Cincinnati, Ohio — The Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition is a unified social action agency, committed to eradicating homelessness and respecting the dignity and diversity of people experiencing homelessness. For forty years, since 1984, they have worked toward this mission by coordinating services, educating the public, and engaging in grassroots organizing and advocacy.
This mission serves an essential and urgent need in the region because from 2023 to 2024, we have seen the largest increase, in a decade, in people living outdoors, and the gap between the number of people needing affordable housing and the amount of affordable housing available has increased greatly. Far too many people are experiencing the trauma of homelessness.
Despite this, the Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition has pushed forward, because we know it doesn’t have to be this way. This year, we’ve been able to:
- Organize with tenants of properties in more than 2,300 homes and more than 5,000 people. This has resulted in hundreds of saved homes, improved living conditions, and the removal of health hazards.
- Provide education to more than 1,500 people, building empathy and deepening their understanding of the causes of homelessness and the solutions to it.
- Reach a historic settlement with the City of Cincinnati that has the power to begin shifting the response to homelessness from criminalization to care.
The Homeless Coalition has also marked this 40th year of serving Cincinnati by organizing a prayer service for Homeless Memorial Day and hosting a celebratory event in OTR, both in December 2024.
We have so much more to do, and we anticipate some of our work may become more difficult. But homelessness is not inevitable; it is a problem that we solve. With your continued partnership, we can realize a future where no one has to endure the trauma of homelessness.
If you would like to learn more about the Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition and ways to support their mission and build a stronger, more empathetic Greater Cincinnati, please visit their website at: https://cincihomeless.org/