At a coffee shop Tuesday night, 30 people gathered to discuss what they’ve learned from their reading, and to pose questions for a panel scheduled for early December.
The book is called There is No Place For Us: Working and Homeless in America. The author, Brian Goldstone, spent years following families in Atlanta who struggle to maintain stable housing, despite being employed.
Good Shepherd Center director Katrina Knight says the stereotype of homelessness is the person sleeping in the streets. But there are many more than those unsheltered folks who go uncounted.
"So families, for example, are much more likely to be doubled up or overcrowded in other people's housing, which honestly ends up putting sometimes two households in jeopardy if that's a violation of a rental lease,” she said.
In reality, she says there are 700 to 800 homeless students in New Hanover County, if you count those in unstable housing like hotels, or doubled up on couches. The point in time count, on the other hand, only noted 58 homeless children. That’s because it only counts those in shelters or in the streets.
The small groups talked about how their own families set them up for success, and how hard it would be to get ahead without that help. And they discussed the extreme challenge of building affordable housing in Wilmington when no one wants to see development of any kind.
Attendee Janet Stephens is a 17-year volunteer at Good Shepherd.
"I think we were preaching to the choir. You know, we need people reading this book that don't understand what we see in Katrina and all of them see every day. And I don't know how to reach those people. I really don't,” she said.
The panel on December 4 is free and open for anyone to attend, and questions can be submitted ahead of time. You can register for it here.
