The sponsors of Giving Tuesday, a national day of giving usually held on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, are conducting a special #GivingTuesdayNow on Tuesday May 5 to help nonprofits impacted by and responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. NLIHC encourages you to donate to local homeless services and affordable housing providers and to the NLIHC state partners that support them. These organizations are working to ensure people experiencing homelessness and those on the brink remain stably housed and safe during the pandemic. These nonprofits are saving lives every day.
People experiencing homelessness—many of whom are seniors, people with disabilities or other underlying medical conditions—often live in congregate settings and are unable to isolate, quarantine and recover. Local and national health officials are reporting alarming outbreaks of coronavirus in the homeless population across a number of communities.
Low-income renters, similarly, are often seniors and people with disabilities or underlying health conditions. Many live on the edge of eviction or homelessness. Even before COVID-19, nearly 8 million of the lowest-income renters struggled to keep roofs over their heads, spending more than half of their incomes on housing. The vast majority are one financial emergency away from eviction and possible homelessness. For many, COVID-related lost hours, lost jobs, or sickness will be that financial emergency.
On this #GivingTuesdayNow, please consider donating to homeless services and affordable housing providers in your community to support their important work. Your contributions during this crisis will help them purchase handwashing stations for homeless encampments, secure additional space to shelter people without homes, prevent evictions, and much more. Another way you can help is by donating to state homelessness and housing coalition organizations that are NLIHC’s “state partners”. These partners support local providers and advocate for federal, state, and local decision-makers to address the dire needs of people experiencing homelessness and low-income renters during the pandemic.
Find your NLIHC state partner at: https://bit.ly/2W8dnRX