Our Work
Homeless FAQs
Our Work
Homeless FAQs
Learn more about homelessness and how you can help hurting neighbors.
Thank you for your interest in learning more about homelessness! Use these links to help answer common questions—so you know how to best help neighbors in need.
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10 ways to help a person experiencing homelessness
1. Be prepared.
Anticipate opportunities and be ready to help.
2. Recognize differences.
Factors leading to homelessness vary. Some are…
• Women with children fleeing domestic violence
• Veterans struggling with addiction or mental health issues
• People who are employed but not able to make ends meet
• And countless other circumstances
3. Acknowledge them.
Treat someone experiencing homelessness as a human being by making eye contact and saying hello. If the situation is safe, spend a little extra time engaging in conversation. Taking time to talk to a person experiencing homelessness in a friendly, respectful manner can give them a sense of civility and dignity. It also gives the person strength to fight the isolation, depression, and paranoia that many people experiencing homelessness face.
4. Be cautious.
Some people experiencing homelessness may have criminal backgrounds or mental health or addiction issues. Use discernment and stay in areas where other people can see you when ministering to those who are experiencing homelessness.
5. Don’t give money.
The majority of panhandlers are not experiencing homelessness. Too often, well-intended gifts may go toward drugs or alcohol.
6. Instead of money, offer an alternative.
Providing tangible resources like clean socks, soap, granola bars, water bottles, a bus ticket, or a gift certificate to a fast food restaurant is a great way to show you care.
7. Direct them to Wheeler Mission.
Wheeler Mission strives to demonstrate the love of Christ by offering emergency services, residential programs, and addiction recovery for men, women, and children in need.
8. Become an advocate.
Offer your voice and time to volunteer. If you would like to volunteer at Wheeler Mission, click here.
9. Pray for them.
Remember them in prayer. Your prayers for their physical and spiritual needs can bring many people who are hurting and experiencing homelessness to Jesus.
10. Share God’s love whenever you can.
If Jesus were walking the earth today, He would speak with, heal, and help those experiencing homelessness. Today, Jesus chooses to work through people like you who believe and follow Him.
A special thanks to Portland Rescue Mission for sharing some of their great ideas with us.
10 myths about homelessness
1. Homelessness is only about middle-aged men.
The face of homelessness is changing. In fact, the fastest-growing segments of the population of those experiencing homelessness are women and families with children.
2. People experiencing homelessness need to “just get a job.”
Getting a job is incredibly difficult for a person experiencing homelessness. Most lack clean clothes, showers, transportation, a permanent address, and a phone number. Others have a criminal past, learning disabilities, and a lack of education—all of which are significant obstacles to securing employment. Even if they find work, their low income often cannot sustain them.
3. People experiencing homelessness are dangerous.
Homelessness is often associated with drugs, alcohol, violence, and crime—but rarely toward people who help them. At Wheeler Mission, the attitude we see most often from men and women experiencing homelessness is gratitude.
4. People experiencing homelessness are lazy.
Surviving on the street takes work. Men and women experiencing homelessness are often sleep-deprived, cold, wet, and sick. Their minds, hearts, and bodies are exhausted. It can take a full day to reach a destination, get food, and find a safe place to sleep—and they do it all while lugging their precious few possessions along with them in a bag or backpack. It is not a life of ease.
5. People experience homelessness by choice.
Many people experience homelessness by losing jobs and then housing. Women run away to escape domestic violence. Many struggle with mental illness, depression, or post-traumatic stress, while others simply cannot cope with trauma in their lives. Poor choices can contribute to homelessness, but outside circumstances strongly influence those choices.
6. If people experiencing homelessness wanted to, they could pull themselves out of it.
Imagine trying to get a job when you have no address, no phone number, no shower, and no clean clothes. Often, things like legal issues, criminal history, mental illness, physical and emotional health hinder progress even more.
7. Handouts of food and shelter only enable people to continue experiencing homelessness.
By offering food and shelter, we build relationships with people in need. Only then are we able to offer something more through our residential and recovery programs to equip them to be successful, productive citizens.
8. If we provide sufficient affordable housing, homelessness will end.
Putting a roof over the head of a deeply hurting person will not heal emotional wounds, break addiction, create relational stability, or establish healthy life skills. Housing is only a temporary solution for many people who are experiencing homelessness, because they are unable to function in a “normal” life.
9. Homelessness will never happen to me.
The majority of people we serve never intended to become homeless. They’ve had solid jobs, houses, and families. But at some point, their life fell apart. They are desperate to get back on their feet and find a way back home.
10. Homelessness will never end.
Homelessness will not be eliminated everywhere for all time. But homelessness does end—one life at a time. With your help, we continue to restore the lives of hurting men, women, and children every day.
A special thanks to Portland Rescue Mission for sharing some of their great ideas with us.
10 causes of homelessness
1. Addiction
68% of U.S. cities report that addiction is their single largest cause of homelessness.* An addict that was formerly experiencing homelessness is likely to return to homelessness unless they address their addiction. Treatment programs are necessary for treating the root causes of addiction and for helping men and women find a way back home. (*Source: National Coalition for the Homeless—Substance Abuse.)
