An artist, gamer, and movie lover, Curtis McLaughlin (above) has been part of the Health Care for the Homeless Art Group for more than five years.
Art is one of my coping skills. I can be anywhere and create art wherever I go.
05.20.19
We see homelessness every day—whether it’s in our clinics, driving to work or simply walking through the city. But to get people to invest in tackling the problem, we have to prove it exists with facts and numbers.
Simply quantifying people who are experiencing homelessness is difficult. The Point-in-Time Count, for instance, is a federal survey done by volunteers, who hand count people in shelters and public spaces during a single night in the winter. There are so many reasons why the result is not a reliable number. For instance, volunteers are not permitted to go into abandoned buildings during the count. It’s a good effort, but it will drastically undercount homelessness every time. Many other public sources are just as inaccurate.
A few years ago, we started asking our clients about their lives outside our clinic walls, like their income and their access to food, health care and other necessities. Thanks to what we call Social Determinants of Health data, we can say, “Look, here’s the proof. Here’s the need.” Those numbers are having a powerful effect on how people and government agencies respond to homelessness.
We only had housing data on 82% of clients. Now, we know the housing situation for 94% of our clients. We also got income information for almost twice as many of our clients. What we’ve learned is that the people we serve are very low income—living 100% below the poverty line. That shows beyond a shadow of a doubt there is a huge need for our services.
An artist, gamer, and movie lover, Curtis McLaughlin (above) has been part of the Health Care for the Homeless Art Group for more than five years.
Art is one of my coping skills. I can be anywhere and create art wherever I go.
Client storytelling is a staple of the nonprofit business model, ever present in advocacy, clinic tours, fundraising—and news articles like the one you are reading right now.
The Trans Rights Advocacy Coalition (TRAC) has been the driving force in championing trans rights policy changes in Maryland. Due to stigma and structural discrimination, transgender people—particularly transgender people of color—experience high rates of homelessness. Following the implementation of the Trans Health Equity Act in January, we talked with TRAC leadership about their work and community.
Since starting in January 2022, REI Health Specialist Arie Hayre-Somuah, LMSW, MPH has worked with our clinical teams to identify health disparities and move us closer to health equity. This year, she is turning her focus to the topic of health literacy.