
Written by Jennifer
January 11, 2021
Throughout my time serving as Board President, it has become my personal mission to advocate for families experiencing homelessness across Rensselaer County; however, this was not always the case. It was only when I became involved with St. Paul’s Center that I started to truly understand what it means to experience homelessness. While the stigma surrounding homelessness often suggests that folks lose their housing due to laziness or poor budgeting, we see far more families coming into shelter after fleeing domestic violence, losing a job, living in substandard/uninhabitable housing, or natural disaster. One story that still comes to mind is Josie’s.
After losing her house in a fire, Josie was unable to find affordable housing due to the decreased housing stock in the Capital Region, and her family entered our emergency shelter.
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