Faith-Based Ministry to the Homeless May Shape HUD

A homeless man, woman, or child needs a bed, a roof, a meal—and typically a lot besides. Just as home means something greater than the presence of these three, homelessness is much more than their absence.New research, the first study of its kind, delves into the work faith-based organizations do in service to the homeless. The difference between housing someone and ministering to the whole person is hard, probably impossible, to measure. But by collecting federal data from the Department of Housing and Urban Development and gathering self-reported numbers from faith-based organizations ministering to the homeless in eleven American cities, authors Byron Johnson and William Wubbenhorst at Baylor University's Institute for Studies of Religion determined these FBOs offer most of the emergency shelter beds in Atlanta, Baltimore, Denver, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Omaha, Phoenix, Portland, San Diego, and Seattle.