To commemorate the lives lost in the homeless community in 2022, Willimantic gathered for a memorial Tuesday night.
Homeless Persons' Remembrance Day is held nationally on Dec. 21, the longest night of the year. To commemorate the lives lost in the homeless community in 2022, Willimantic gathered for a memorial Tuesday night.
“They were people who were really important to us and really important to our community. Just share memories and be there and recognize them," said Avery Lenhart, executive director of the Windham Region No Freeze Project. “We want tonight to be about remembering them and who they were and how they touched many other peoples' lives in our community.”
The memorial, sponsored by Generations Family Health Center, recognized 11 people who died in 2022 who were also connected to homelessness. According to Lenhart, four of the people being remembered died in the last three months.
“The majority of people that we are remembering tonight died of drug and alcohol related issues. Whether it was an overdose or a situation where many years of drug abuse had broken their bodies down and they died as a result of that," Lenhart said. “It is sad. It is sad for all of us whenever we lose a member of the community.”
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The Willimantic region usually recognizes about six or seven deaths at the annual memorial.
The 2022 memorial comes at a time when the No Freeze shelter is seeing more people come to them seeking shelter.
"The moratorium on evictions was lifted. I think we are seeing the ramifications of that and it is understandable. That is not unexpected," Lenhart said. "But right now, housing is a huge challenge. Apartments are not really affordable right now.”
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It is not just Windham. According to the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness, there is a statewide uptick in the number of people experiencing homelessness.
“Clearly we do not have enough housing for people of all incomes which is really important," said Evonne Klein, CEO of the coalition. “Not only is housing expensive, you can’t find it. We don’t have any vacancies. Certainly we are still feeling the effects of the pandemic. We are feeling the effects of inflation. So there are a number of things happening in the state all at once.”
According to Klein, they are seeing people fall into homelessness who would not typically fall into homelessness.
Klein said that it is important to remember the lives lost in 2022, but she said that the recent overall uptick in homelessness also highlights the importance of securing reliable funding to address the challenges.
“What we know is that preventing and ending homelessness is not insurmountable. By working together we can help folks quickly and get them housed quickly," Klein said.
