By Jordan Huizenga, Sharmili Reddy, and Mike Sipple, Jr.
We’re the Horizon Community Accelerator, and we’re on a mission to end homelessness.
We are a group of 30 or so active Northern Kentuckians, convened by Horizon Community Funds of Northern Kentucky. After spending a lot of time over the past year discussing and reflecting on issues that exist uniquely in our region, we decided that we are likewise uniquely positioned to make an impact here.
Homelessness is something that touches us all — even you, the reader.
The leadership at Horizon Community Funds has been an eager and responsive supporter of our desire to make a difference in Northern Kentucky. Their team has worked with us to set up a fund specifically for a set of items that our local nonprofits and school districts see a great need for: bus passes, ID cards, and birth certificates.
What do we ask of you? $4. Just $4 provides one of these critical items that can be the difference between the streets and a safe home for our Northern Kentucky neighbors in need. This is bigger than a fundraiser, and it’s bigger than one organization. This is all of us, Northern Kentucky. Our goal of is entirely achievable, and we call on you to be a part of this story.
Join us in giving at www.horizonfunds.org, or mail a check to Horizon Community Funds (50 E. RiverCenter Blvd., Suite 430, Covington, KY 41011, memo: Emergency Needs). Funds will be distributed to local nonprofits and school district staff who see individuals, children, and families who are facing these crises.
The case for compassion:
Each one of our homeless neighbors has a story to tell; more often than not, it’s a heartbreaking one. Women fleeing abusive partners, leaving everything behind, including important documentation such as their IDs or birth certificates. Unexpected medical bills. Debilitating accidents. These are things that could happen to any of us, but so many of us have a strong support network — a safety net.
The case for economic impact:
Emergency room visits, inpatient beds, psychiatric institutions, detox programs, jail or prison…all cost money. A lot of money. According to the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, some studies have found that a chronically homeless person costs taxpayers $30,000 to $50,000. We’re realistic—we’ll never get that cost to zero, but here in Northern Kentucky, we can make a change for the better.
“But none of my neighbors are experiencing homelessness or eviction.”
The number of people experiencing homelessness across our three counties is growing in suburban and rural areas. While many have recently lived in our urban core communities, they are finding friends and family outside of these areas who have an empty couch or air mattress. They also head deeper into the counties to find more affordable rent. This often removes them from walkable services or grocery stores, or even access to employment. This is not sustainable. Just because they aren’t sleeping on benches doesn’t mean they have safe, stable housing.
“They’re full-grown adults. Can’t they just get a job?”
In an average school year, more than 3,300 children across our Northern Kentucky school districts experience homelessness or are living with friends or relatives. For many of us, a sleepover outside of home was restricted to weekends or holidays, as a social event. For many of these children, it’s a matter of survival and striving for a chance at a better life.
We can do this, Northern Kentucky.
We must.
Let’s rewrite our own story by lifting each other up. By seeking the common good for our Commonwealth.
Jordan Huizenga, Sharmili Reddy, and Mike Sipple, Jr. are the three co-chairs of the Horizon Community Accelerator. The Horizon Community Accelerator, launched in 2018 through Horizon Community Funds of Northern Kentucky, is a grassroots initiative to connect, inform, and engage Northern Kentuckians around opportunities that exist uniquely in the region. The group consists of passionate citizens from across Boone, Campbell, and Kenton counties. Learn more here.
NO MORE HOMELESS SHELTERS, WE DO NOT WANT TO END UP LIKE CALIFORNIA. Wait until Cincinnati adopts California’s and San Francisco’s homelessness policies. OTR will legalize homelessness, public poo pee will be allowed, they will give out free needles, raise petty crime theft to $1000, and decriminalize drug use. Get a bunch of buses and take them from NKY to Cincinnati once a month where they will be much better off being able to set up tent camps in their streets.
Covington and still parts of Newport have vacant run down buildings and not very many businesses, we can’t afford to let homeless people run wild and dump diarrhea on women’s heads.
Please though do set up some mental health resources for them, but don’t legalize homelessness.
Also, please do not fall into the Covington homeless advocate’s traps demanding more shelters be built or upgraded….. All they do is hangout all day at non-profit events pushing their liberal agendas for more homeless shelters and run taxpaying businesses out of town. I have to work 6 days a weeks all day long, otherwise I would also hang out at non-profit events during the day and at coffee hours, and argue against them. Just like the tax paying people that have to actually work all day can’t speak out against it BECAUSE THEY ACTUALLY HAVE TO WORK AND PROVIDE FOR THEMSELVES AND THEIR FAMILIES AND PAY ALL THE TAXES.
—————–NO MORE HOMELESS SHELTERS, PERIOD. ——————————–