mission on the Streets" in Newsweek magazine June 22,2008 edition in an effort to solicit interest and funds for her work with people who are homeless . Her narrative gives a human face and voice to the homeless.
Homelessness increases costs in high end services, such as emergency rooms,
incarceration and institutional facilities. Data collected from by the University of Washington on the Sound Family Initiative funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation showed
the transitional housing/case management program increased employment, stable
education for children and led to permanent housing.According to one participant,
"In terms of my family, the stability of housing was the key to every other successful
endeavor."
In King County alone 42 people died out-of doors while homeless in 2003. That is a
typical year.You could picture that as one person dying almost every week somewhere in King County.The Committee to End Homelessness maintains "not acceptable to have people dying on the streets ". You might agree.

Sources:

A Roof Over Every Bed In King County-Our Communities Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness , by the Committe To End Homelessness-King County 2005

"Evaluation of The Sound Families Initiative-Final Finding Summary:A Closer look at Families Lives During & After Supportive Transistional Housing. by the Northwest Institute for Children &FamiliesUnivercity of Washington School of Social Work 2007

A Secret Mission On The Streets by Danielle Steel , published Newsweek Magazine June 23,2008