What ‘National Homelessness Week’ means to me

I have been a policy intern at the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless (CCH) since the beginning of September. Before coming to CCH I understood that homelessness is an issue in the city of Chicago and across the nation, but what I did not realize is that homelessness has many faces. The guy on the corner asking for change does not even begin to paint a picture of what it means to be homeless. Anyone can become homeless, particularly during the hard times we are facing, and they do not get there simply because of personal shortcomings.

CCH is determined to end and prevent homelessness because, as their mission states, “housing is a human right.” CCH works to combat homelessness in some way every day, through working to change policy that may leave the homeless behind, advocating for revenue change to keep serving agencies operating, making educational stability possible for homeless and unaccompanied youth, fighting for ex-offenders to have the right to a home and employment, stressing the importance of living wage jobs in order to prevent homelessness, the need for affordable housing so people can live in their community, and all the many heartbreaks that surround individuals in the sex trade.

The advocates of CCH also possess the quality of bringing other organizations, as well as other interested parties, to the table to discuss and launch campaigns to affect change. The most important, compelling, and strongest part of what CCH does is the ability to bring power to the people that have been affected by homelessness. No one can give a better testimony of what it means to be homeless than the people who have survived, or are surviving, homelessness.

Through the short time that I have spent at CCH thus far, I have learned what it means to truly believe in what you do, and how willing a group of individuals can be to put their heart into advocating for a population whose voice often goes unheard, as all of CCH does.

- Samantha Hedges, Master’s in Social Work (MSW) candidate, Jane Addams School at the University of Illinois-Chicago