But some facts are clear. More than 600,000 families live in homeless shelters nationwide. Ten times that number are one step away from homelessness. Twenty-four percent of the homeless population holds jobs. Nineteen percent of requests for emergency shelter were not met last year.
People remain homeless an average of six months.
Those who work at the Heart's Place Shelter, at St. John's United Methodist Church of Baltimore, Md. where Vincent stays, find such feelings absurd. They wonder how many paychecks most Americans are from being homeless. It was a charity thing. Watching the guests check in, Berman now looks at the 40-year old black man who walks on crutches and sees their shared humanity. We both want to be accepted for who we are.