LTHC remembers 15 people at its Homeless Person's Memorial vigil as winter begins

LAFAYETTE, Ind. — On the first day of winter, the Lafayette Transitional Housing Center Homeless Service and the Salvation Army held a vigil to remember the 15 people who lost their lives this year as a result of homelessness.

Their memorial was held in solidarity with hundreds of other national organizations remembering those who have passed away this last year.

“On the longest night of the year, the winter solstice, millions around the country gather to remember the people who died while experiencing homelessness,” said Jennifer Layton, CEO of homeless service.

For Layton and many in attendance, Thursday’s vigil held a bittersweet feeling to it. Although they were remembering their friends who passed away this year, the memorial also had a feeling of disappointment as many believed these 15 people should not have lost their lives because they could not find housing.

“What we know is that every human being needs to be housed," Layton said. "It’s a basic human need. And so, when people go unhoused for a long period of time, it simply affects their health care.

“It affects their physical health, their mental health, and it’s simply an issue of people that are unable to afford housing and that is a systemic issue across the country that we must acknowledge, and we must do something about.”

For those in attendance, it was a sacred moment as more than two dozen people shared a prayer for those who have left us. They held candles and bowed their heads to pay their respect for those who had passed.

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke,” Briton Weise, program director for Lafayette Urban Ministry Homeless Services read from Isaiah 58 in the Bible.

“Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter — when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?”

Layton highlighted that many of those who have died across the country died from a lack of housing quantity.

“People who are experiencing homelessness are dying at a rate 20 times sooner than those who are housed because of the impact of homelessness on their health is just insurmountable, and it really does make a big difference,” Layton said.

The teams at LTHC Homeless Service and the Salvation Army hope that sharing these moments with the community it will help educate people on the struggle of homelessness and ultimately motivate people to help change the state of housing in this country.

“Every person needs to have an opportunity to have a place to live and we should be able to ensure that it happens in this country,” Layton added.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: 15 Lafayette area people remembered at homeless vigil