The squeeze is real—but despite astronomical price increases, Raleigh remains one of the most affordable major metros in the U.S.
Feeling a war on your wallet? Who isn’t. If you can’t shake the feeling that “cash rules everything around me,” it’s because, well, it has been for a while now. But in a world where no matter how much you make, it has cost more to do (or have) less for a few years now, the good news is, your dollars go further in Raleigh.
But the squeeze is no doubt real. U.S. inflation peaked at 9.1% in its stratospheric ascent in June 2022, reaching the highest level since 1981—even outpacing wages from April 2021 through this spring—with no sector unaffected… and leaving us nowhere to hide (hey, skyrocketing home prices, utilities and dinner tabs). School meals soared a staggering 300+% over the previous year in January 2023, as housing, staples and everyday needs also spiked.
While we felt the heat turn up on burning budgets in Raleigh, turns out our fair city remains relatively affordable. Especially now, as inflation eases—holding steady at 3.7%—Raleighites are starting to feel relief at the pumps, the grocer and in a cooling housing market. In a side-by-side comparison to a handful of major U.S. metros, Raleigh proves why she is still the best place to live.
Raleigh on the Rise
Inflation is no joke—and spiraling costs in most sectors can make it feel like living in Raleigh is becoming unaffordable. While costs are no doubt rising across the board—with housing jumping ~$150K in the last four years alone—Raleigh remains a very affordable place to live across all categories in a cost-of-living comparison. In essence, “there’s a reason we consistently show up in those Best Places to Live lists, with a regional cost-of-living index below the national average,” per Work in the Triangle data. But seeing is believing. So we tapped Work in the Triangle’s super-cool online interactive tool that allows you to compare cost of living in a handful of metros known for migrating or serving as comparison to our City of Oaks.
How Cost of Living Stacks Up
Boston
Chicago
Philadelphia
Manhattan
Austin
$100K Annual Salary
Will go 34% further in the Triangle
Will go 15% further in the Triangle
Your salary will go just as far
Will go 57% further in the Triangle
Your salary will go just as far
Groceries
13% less in the Triangle
10% less in the Triangle
14% less in the Triangle
22% less in the Triangle
Cost about the same
Housing
55% less in the Triangle
32% less in the Triangle
Cost about the same
80% less in the Triangle
13% less in the Triangle
Avg. Home Price
$935,580
$550,943
$437,562
$2,559,715
$506,117
Avg. Apartment Rent
$3,826
$2,944
$1,594
$4,773
$1,843
Utilities
20% less in the Triangle
9% more in the Triangle
7% less in the Triangle
Cost about the same
9% more in the Triangle
Transportation
26% less in the Triangle
18% less in the Triangle
12% less in the Triangle
18% less in the Triangle
6% more in the Triangle
Health care
7% less in the Triangle
You won’t notice a difference
You may pay a bit more in the Triangle
You won’t notice a difference
You may pay a bit more in the Triangle
Misc. (salon, vet, movies)
20% less in the Triangle
Cost about the same
Cost about the same
27% less in the Triangle
Cost about the same
Raleigh vs. National Average
Avg. home price : $423,402 vs. $469,810
Avg. Apartment rent: $1,706 vs. $1,440
Gas: $3.81 vs. $3.80
Phone: $185.16 vs. $192.26
Total energy: $196.32 vs. $185.44
Doctor visit: $134.79vs. $129.92
Veterinarian Visit: $51.52 vs. $62.73
Housing and Living Numbers Breakdown
Population Growth: 529,550; 17% growth 2011–2021
⬆️ 3.8% South Atlantic region (eight states and DC) recorded the highest annual increase in consumer prices YoY as of end of September
$455K: 2023 Wake County median home price, ↓ $9,750 decrease over year prior
Food Finance
Remember when a carton of eggs outpaced a gallon of gas? And never mind what people will pay for Sriracha. But despite that behemoth bump, menu prices started outpacing supermarket staples this spring—and while both are trending downward, food away from home rose 6% year-over-year from September 2022 to 2023, compared to only 2.4% during the same time frame for groceries (the smallest 12-month gain since December 2021). Here in Raleigh, regional menu price growth also continued to slightly outpace national growth.
“Restaurant margins are much leaner than people believe,” says Amber Moshakos, president of LM Restaurants, who owns and operates such local gems as Vidrio, Taverna Agora, a’Verde and Carolina Ale House, and a scad of restaurants in Wilmington and Florida. “We focus on being efficient and smart in all areas of our business—from labor costs to costs of goods to overhead. We work on the controllables of the business. Utilities, paper goods, laundry and such are good ways we watch the overall business while not constantly adjusting price.”
As people start to pull back on dining out or make less expensive food choices, says Witek Marketing President Trish Witek, who works with numerous popular Triangle sup spots, restaurateurs “are aware of these cost thresholds and are doing everything they can to minimize menu increases. But at the same time, they have to pass on those continuously increasing costs to stay in business.”
While you may have seen price increases at some spots, other restaurateurs prefer to eat the costs instead of passing the burden to their patrons. “No restaurant can really raise prices to cover true costs of business,” maintains Moshakos. “We focus on hospitality and creating a great experience so guests will come back.”
One way she says LM offsets rising expenses is by actually increasing guest visits. “The main focus for us is to keep our quality standards high,” she says. “We cannot shortchange the guest experience.” That said, if increases are applied, restaurants will try to do so in the most guest-friendly way possible, like spreading the price increase in smaller increments across myriad menu sections so it is less impactful, she says.
“[People experience] sticker shock—but they don’t realize how much labor goes into the free chips and salsa you might expect on the table.” —Cheetie Kumar, Ajja
“Inflation impacts everybody,” Ajja owner Cheetie Kumar said in a recent Bloomberg interview. “We absorb all those costs, but we can only absorb so much because our margins are already so thin.” And while some item prices (like eggs) may be going back down, others are going up—so it’s always fluctuating, she says, noting that we’ll never see the prepandemic prices on staples like cooking oil again. And local restaurants are not in a position to negotiate pricing.
4 Most Common Staples Restaurants Order Most
Cooking oil: “Almost tripled in cost—the price is coming back down a little, but nowhere near where we used to be.”
Dairy (milk, butter, sour cream, etc.): “Dairy is still high and continues to fluctuate—at one point double market costs.”
French fries: “French fries remain high, as do eggs. … We don’t anticipate seeing a change in fry costs until the next crop.”
Eggs: “Eggs are also a staple. Last year was at the highest market due to bird flu. We have now seen egg prices come back down, but we aren’t back to original prices yet.”
“You can’t have a menu without these staples, so we have to sharpen our pencil on how to carry the costs without making unreasonable price increases. We can’t overprice ourselves.” —LM President Amber Moshakos
“Swipe life,” meet swipe fees. Using a credit card at restaurants and bars could cost you as service charges for credit-card use become common practice in cities like New York—and Raleigh isn’t far behind. Locally we’re seeing fees at places like The Piper’s Tavern (3.5%), Ladyfingers (3%) and Dram & Draught (2.5%), among others—with more considering the fee for 2024.
~$502 Million The staggering amount Mastercard and Visa plan to hike swiping fees on restaurants and other businesses over the coming months
While credit card fees already rank as the third highest cost for U.S. restaurants, some experts simply see it as the cost of doing business and maintain those processing fees should not be passed on to patrons. “Penalizing them for paying in a way you accept but do not prefer seems to me to be a very ungracious policy,” hospitality professor Jonathan Deutsch, PhD, told Restaurant Business.
Other insiders see the fees as a life vest for the industry. “Credit card companies continue to chip away at what has become a very narrow profit window for the hospitality industry,” says a local industry insider, bemoaning swiping fees as a last resort against slim margins and charges handed down by credit card companies. “We need to try to recoup fees where we can. So it’s not a matter of if, but when.”
“I say who, I say when, I say…” how much. Suddenly Julia Roberts’ dramatic 1990 outburst pushing against paying clients in Pretty Woman feels very relevant today for tipping. … “Tipflation” is a trending term this year, burning up the media circuit, social channels and brunch talk as we navigate the changing rules for tipping and tipping fatigue in the wake of pressure to tip on, well, everything. The takeaway? While some local businesses like Layered Croissanterie require a tip to order—in this case, online—arguably the best part about tipping is the choice. In our chat with a cadre of Raleigh cafe, bar and restaurant owners this year, 20% remained the average suggestion for tipping on bites and beverages, with 30% encouraged for exceptional service.
What Raleighites Make & Do for a Living
Got talent? In spades, actually. Raleigh ranks as the No. 1 place for business and careers for a reason. As one of the most highly sought-after cities in the country touting some of the most educated professionals, Raleigh is a dynamic economic hub with businesses stacking up among some of the world’s biggest. Driven by skyrocketing growth in population, a diverse pipeline of talent, outstanding quality of life and low business operating expenses, Raleigh rates as a top place for business with a slew of corporate headquarters, and technology and life science companies in the area.
10 Fastest-Growing Occupations Across Wake County
OCCUPATIONS HOURLY SALARY
Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand $15.92
Software developers $62.46
Registered nurses $37.34
Home health and personal care aides $13.54
General and operations managers $51.00
Cooks, restaurant $15.30
Waiters and servers $11.05
Stockers and order fillers $14.95
Market research analysts and marketing specialists $33.72
Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers $22.88
MAJOR EMPLOYERS
Advance Auto Parts
Bandwidth
Gilead Life Sciences
Martin Marietta
Merz Therapeutics
Pendo
Red Hat
Wages
According to the Economic Policy Institute, in July 2022 at the peak of inflation, the federal minimum wage was worth less than any time since February 1956 when the federal minimum wage was 75 cents per hour—or $7.19 in June 2022 dollars. And July 2021 had marked the longest stretch of time without a federal minimum wage increase since Congress first established the wage in 1938.
30 States & DC Have Higher Than Federal Minimum Wage
$20 Minimum wage for fast-food workers in California— highest in U.S.
Life$tyle Look
How much it costs to live in Raleigh with a certain lifestyle
Do you ever look at a house or a car or a grocery cart and wonder how much it costs to live that way? Who doesn’t. While everyone’s lifestyle is unique, we took a snapshot of a half-dozen-ish real-life Raleighites to see how much they spend monthly to maintain it.
North Raleigh Wellness Guru Monthly budget $3,000
27-year-old single post-grad rocking a job and a side hustle for extra $$, rents an apartment in central North Raleigh that has utilities and internet bundled in rent, and would rather eat ramen than give up the gym membership, but shops to survive at Harris Teeter and eats out twice a week. Drives a paid-off old Prius and travels quarterly on the cheap, and—the linchpin here—charges everything on their credit card and never pays it off in full to keep up the lifestyle.
53-year-old marrieds-with-no-children living in a four-bedroom paid-off home in Central Raleigh with one paid-off car that rolls out only when necessary. They prefer walking and biking everywhere, keep a beautiful lawn, shop at Walmart, travel and eat out infrequently—but always budget tea at Ladyfingers—and are wealthy on account of spending only what is necessary.
Midtown Marrieds Monthly budget $8,500
47-year-old married mother of two public school-attending tweens living in a 3-BR dual-income home in Midtown who lives for lattes and leg day at the gym, shops at Wegmans and Target, drives a Volvo and rocks two car payments (her husband has an Audi), travels three times a year, orders in twice per week, and goes out to eat ~once per month.
Downtown Dude Monthly budget $4,700
40-year-old single professional living in a 1-BR high-rise in DTR, who loves shopping and live music, eats out most of the time, scores pantry staples at Publix (but who needs groceries?), and travels quarterly.
West Raleigh Dog Mom Monthly budget $6,300
45-year-old single professional living in a 3-BR townhome in West Raleigh with a fur child and an Acura SUV on lease who spends more than she should on Amazon, happy hours and the veterinarian, scores fresh produce from Hungry Harvest and pantry staples from Target and Food Lion, orders in and eats out ~twice per week, and plans more trips than she actually takes.
Budding Brood Monthly budget $9,325
34-year-old married real estate agent, mother of three tots under the age of 5, living in a three-bedroom two-income single-family home in Northeast Raleigh, who spends her budget on Costco groceries, childcare and gas toting the family team back and forth to daycare, Saturday soccer, and activities with friends in their Honda Odyssey and Toyota Camry. Eats more McDonald’s than she cares to mention, dreams of date night and one day traveling again.
North Raleigh Near Empty-Nesters Monthly budget $9,550
62-year-old New York transplant near-empty-nesters with one kid in college and one nearing graduation, with one stable income and an affinity for New York prices. They spend their money on tuition, plenty of auto expenses, lawn care and takeout, shop at Publix and travel monthly (mostly to see their child).
Shutterstock; Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; Work in the Triangle; Wake County Register of Deeds, U.S. Census Bureau, EMSI estimates; US. Census Bureau, ESRi forecasts; Raleigh – (LAUS) – Dec. 2027; Redfin; EPI. All data as of press time
Raleigh’s homeless numbers are on the rise. Four Raleighites share their personal stories into what homelessness is like—and what we as a city need to do about it.
“We need to see the humanity of every person as a person,” says local Kara Sanders, a single mom who is currently living in her car with her 7-year-old son, Wisdom. “We need to see their brilliance beyond their bank account.”
A walk Downtown quickly reveals that homelessness is more abundant—and visible—than ever before. It’s pervasive, affecting vast ages, races and backgrounds. And while our community boasts a host of local organizations and resources for people who are homeless and/or food-insecure—A Place at the Table (APATT), Housing Options for Students Today (HOST), Raleigh Rescue Mission and ACORNS, to name just a few—the problem continues to escalate.
These organizations have seen alarming increases in the number of those seeking help. Oak City Cares, for example—a multiservices center that connects Raleigh’s homeless population and those at risk of homelessness to services that put people on a pathway to safe and stable housing—cites a shift from ~900 individuals seeking assistance in 2019 to 1,500 in 2022, and more than 2,220 in the first nine months of this fiscal year.
And according to Raleigh Rescue Mission, homeless rates in Raleigh and Wake County are rising by 8% each year. A shocking ~6,000 youth in Wake County schools are homeless, while almost 100,000 local people experiencing poverty walk the fine line between housing insecurity and losing their homes altogether—and just one minute financial hiccup could teeter to homelessness.
APATT founder and Executive Director Maggie Kane has witnessed Raleigh’s rising homeless rates firsthand at her pay-what-you-can cafe. Pre-pandemic, 50 to 60 people might come in on any given day in need of a meal, she says, whereas, now, those numbers have skyrocketed to 100 to 150.
Meanwhile, we’re inundated on the daily with how extraordinary our city is—decorated with an array of accolades and approval ratings ranging from entrepreneurship to wellness to point-blank the best place to live. But these shiny achievements don’t tell the full story for everyone who calls Raleigh home. In fact, when it comes to economic mobility, Raleigh tops the list as one of the worst—meaning, in Wake County, if you’re born poor you’re more likely to stay poor.
Homelessness is an epidemic—and it impacts Raleigh’s future growth and vitality. “Our city has gone beyond burgeoning. It is now bursting at the seams,” says Rev. Frank White, pastor of Antioch Bible Fellowship and a member of the Raleigh Area Land Trust board of directors, who spoke on the issue at Raleigh’s first meeting of its joint homelessness committee in May. That population boom met with rising rental rates and stagnant minimum wage are key components contributing to homelessness.
Amid massive efforts to revitalize Downtown Raleigh—from the Fayetteville Street revamp to new business and apartment complex openings—the homelessness epidemic needs to be addressed, both for the housing insecure and for the residents who frequent our city streets. And while we can all point fingers to myriad contributing factors affecting the homeless hike—both in and beyond our control—pointing fingers doesn’t solve the problem.
This crisis is heavily affecting all Raleigh residents—and it could happen to any of us. It could happen to you. Who are the people affected? How did they get here? What are their stories? And if we are to say we love our city, it leaves us with this: How will we put our heads and hearts together to fix Raleigh’s homeless hike?
Kara Sanders Homeless since 2020
Kara Sanders, aka “Momma Kai,” came to Raleigh from Connecticut a little over three years ago with her 7-year-old son, Wisdom. They initially came to NC looking for paternal support—and when that support wasn’t there, Sanders chose to be unhoused to keep both herself and her son safe due to threats from his father.
Throughout that time, she and Wisdom have bounced around from her car and other people’s homes to hotels and even their storage unit. Sanders is on the board of Wake County and the City of Raleigh’s recently launched joint homeless effort—and she brings a positive outlook about her situation by staying involved in civic engagement.
Sanders prioritizes both her own and her son’s well-being—bringing him to storytime at the local library and taking him to play at parks most mornings (they’ve been to over 40). The two have a place to go for a shower and to store their food while they’re living out of their car.
As she considers her future, Sanders is in the early stages of opening a business called L.U.V. Enterprise—aka “learn your value.” The motto “building the village, raising the child” briefly encapsulates how they’ll accomplish their committed, compassionate and crazy mission to eliminate homelessness, poverty and the next generation of prisoners. “The work you do now can change the course of your life,” she says.
Nate Blackmon Homeless since 2018
“You’re worthless on the street. You have no money and no way to defend yourself,” says Nate Blackmon, who has been on the streets for the past five years. After his dad was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, Nate Blackmon used his savings to pay for the family car lot business. When his dad passed, Blackmon’s mom and brother sold most of the cars in their name—depleting them from 98 to 17 cars—resulting in the loss of his home and a fallout with his family shortly thereafter.
Now, Blackmon hasn’t spoken to a member of his family in over two years. Almost every morning, he comes to A Place at the Table to volunteer for his breakfast, sometimes heading to City Market to read or use a microwave before pitching his tent for the night. He used to pitch it near Healing Transitions (“They have a dry place to sleep—it’s not very fancy, but they feed you,” he says); but, since being robbed at least nine times, he has now moved his tent into the woods. Twice a week, you might also find him at Pullen Memorial Baptist Church for a hot meal and clothing.
During his five years on the street, Blackmon has dealt with myriad mental health and drug issues and experienced the “every man for themselves” mentality from other members of the city’s homeless community. “I’ve let some of them into my tent and they thank me by stealing from me,” he says. “The community can be very violent and switch up on you—there was a time I thought I was crazy. … But I’m not crazy, I’m just in a bad situation.”
When he considers his future, Blackmon has plans to take hold of his situation for the better. He dreams of going back to school and using his background knowledge in coding to do cybersecurity, and getting a state license to sell used automobiles, make money and work to help break the homeless cycle.
“If I make money, I’m going to get a place to stay and be a different person than I was when I had money,” he says. “When I had money and I had a problem, money solved my problem. Now I have no money and a problem—so I have to use my intellect to solve it.”
He adds: “I’ve got maybe 10 years of viable life left. I don’t want to be an old man on the streets. I want to be a contributing member of society.”
Regina Harper Homeless since October
“There are times when I just stay in my car because I’m sad,” says Regina Harper, mother of two. “I don’t want to be in the situation I’m in—and it’s never anything I wanted for my children.”
Harper, her 15-year-old daughter and her 5-year-old son have been living in a hotel room since being evicted from their apartment in October. When the pandemic initially hit, she was furloughed from her job as a store manager with Jos. A. Bank and didn’t receive an unemployment check until about a week before she returned back to work in June 2020. By August, the store managers were getting laid off or offered positions at lower pay.
“I wasn’t able to maintain my household,” she says. “I was able to use the House Wake! Program in partnership with the Telamon program. They helped tremendously to keep us in our apartment… but when the apartment agency no longer accepted the rental assistance and said it had to come from me—that’s when I couldn’t hold it afloat anymore.”
Harper currently works as a prep cook at Paragon Fenton in Cary and does valet trash at night. Maintaining two jobs while parenting and dealing with the stress of her family’s situation takes its toll. And with work, plus the responsibilities of motherhood—making sure her kids have transportation, finish their homework, have clean laundry, etc.—she doesn’t get to spend much quality time with her children.
“My daughter suffers from living in a hotel room every day,” says Harper. “There’s things going on out there, people overdosing—and we can’t afford to get a decent hotel room. One day we came outside and there were needles on the ground. … Not too long ago, my 5-year-old asked when we were going back to our old house, and it’s like, ‘We don’t have a home, baby… this is where we live.’”
Harper’s philosophy is to take each day one at a time—with the hope that tomorrow will be better than yesterday. And when she considers the homeless situation as a whole in Raleigh, adding more affordable housing options (plus making housing more accessible) and raising the minimum wage are two ways to start. “If you’re by yourself you can’t live on that,” she says of North Carolina’s minimum wage. “God forbid you have one or two children.”
Adds Harper: “I don’t want to say the pressure is unbearable, but it is. And I don’t have any option but to deal with it because I have two kids who are looking up to me. … My hope is for Raleigh to recognize that there’s an issue with homelessness. Even the shelters are backed up—we were told it would be three months before we would get a call back. I didn’t realize how much time that was until I had that much time. I don’t have three months to get my kids somewhere to live.”
Vision6 Productions
Roger Kornegay Homeless for 9 Months
Roger Kornegay—who now co-runs creator page Raleigh FoodTrap—experienced homelessness in high school. During his sophomore year, he came home to an orange notice on the door saying he didn’t have the right to enter, thus beginning a ~nine-month stint jumping from hotel to hotel with his parents and two siblings.
Kornegay was raised by parents who both worked full-time jobs. His family made the move from Goldsboro to Raleigh around 2000, and with their move came the purchase of a new home. But after his mom had to discontinue working as a result of illness, his dad was left to carry the weight of supporting the family on a single income.
“We lasted about a year before we started falling behind on home payments and the mortgage,” recalls Kornegay. After losing their home, his parents took the savings they had and put the family up in a hotel room—and each paycheck his dad received went right back to paying for that room.
At first, hotel-hopping was exciting for Kornegay and his siblings—but after a few months of staying at almost nine different hotels, the novelty wore off and the reality of the constant shuffle (a manager once kicked them out for eating too much food) and lack of privacy soon became draining. As a high school student living in a hotel room with limited belongings, Kornegay often found himself wearing the same outfits to school.
“When you’re in high school, that’s a big deal,” he says. “Kids notice you wore that shirt yesterday… and I only had two pairs of shoes. But the only way you’d know we were homeless was if you followed us to the hotel after school.”
To help get them back on their feet, White Memorial Presbyterian Church’s StepUp Ministry sponsored the family via a townhome in Downtown Raleigh that required very low rent. Today, Kornegay’s experience has shifted the way he works and lives.
“Because I’ve been through it and have my own family now—a 2-year-old and a baby—my grind is different than others,” the Raleigh FoodTrap creator shares. “I don’t want my kids to know what it’s like to wear the same outfits or live in a hotel.”
A PATH TO HOPE
Wake County and the City of Raleigh hosted the first meeting of the joint homelessness committee in May, aimed toward providing help for those experiencing homelessness in our community. The task force is armed with representatives from Raleigh City Council, City of Raleigh, Wake County Public School System, Raleigh Police Department, Oak City Cares and Healing Transitions, among others. The timely meeting acknowledged the long road ahead of us—and the groundwork that needs to be laid—to begin the process of solving Raleigh’s homeless problem.
Ignoring the issue only exacerbates it, and so we must acknowledge—and act on—the less enticing aspects of growth. The committee acknowledged it’s not a problem that exists in a vacuum—a look across the nation finds relative cities facing similar spikes in homelessness due to such issues as rising housing costs. Cities like Denver serve as a cautionary tale to determine what we want to emulate and what to avoid.
“The system is broken, and there are a lot of people trying to access services across the board,” says Raleigh Council Member Stormie Forte, co-chair of the joint homeless effort. “Being in this space and collaborating with people coming from different experiences is very important and critical. … I’m excited about the work we’re going to be doing.”
HOMELESS COLLEGE STUDENTS
For its part, HOST—the first program of its kind in the U.S.—was launched last year by NC State to bolster housing security by connecting students with a “host” family. According to HOST advisory board chair Mary Haskett, a 9.6% chunk of the student population experienced homelessness in 2017, and increased to 15% in 2020. “Given stagnant wages combined with increases in tuition fees and the cost of rent in Raleigh,” she says, “I would take a professional guess that we would see increases based on those factors.”
Folasewa Olatunde, an international graduate student at NC State, experienced transitional home insecurity during a six-week span of college. Not knowing where to go, she planned on sleeping in the library before finding a spare room where she could stay until flying home.
“I was overly concerned about where I was going to stay,” she recalls. “And it’ll impact your concentration in classes and your mental health.” Now, Olatunde works with the HOST program to help other students struggling with home insecurity. “I think in the last four to five years housing costs have gone up and income has not kept up,” she says. “I don’t know anyone whose income has kept up… and the cost of groceries and everything else has increased.”
When she considers what could be done to improve the situation, Olatunde points to the university providing transitional housing options for international and domestic students alike, and increasing stipends and pay for student employees.
HOMELESS KIDS
“We had a waitlist of about 125 families—each of those averaging around three kids per family—awaiting services that are critical to their well-being, not only now but later in their lives,” says Joy Guha, program coordinator at Passage Home Inc., an organization that exists to help break the cycle of poverty. “This is largely invisible. The common misconception is that there is no childhood homelessness, but it’s there. It’s just less visible than someone walking up to your car and asking for money.”
Guha works with a program called REACH (resilience, empowerment and access for children in homelessness), and she emphasizes the lasting impact that homelessness and home insecurity can have on kids that will impact them for years to come.
“Working with kids is an added layer,” she says. “There’s the turbulence of being homeless—lots of our families are in hotels and motels and move around pretty frequently based on hotel rates. In addition to food insecurity, that can be a trauma to young brains… and it’s a really large, complex problem to be working on.”
HOW TO HELP
Per A Place at the Table’s Maggie Kane, here are a few small places to start.
Talk to folks. Look people in the eyes and treat them as human.
Financially support organizations working with folks experiencing homelessness like Oak City Cares, Healing Transitions, etc.
Again… say hello. Treat them as human.
Buy Place cards from APATT so folks can get a meal.
Buy McDonald’s gift cards so folks can get a hot coffee or a quick meal and have a place to be for a bit.
