No room at the inn: As Rhode Island celebrates the holidays, people suffer and die

Between a State House lighted with Christmas colors and a Mall besieged by holiday shoppers, over fifty people gather in 17-degree weather to ask, "Why are over 600 people sleeping outside?"

The Rhode Island Homeless Advocacy Project (RIHAP) and its supporters held a candlelight vigil on the south side of the Rhode Island State House to honor those who have recently died while living outside, as well as those who are currently living unsheltered. Leaders of the religious community and individuals with lived experience of homelessness will lead and speak at the vigil. Two weeks ago, R.J. died while sleeping overnight in a trailer. Last Wednesday, a beloved advocate, Diamond Madsen, died prematurely due to the long-term health impacts of being unhoused.

RIHAP has been working for over three years to get the State, cities, and towns to address the urgent homelessness crisis. As of November 2024, Rhode Island had 1,430 unhoused people in emergency shelters and 625 living outside without shelter for 2,055 people. This represents a doubling of homelessness and an increase of 880 percent in unsheltered homelessness since 2019. Rhode Island’s public officials at every level have failed to respond effectively to this disaster.

Thousands of evictions have fueled these increases. According to the Rhode Island Housing dashboard, 6,853 households were evicted in Rhode Island in 2024, overwhelmingly due to the tenant’s inability to pay skyrocketing rents. If they lack family or friends to stay with, individuals and families wind up on the street. Then, instead of meeting the needs of those living outside, municipalities and police in the State continually harass people experiencing homelessness and raid their homeless encampments.

Therefore, the Rhode Island Homeless Advocacy Project and our allies, including Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere (HOPE), the Rhode Island Poor People’s Campaign, Better Lives Rhode Island (BLRI), and the Mathewson Church Housing Justice Committee, call on Rhode Island Governor Daniel McKee, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley, and other municipal leaders to:

1. Governor McKee - Declare a public health emergency so we can treat this human crisis with the urgency it deserves!

2. Governor McKee - Add additional year-round humane, high-quality shelter beds with paths to permanent housing now to provide a roof over the heads of every Rhode Islander!

3. Mayor Smiley - Open warming centers when Real Feel temperatures are below freezing!

4. Mayor Smiley and other municipal leaders - stop police raids of encampments until residents have acceptable shelter or housing alternatives!

Here’s the video and a transcription edited for clarity:

Kevin Simon - Pastor at Mathewson Street Church: Can we start our time with a few moments of silence?

We are gathered here today in remembrance of the 54 friends in our community who passed away last year from being unsheltered. These are just the ones that we know. We have also banded together to remember our dear friend R.J., who passed away just a few weeks ago, and also to remember our beloved member Ruth Madson, whom we lovingly knew as Diamond, who passed away just last week. Both are gone way too soon.

We all come from different backgrounds and all walks of life. Still, we have come together this evening because of one commonality: the simple fact that no Rhode Islander deserves to pass away from being unsheltered and that even one Rhode Islander is outside tonight in this freezing weather is unacceptable.

We offer these words in remembrance: Thank you for the life of our friends and all the years many of us have spent with them. We lift them today and honor the good we saw in them and the love we felt from each of them. You’ll be mourned and missed; no one will ever replace you.

Our friends were mothers, fathers, grandmothers, grandfathers, aunts, uncles, brothers, and sisters. They were our friends. May everyone in the building behind us and everyone in positions to create change realize the urgency our unsheltered friends are facing. It is not okay for one more person to die while living outside.

We will now open it up for anyone who would like to share a few words about any of our friends or anything happening with our unsheltered friends.

John - formerly unhoused: It’s my first speech, but I love Diamond, so that brought me here. My fellow Rhode Islanders, I stand before you today, not as an expert, but as someone who has lived through the harsh reality of homelessness. And I know firsthand the struggles, the despair, the invisible wounds of mental health that often go unaddressed. I was one of the lucky ones. I got housing. That housing gave me a foundation to heal, address my PTSD, and build a new life. Now, I dedicate my time to helping others do the same.

But for every success story, countless others are still out there, trapped in this cycle of hardship. Last year, 52 Rhode Islanders [died unsheltered]. It’s unbelievable. We lost 52 lives because they had nowhere to call home. This is unacceptable. We can’t stand by and watch this happen. We need action. We need it now. We need more affordable housing. We need stronger mental health support. We need to prevent evictions. Every Rhode Islander deserves a safe place to live, a safe place to heal, and a safe place to call home. Let’s work together and make this a reality.

Diana: My name is Diana. My cousin’s name was Diamond, and we lost her. She did a lot for a lot of people. She has worked with DARE and a lot of different agencies. She helped the community. She was an advocate. She did a lot to help people with DARE and Mathewson Street Church. I appreciate everything Kevin did to help her—and he’s helping with the funeral now.

Tammy, formerly unhoused: I was homeless for nine months here. I was using, I was drinking. But I want to say that not everybody who’s homeless is drinking. Not everybody homeless should be judged - nobody should be judged - only God is a judge. But some of us are having trouble with substances, and it’s by choice, and then it becomes an addiction, and you can’t get out. But there are so many who are not on substances, who just got a bad break or something terrible with their job. We don’t know, but they’re out there.

They’re not making the wrong choices. That’s enough of a reason right there to end homelessness. And as far as people that do have substance problems, it stems from mental health and brokenness. That needs to be addressed at the root so that there’s no need, want, or desire to abuse those substances.

Being homeless - if you are using, it’s a way to stay in that. It’s harder to get out of that. But if you are homeless, and you are not using, and you are not an alcoholic, you need that help.

There’s a saying that one bad apple can spoil the bunch. I don’t believe that. I believe we’re all individuals and should be treated as individuals, addressed as individuals, and loved for who we are, even if we’re in brokenness - and help us as long as we reach for help. Even if something bad happened to us and we didn’t do it on our own, we didn’t pay our rent, didn’t try to pay our rent, didn’t try to work, didn’t try to do the next right thing and provide for our families and live an honest life and not use substances.

Who is somebody to say, “Oh, look at that addict, alcoholic.” That’s not right. God loves us all - broken or not broken - and the ones who think they’re not broken, the brokennest of all.

I love everybody as long as they’re showing me love. I want to show you as much love as possible. And if you don’t show me love, I will try to show you love because that’s the hardest thing to do - to show somebody kindness when they’re being hard on us. And that’s what people do. They look at all of us as no good, not worth it. Well, we are somebody...

Ashani: I knew Diamond because of my mom. I also know that she was a great soul. I considered her my aunt, and it sucks to lose her so soon. She was a good person, and I know that if she were here today, she would be smiling at all of us. I miss her so much. I didn’t even say goodbye. It hit me hard and took a minute to process because I hurt. I wasn’t ready to accept that truth.

Kevin Simon: We’ve been doing this for over three years now. What’s happened is that now it’s normalized to have 650 people - probably more than that - living outside under these conditions. They’ve got the whole State Souse with the red and green. We have all these people doing their shopping driving by, but we have hundreds and hundreds of people outside who are risking their lives in tents, on benches, and under overpasses, and we have people in power who couldn’t care less and are doing nothing.

Just a couple of miles from here, we have 45 Pallet Shelters that are empty. They’ve been sitting there for almost a year now. The excuse is that they couldn’t determine what category to put them in, so they said they would be hotels and dorms. That’s what the fire marshal said—that they would be hotels and dorms. That creates all sorts of issues in making them compliant with the fire code.

The City of Providence City was asked to apply for warming center funding, and they decided that they would only apply for the warming center if someone told them how many times they would have to open it. No one could tell them how often it would be open because no one knew which days would get cold. So they didn’t apply for a warming center. And now we have hundreds of people outside in Providence without any place warm to go.

Kevin Simon: It is unacceptable that people don’t respect the humanity of people living in tents in single-digit weather. This can only happen when the people out there are blamed for being out there. Somehow, it’s their fault when it’s the fault of a housing market that makes it impossible for working-class people and people on assistance to find a place to stay.

I want to say something about Diamond. Diamond was a friend of mine. She was a part of this movement, maybe the most important person. She dedicated herself to ensuring that people outside had what they needed—warm clothes, sleeping bags, and any supplies.

She could talk to people in power about the problems people faced and what they needed to do to solve them. We are all going to miss her.

Someone in the Crowd: She’ll be louder now.

Kevin Simon: Yeah, she’ll be louder now. I agree. We need her to inspire us. We need to remember her dedication to this, keep moving forward, and make sure that the people in power do what they have to get a roof over the heads of everyone who’s outside.

Swami Yogatmananda: I am from the Vedanta Society of Providence. It is a sin for all of us that some of us, as good human beings made of the same flesh and blood, have to stay outside in this blistering, killing cold. Something has to be done by the authorities. Time is running out. There is no room at the inn, no room in shelters. An emergency law needs to be enacted.

All of us can speak up for people who are in a position of ruling. I’m thrilled that so many people have come to support people forced to live outside in this blistering world. I hope their situation changes soon while they are not yet in another world.

Eve Condon: I work on a mobile crisis team. I work with a lot of unhoused people. I will probably get a little emotional, so please bear with me. These are not faceless. These are human beings that are sleeping outside and are dying in dumpsters. These are elderly folks, people with disabilities, and people with children. The Governor needs to declare a state of emergency immediately. He needs to make warming centers available. He has dragged his feet on this. I know. I’m helping with the warming center. The State dragged its feet on providing funding. The people in our warming centers went without blankets and mats for the first week. They slept bare on the floor, and they were grateful for it. They said, “At least we’re inside, at least we’re dry. At least we are safe.” This is unacceptable. That’s all I have to say.

Speaker 1 - Currently Unhoused: I don’t like to talk to anybody most of the time, but the amount of people who have been dying over the homeless problem is ridiculous. I have almost given up on apathy. Last year, they were going to chop my feet off because I had frostbite. I had nowhere to go. I had to walk about six miles to get to a friend’s house - just for a hospital - to barely get home.

This year, the amount of people I’ve seen outside, not only my friends, not to mention the people who have already died - is horrible. I’m lucky to be a little more prepared, but it’s not even January 1st, and I don’t know what my situation will be like, but I have to consider that this year, I might freeze to death. That’s something I have to ask myself. I’ve been trying to contact my family because I could die tomorrow. That’s all I want to say.

Tammy: You know what a funny story is? We lived in a bush by the fire station for seven weeks. We lived in the bush for seven weeks because it was beautiful in October and November. It was warm, and there was no rain. Then we hung out with this guy, and we got robbed. Guess what the blessing was?

When I got hit by a brick in the face and went to the hospital, we had each other. When we went to our bush, and everything was robbed, we had each other at the night’s end. That was the most important thing. That’s a true thing. Having people instead of items.

Speaker 1: It was also cold and rainy. We could have died that night.

Tammy: But we had each other. Heart to heart. That’s what society needs - to have the heart grow with each other again. Like Pocahontas said with John Smith, "I’m done with the anger and hatred. Enough." So, let’s all build and carry on.

Reverend Wendy von Orten: Where is our compassion? When it says in scripture, “Where were you when I was in prison, and you didn’t visit me? Where were you when I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me? Where were you when I was sick, and no one visited? Where were you when I was homeless, and you did not help provide?” Jesus says, “There, with the least of these, my brothers and sisters, there was I.” Is there no room in the inn?

Tammy: I got into the shelter two weeks ago. I was in jail, and the lady from the jail ran the shelter. I got in right before winter and Christmas. You know what? During the hardship, there’s still a blessing. Don’t forget the hardship. You learn from the hardship, and you grow. As I’m learning now, I’m trying to figure it out. It’s the truth we all need to hear because, guess what? It’s not wasteful. It’s not the end. There’s still tomorrow if you have that chance.

So, Diamond, I think of you. God bless Diamond from Mathewson Church. She was a strong personality, a bomb-ass lady. I loved her, and she killed it. That’s who she is.

Someone in the Crowd: Diamond was a force.

Tammy: A force.

Someone in the Crowd: She was a force of nature no one could compare to. I have stood side by side with Diamond.

Speaker 2 - Status Unknown: Some so many people need more warming shelters, too. If you roam the streets, there are a lot of people who are afraid to be in the City. They’re afraid. They’re just sleeping in random spots. Kids, older people, people who just got divorced, they’re sleeping outside. They don’t know what to do. They’re not trained. I’m lucky enough that I’ve been on the streets for at least this time, but there are some people out there - they won’t talk to anybody. They might die tonight. It’s that bad. If you walk out there, you’ll find people that are afraid. They’re out there. Walk the streets. You’ll see them out there. You’ll see them hiding behind the mall and the train station. They don’t talk to anybody. They have nowhere to go. They don’t have food or anything. I’m lucky that I know where to go, but Jesus...

C.J. Miller: I enjoyed being with Diamond in Washington, DC, with the Poor People’s Campaign. This is devastating. Diamond was such a fierce community advocate. She would stand with anybody with her fist in the air. She would take the clothes off her back to give to someone in need. When I drive down the street and see my fellow man picking food out of the trash in the United States of America, I think to myself, with what conscience can our government allow that to happen? There’s plenty of room at the inn. There’s plenty of resources, there’s plenty of bedding. I think everyone who has the power to change this and chooses not to should be ashamed of themselves. I will continue to fight alongside all of you for Diamond’s sake until this problem is solved because I am a paycheck away from homelessness.

Much love to Diamond and everyone here.

Pat Fontes: That was a good comment by the person who spoke about how hardship can help a person grow and become stronger - but don’t risk defending hardship. The people who impose hardship have a responsibility to alleviate hardship, and those who don’t do that are not excusable.

If you have no power and suffer hardship, it may enable you to grow through, but let’s not hand an excuse to those whose job and responsibility is to prevent hardship on others. Let’s call them out. Get on the telephone. Just call the office and say, “Shame on you. Shame on you.”

Reverend Wendy von Orten: I want to honor Diamond’s memory by incorporating some of her qualities into my life and showing the kind of compassion, caring, and fierce advocacy that Diamond showed. Let’s all take a part of those who have gone before us into our lives.

Kevin Simon: Thank you, everyone, for being here to remember the folks we’ve lost.

I will read something Pastor Duane Clinker wrote at the Open Table of Christ Church a few days ago. It paints the picture of what our friends are going through.

"The freezing happens slowly at first. There are no shelter beds open to you. Your tent and meager belongings were destroyed weeks ago by the authorities in violation of the Rhode Island Homeless Bill of Rights. It is night, and you are cold. You try to keep moving to stay warm. Then, a sharp wind begins. It quickly cuts through anything you have found to wear. It goes right to the bones. The shivering starts and spreads quickly. You can’t stop it. Your whole body shakes. You’ve got to get inside, but all doors are closed to you now. There is no rescue. Then, the whip of the wind begins its final work, lashing at you. Your feet and hands hurt and then go numb. Your fingers don’t work. Then the shivering stops, and you realize your body is freezing. You have already tried everything. You couldn’t walk it off. That doorway didn’t help stop the wind. That dumpster is locked. You can’t break into the back of that truck. The terror and disorientation takes over. The heart slows, and it seems the nerves themselves freeze in what almost feels like comfort before the end."

Let us remember those words tonight. We know how we all feel right now—we’re freezing. It’s not acceptable that so many of our friends are outside in this right now. No way. So let us close our eyes, have a few final words, and continue, understanding that the only way forward is together.

Friends, we will miss you. We love you. We will mourn you. We will remember all the goodness that you’ve brought into our lives, and we will make sure that none of us stop the fight to continue to find safe places for everyone in the State of Rhode Island. We will continue to push on.

Diamond, we will remember your force and presence wherever you were. In honor of you, we promise not to stop our fight. So, let us all go out tonight and continue fighting. Let us carry the spirit of those we lost. Amen.