2. Domestic violence
Nationally, 50% of women and children experiencing homelessness are fleeing domestic violence.* If she stays in the home, she’ll be beaten again. If she leaves, she’ll have little means of support. Choosing homelessness over abuse is both a brave and frightening decision. (*Source: National Coalition for the Homeless—Domestic Violence.)
3. Mental illness
6% of the American population suffers from mental illness. In the population of those experiencing homelessness, that number jumps to 20-25%.* Serious mental illnesses disrupt people’s ability to carry out essential aspects of daily life, such as self care and household management. Without assistance, these men and women have little chance of gaining stability. (*Source: National Coalition for the Homeless—Mental Illness.)
4. Job loss and underemployment
Many Americans are underemployed at wages that can’t sustain them. Layoffs and job cuts leave individuals and families in desperate circumstances. Unemployment benefits and savings run out, leaving people with no choice but to face homelessness. (See: National Coalition for the Homeless—Employment.)
5. Foreclosure
From 2008 to 2009, foreclosures jumped by 32%. A 2009 survey estimated that as many as 10% of people seeking help from homeless organizations did so due to foreclosure.* (*Source: National Coalition for the Homeless—Foreclosure.)
6. Post-traumatic stress
On any given night, as many as 200,000 military veterans sleep on the street.* Adapting to “normal life” back in the U.S. often proves to be extremely difficult for our veterans. Unable to cope, some choose to leave homes, loved ones, and jobs behind for homelessness and/or addiction. (*Source: National Coalition for the Homeless—Veterans.)
7. Youth Homelessness
Homelessness among teenagers is often due to family conflicts that involve issues of drug/alcohol addiction, physical abuse, sexual orientation, or teen pregnancy. Mental illness can also play a significant role. Teens in foster care often end up on the street after they “age-out” of the system at age 18.
8. Relational brokenness
A person experiencing homelessness is most often a deeply hurting person and has burned through every supportive relationship possible. Friends and family are no longer able or willing to help. A significant barrier to recovery often lies in their lack of ability to restore trust and maintain healthy relationships.
9. Grief
When a person is unable to deal with the death of a loved one, or another significant trauma results in grief, they often numb their pain in addiction. Addiction and apathy then lead to the loss of their job and home. They simply stop caring if they live or die. Grief becomes a roadblock to living.
10. Despair
The longer men and women experience homelessness, the more difficult it becomes for them to combat the lies they hear in their heads. They believe there’s no way out. They don’t deserve another chance. They’ll never break free from addiction. They’ll always be a failure. More than anything, these men and women need hope.
A special thanks to Portland Rescue Mission for sharing some of their great ideas with us.
10 places people experiencing homelessness sleep
Living without a home of your own is a devastating experience—but sleeping without a home is downright difficult. Some of these places receive media attention. Others may surprise you. All of these overnight accommodations are completely unacceptable for regular human habitation.
1. Storage units
Storage units have been called the modern-day cardboard box. Sure, they’re not ideal, but they’re dry and secure and beat the dangers of the street. They are also a place where people can keep some of their belongings rather than abandon them or have them stolen.
2. Cars
When your home is on four wheels, it’s impossible to sit still. Each day, you must be on the go to evade authorities and the expensive citations for parking illegally or sleeping in a vehicle. You can never be perfectly at ease.
3. Motels
For families, motels are an affordable alternative to shelter and safer than sleeping on the street. But with cramped rooms and unsafe conditions, it is far from a good alternative to safe, decent housing. And when money runs out, families are back on the street.
4. Tent cities
Homeless encampments have sprung up in communities across the U.S. As diverse as the residents and characteristics of these communities may be, they all have one thing in common: they are cloaked in controversy.
5. Parks
Parks are open to the public and a decent place to get a nap during the day. But sleeping in a park at night is usually unsafe and often interrupted by police asking offenders to move along.
6. Streets
Shelters tend to attract people who are chronically facing homelessness and struggling with addiction. This can be frightening to someone who is facing homelessness for the first time or to those who struggle with mental illness or social phobias. For these reasons, they may choose to sleep on the street instead of in a shelter.
7. Foreclosed houses
Across the country, hundreds of thousands of foreclosed homes are boarded up, idle and empty. At the same time, homelessness is on the rise. The need for decent affordable housing is as great as ever. It comes as no surprise that men and women experiencing homelessness choose to become squatters in vacant homes.
8. Abandoned buildings
Much like the situation with foreclosed homes, there’s no shortage of empty warehouses and other business buildings where men and women experiencing homelessness can take shelter.
9. Couches
Families and individuals experiencing homelessness sleep on couches, in garages/sheds, and in backyard tents. Although they are technically experiencing homelessness, they are often unseen and uncounted in an official homeless census—until the hospitality wears out. Then, they end up on the street.
10. We don’t know
For all the individuals experiencing homelessness whose unfortunate living situations are documented, recorded, and broadcast to the public, there are hundreds more who remain anonymous. The methodology for finding and counting people experiencing homelessness is imperfect; we simply do not find everyone.
A special thanks to Portland Rescue Mission and change.org for sharing some of their great ideas with us.
For parents!
Are your kids asking about their neighbors experiencing homelessness? Are you not sure how to approach the conversation? Download our handout for ways to talk to your kids about homelessness. We even included some ways they can help!
Want to learn even more about homelessness and Wheeler Mission?
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