Rhode Island State Council of Churches urges Governor McKee to declare homelessness a public health crisis

“We urge immediate action in defense of the most vulnerable among us.”

Jeremy M. Langill, Executive Minister at the Rhode Island State Council of Churches, sent an open letter urging Rhode Island Governor Daniel McKee to “declare homelessness a public health crisis and to instruct the Department of Housing to release long-overdue contract payments.” The letter was written in response to the Governor’s “misleading” statement on right-wing radio Friday morning that “there are beds right now” for anyone currently experiencing homelessness. That statement was false.

The letter also mentions overdue contract payments. These payments are promised to over 90 providers in homeless and adjacent spaces currently providing services without a signed contract or government money.

Here’s the letter:

“On behalf of the Governing Board and the Executive Minister, the Rhode Island State Council of Churches expresses its concern regarding misleading information on the status of homelessness in Rhode Island.

“At the recent 2024 State of Homelessness event, we learned that:

• Homelessness increased by nearly 35% in 2024

• Additional beds have not offset the growing need

• There are 640+ unhoused people waiting for shelter, but there are only an average of 7 openings a day

• Low wages and high rents continue to drive families into poverty and homelessness

“We are told that the greatest commandment is to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” and that the second is like it, “to love your neighbor as yourself.”

“All across Rhode Island, service providers and communities of faith are feeding, clothing, and housing our most vulnerable – and they are overwhelmed.

“It does not have to be this way.

“We ask Governor McKee to declare homelessness a public health crisis and to instruct the Department of Housing to release long-overdue contract payments so that service providers can release shelter beds and open warming centers.

“While these measures do not address the systemic realities that create poverty, they are urgently needed to save lives.

“‘Truly, I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ To take God seriously is to take God’s concerns seriously.

“We urge immediate action in defense of the most vulnerable among us.”