美国国家公共电台 NPR Vigils Honor The Homeless Who Died As They Lived: On The Streets

DAVID GREENE, HOST: 

This week, around this country, activists 1 are holding vigils to remember thousands of people who passed away in 2016. They all belong to a group we label the homeless. NPR's Pam Fessler found that the majority of those being memorialized had something else in common.

PAM FESSLER, BYLINE 2: If you look at the list of homeless people who died this year in, Washington, D.C., you'll notice something right away. Almost every one of them was in their 40s or 50s - people like Shawn Simmons (ph), age 44, or Bernadette Byrd (ph), age 53.

ROBERT WARREN: Being without housing is just - it's like a spiral. You know, you're just kind of spiraling down. It's just a matter of time.

FESSLER: Robert Warren knows that downward spiral. He used to be homeless. Now he's an organizer of the city's homeless memorial service held each year to recognize people like his friend Kanell Washington, who was homeless for almost 30 years. Washington was supposed to be helping 3 with this year's service, but he died suddenly in October of kidney failure.

WARREN: To lose him, you know, just like that, you know, it was like he was just gone, you know, just like that. It was kind of hard.

FESSLER: But not unusual. Studies have found that homelessness cuts at least 12 years on average off someone's life. Many of those living on the streets have problems like diabetes 4, heart disease, mental illness and substance abuse. And being homeless only makes it worse. Jesse Rabinowitz of Miriam's Kitchen, a local service provider, says it can mean having your pills stolen or no place to store medication that needs refrigeration.

JESSE RABINOWITZ: Hearing diabetics talk about getting harassed 5 or confronted by the police when they inject insulin because they think it's a controlled substance.

FESSLER: He says the tragedy in Kanell Washington's case is that he learned just days before he died that he'd finally been approved for a government voucher 6 to get his own apartment. That was also the case for more than a dozen others who were commemorated 7 last night in Washington, D.C., as activists began a two-day memorial.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: What do we want?

UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: Housing.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: When do we want it?

UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: Now.

FESSLER: About a hundred homeless individuals and their supporters marched through the streets, carrying a simple wooden casket and signs with the names of all those who died in Washington this year.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: When do we want it?

UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: Now.

FESSLER: People like Michael Woolfolk (ph), age 48, who was found on the street last month slumped 8 in his wheelchair. A passerby 9 was so concerned she shook him, only to discover that he had died. It took weeks before anyone could find out who he was. And there were almost four dozen others.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Alonzo Johnson (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #3: Valerie Stith (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #4: This is Shaun Turner (ph).

FESSLER: Participants read off a few of the names before heading into a tent where they planned to spend the night. Earlier, in a local church, Robert Warren recalled his friend Kanell Washington and talked about how winter can be an especially difficult time.

WARREN: We know that there are going to be folks sleeping out there in the cold, dying, getting sick. And it doesn't have to be that way.

FESSLER: Warren and others are pushing for more funds to provide housing for the homeless. Although, in cities like Washington, where rents are soaring, it's hard to keep up with the demand. No one really knows how many homeless individuals die each year. But about 2,700 will be commemorated at events across the country, many of them tonight. The memorials have been held for more than 25 years now. And each year, organizers say they hope it's the last.

Pam Fessler, NPR News, Washington.