As the oldest non-for-profit advocacy and direct service organization focused on homelessness in the United States, Coalition for the Homeless, has taken part in landmark litigation to protect the rights of homeless people, including the right to shelter and the right to vote. Since 1981 the Coalition for Homeless has worked to help those that are currently homeless and has participated in advocacy work for long-term solutions to the problem of homelessness. They “believe that affordable housing, sufficient food and the change to work for a living wage are fundamental rights in a civilized society” (coalitionforthehomeless.org).

Today, with over 60,000 people sleeping in homeless shelters each night, homelessness has reached record levels that haven’t been seen since the great depression.

On a daily basis the Coalition for Homeless works with homeless men, women and children in New York City, providing them with food, clothing, eviction prevention, crisis services, permanent housing, job training and special programs for youth. They have developed and implemented humane and cost-effective strategies to end mass homelessness in New York City.

The not-for-profit has numerous programs in place to help more than 3,500 homeless and at-risk New Yorkers every day. Programs include: permanent housing for families, individuals, and people with AIDS, a mobile soup kitchen that serves 1,000 hot and nutritious meals in 35 different locations every night, job training, job placement, a summer camp for homeless children, crisis intervention services that assist people in keeping their housing and getting food, clothing and shelter, and rental assistance with counseling.

Over the years as the crisis of homelessness has exploded in New York City, the Coalition for the Homeless has grown to meet the complex needs of the homeless and at-risk population of New York City in the hope of ending this crisis once and for all.

Check out Camp Homeward Bound, one of the programs run by the Coalition for the Homeless and learn why this program is of the utmost importance: