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COVER STORY:
Homeless in America, Part Two
April 5, 2002    Episode no. 531
Read This Week's November 11, 2005
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BOB ABERNETHY, anchor: Now, part two of our report on the homeless in America -- today on the so-called "hidden homeless," those who may not look much different from anyone else but who cannot afford a place to live. Experts say they are a majority of the country's estimated 800,000 homeless men, women, and children. Deryl Davis reports on one group of the hidden homeless, and the church that is trying to help them.

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DERYL DAVIS: A service for the homeless in northern Virginia, about four miles from the White House. Many here today are homeless themselves. Some worry that, unless something changes, their names could be on this list someday.

UNIDENTIFIED HOMELESS MAN: What has happened to the love that men must show each other? Why not change? Why not go back to helping one another? I know I need it. Because without it, I'm destined to die either in the streets, jail, or in the institution.

DAVIS: There are 25 percent more homeless people here in Fairfax County today than there were four years ago, one of the sharpest increases in the nation in one of its most affluent regions. At any given time, well more than 2,000 people in this county are homeless.

The average rent here jumped 40 percent since 1998, and while new housing is being built for those who have money, experts say the working poor -- which most homeless here are -- have become almost invisible.

Mostly, they live day to day in shelters, low-rent motels, or local parks. Like John Lewis, who sleeps in the woods. He suffers from emphysema, high blood pressure, and other illnesses.

Photo of John Lewis JOHN LEWIS (walking by his shack in park): It's cold. It's wet. It's lonely. And there's always darkness. I mean, it seems like in the daylight, it's dark. It just seems like there's a haze over most things. I do pretty good and I burn a lot of sterno. It doesn't, you know, produce a lot of heat, but in a place this small, insulated with plastic, the little bit of heat that it does produce, it just stays inside.

I wash up in the morning with the little towelettes. I got my water. I brush my teeth. Here's a bag of socks, shirts, t-shirts, a dress shirt just in case I want to go to church and change.

DAVIS: Most people don't even know these "hidden homeless" exist. But advocates say they represent about 80 percent of the total homeless population in this area. That's especially true along Route 1. A number of homeless have died crossing this busy highway in recent months. John Lewis faces it each week on his way to church.

DAVIS: Keary Kincannon, a United Methodist minister, started Rising Hope Church here six years ago. It was created especially for people like John.

Photo of Rev. Kin Cannon leading services Reverend KEARY KINCANNON (Pastor, Rising Hope Church): We have a very specific focus in reaching out to what we say -- the least, the lost, the lonely, the left out.

DAVIS: Kincannon says about 85 percent of his congregation is or has been homeless.

Rev. KINCANNON: We've got so many folks that come here with so many problems -- people that would be rejected in other churches and other situations -- because they know we genuinely love them. We genuinely care for them.

DAVIS: Kincannon calls Rising Hope a "recovery" church. Many of its members, some of whom have children, are recovering from addictions, or simply the shame and trauma of being homeless.

GLORIA HARRELL (Rising Hope Church): You become faceless. You become -- you're just there. I mean, it's like a gray area. I called myself at one time a leper. I felt like a leper.

Photo of Gloria Harrell DAVIS: Gloria Harrell leads a 12-step spiritual recovery circle at Rising Hope. She was homeless herself for many years, the result, she says, of out-of-control spending and a destructive lifestyle.

Ms. HARRELL: If I've made it, then I have a duty to my brothers and sisters to help them.

DAVIS: The problems associated with homelessness are very real for Tom Star-King. He's been homeless on and off for 30 years, although he works hard not to appear so. He keeps his worldly goods in a storage closet and commutes back and forth to a shelter.

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TOM STAR-KING: You're gonna get discriminated against if you appear to be homeless. That's why you have to keep up a façade.

DAVIS: Tom says his involvement at Rising Hope has helped him deal with emotional problems and alcoholism, but it's a daily fight.

Mr. STAR-KING: Alcohol is a disease, and that's why I'm having trouble battling that. My faith says one thing, but my disease says another thing.

DAVIS: Tom washes dishes part-time at a restaurant and volunteers many days at Rising Hope.

Rev. KINCANNON: Tom is taking some wonderful steps to deal with his situation. He's not out of the woods yet. He's got a lot of work to do in his life. But he's got a lot to give.

DAVIS: Kincannon empowers his church members, like Tom, by holding them accountable for their behavior and telling them that they, too, should do something to help others. For Tom, that includes joining a Friday-night food delivery to other homeless people living along Route 1.

Photo of Rising Hope Church DAVIS: The "Phoenix Rising" food delivery is led by United Methodist field minister Abi Foerster, and it includes more than just material sustenance. Sometimes, the human contact matters most for these homeless people. Their campsite, on the grounds of Fort Belvoir, was broken up by the military police.

Rev. ABI FOERSTER (leading a prayer): For everyone who has lost their home today, we just ask that you'd be with each of us, that you would help open new doors for places to live and to be.

One of the things that is often a refrain from folks that come out and volunteer with us, they say to me over and over again, "I had no idea this was in our backyard. I knew that Route 1 struggled, but I had no idea that there were folks living behind townhouses and in trash dumpsters and in the woods."

DAVIS: Sarah Hoover is the lay leader at Rising Hope Church. She says she's learned that all kinds of people can become homeless in all kinds of places. And she learned it the hard way -- by becoming homeless herself as a result of a medical emergency that put her out of work, in debt without health coverage, and in a shelter.

Photo of Sarah Hoover SARAH HOOVER (Rising Hope Church): Yeah, this is where I first stayed. A lot of times you have to come into overflow because the main building is full and this is the women's section over here and this is the men's ... a much larger area because you generally have more men than women.

There was kind of a, a mocking, I guess, in a way with my situation. "What are you doing here?" And, you know, "How could you come to this situation?" It was hard to find a bond with people because I didn't really fit a certain mold, I guess, that a lot of people were used to seeing.

DAVIS: Sarah says there were times when the trauma of being homeless was so great, she just wanted to die. But she doesn't regret that experience now.

Ms. HOOVER: I would never have been able to understand what people go through. I would have never been able to relate with people like I do now. Nor could I, you know, speak to other groups that don't understand about homelessness.

DAVIS: Today, Sarah leads church committees and tries to explain Rising Hope's needs to groups that support its mission.

Ms. HOOVER: We really need people from other churches and from the community to come in, because a lot of the people who come in are dealing with serious issues themselves, and it's hard for them to serve. We do run the risk of burnout and certainly live on that edge a lot in this ministry.

DAVIS: Kincannon admits there are many challenges associated with a church like Rising Hope. But he says the church was created to include everyone, no matter their condition.

Photo of Rev. Kincannon Rev. KINCANNON: It's bringing God's love to that part of the community that the church has sometimes not done a very good job of doing. And it's bringing God's love to the unlovable, to recognize that, that God does love everyone.

(Praying): Go now and celebrate recovery, because life is worth celebrating.

DAVIS: In Fairfax County, Virginia, I'm Deryl Davis.

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