Commemorating Homeless Persons' Memorial Day 

Do you know how many people die while experiencing homelessness in your community each year?  

Communities across the country will soon commemorate National Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day with vigils on December 21, and remember people who have died on the streets before they could get housing.  

I got involved with planning D.C.’s Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day vigil 12 years ago. I’ve seen firsthand how important it is to bring awareness to the fact that folks are dying on the street: a fact that people in their community often don’t know.

Many people experiencing homelessness don’t have a proper burial, or have family members that know they have passed. These vigils allow communities to bring the numbers to this tragedy, and also remember the names and stories of these people to give them the dignity, respect, and honor they deserve in their passing.  

Vigils on Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day bring together many different parts of a community: homeless service providers, churches, lawyers, education groups, health care providers, advocacy groups, and more.

Each community’s annual vigil is different, but one message is often the same: we need to give value to the lives of people who have died while experiencing homelessness. And at the same time, we need to move past just awareness, and work towards lasting change that ensures no one should die while sleeping on the streets.  

On this year’s Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day, I encourage you to take a moment of silence and remember the people experiencing unsheltered homelessness who have died this year. This work takes the cooperation of so many individuals and groups within a community, and I encourage you to find a way in your local community to help uphold this dignity, and work to end homelessness for your neighbors.

Thank you for joining us in this important work to end homelessness.  

Albert Townsend 
Director, Lived Experience and Innovation 
National Alliance to End Homelessness