Jesus was born into a displaced family–the result of a government policy–that was unable to find a place to stay—homeless in Bethlehem. How do you think Joseph felt every time he was turned away…”no room”? Joseph and Mary found a place in a stable. What would be an equivalent location today in your community? What shelter options do people who are homeless have in your community?
Why do you think God wanted His Son to start out life in this manner? If you were a homeless or displaced family reading this story, what affect could it potentially have on you?
Tongue on Fire 
Wow! These questions are very timely for me. My mom’s birthday gift to me this year is a new queen-sized mattress. She’s been asking to do this for us for a couple years, and this birthday, she convinced me. When the mattress is delivered, our old one will be carted away. I thought to myself, could I donate it to the shelter where I volunteer? (The rule is no mattress donations due to health/sanitation issues). Then I realized, there is not one queen-sized bed in the shelter. It is a shelter for women and their children; men are not permitted.
Being a single woman, and especially a single mom, creates economic hardships and vulnerabilities this shelter seeks to address. Homeless and battered women and their children are welcome. Beds are twin or full, with cribs and cots also available. Moms are often expected to share their bed with one or two of their kiddos. For many women, the ability to leave a broken and violent home situation is a gift. However, I have also heard the stories of a number of women who must temporarily part from their husbands in order to secure a place at this shelter for themselves and their kids (stays of 30-90 days are permitted). The husbands then take their chances at nightly shelters where a cot may or may not be available. No queen beds. Traditional shelters are not family-friendly.
Denver started an initiative last decade to end homelessness. Part of the city’s efforts included re-using old hotels as family shelters. These hotels were purchased by the city at low-cost because they were long past profitable. Churches adopted rooms to furnish and decorate so that the old hotel rooms could become newly welcoming temporary “homes” for extended stays. Queen beds available:-) Even these family-friendly shelters have their limitations. No kitchen means lots of dependence upon fast food and highly processed junk food. (Don’t get me started on food equity.) In my county, just outside of Denver, our Action Center built an apartment complex with units available as low-income and extended-stay family shelters. These units have multiple bedrooms, kitchens and bathrooms, even a family room. (Extreme Makeover: Home Edition got in on the action a number of years ago.) Now we’re talking!
Shelters are emergency measures; homeless and home-insecure people need extended-stay opportunities so that they can devote themselves to finding their footing and reasserting their financial independence. I’m proud to say my city is offering a gamut of solutions, plus the job training, mental health services and other needed interventions to make a permanent difference to individuals and families. I like that some churches have found ways of partnering in these efforts. I would like to see the Church’s engagement overwhelm the government’s efforts, so that love would infuse these bureaucratic advancements. That would be truly transformational.
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So glad you live in a community where these issues are being dealt with. This year, the city of Chicago announced its 10 year plan to end homelessness. The problem: This is the second 10 year plan. The first 10 years didn’t result in much progress at all. In fact, we learned at our Tent City on March 31, that there are over 4,000 vacant public housing units that are ready for occupancy, but the Chicago Housing Authority has not activated its waiting list. Plus, its “Plan for Transformation” has resulted in a net loss of public housing units. Cabrini-Green is gone and has been replaced by a mixed income development–including market rate condos and single family homes. So many people displaced by “Caesar”s” new decree.
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