How Librarians are Helping the Unhoused
The population for unhoused people has been increasing with a report from the U.S. Department of Housing of a 2%. They began to gain refuge in local libraries during the day time, since libraries are the only welcoming and free place to spend your day, provide you with free internet access, air conditioning, and public restrooms. They choose to spend their days in libraries since not many places, even shelters, allow you to stay during daytime.
Because of this increase in the population, it is their responsibility to cater to their needs. Though they are allowed inside libraries as customers, they must not drug or alcohol abuse whilst in the library.
Libraries help the homeless by hosting events to gain information to provide the homeless with housing assistance and food. These events helped bring the Department of Mental Health, Public Social Services, Public Health and housing services providers to provide valuable information for the homeless.
Librarians are trained to help assist the homeless and for futer situations on how to deal with the drug and alcohol abuse. Although they cannot solve their homelessness, they try their best to make them feel welcome and safe in their library. However, with the increase of homeless people seeking refuge in libraries, this has made many local demand them to be gone.
Citation: Lee, Jean Kuo. “How Libraries Are Helping the Unhoused.” BOOK RIOT, 16 Nov. 2021, https://bookriot.com/how-libraries-are-helping-the-unhoused/.
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