Homelessness is a growing epidemic in the United States. According to the State of Homelessness: 2024 Edition report released by the National Alliance to End Homelessness, a record-high 653,104 people experienced homelessness on a single night in January 2023. More people than ever are experiencing homelessness for the first time and severe housing cost burden is on the rise. A growing body of evidence also shows that housing and homelessness has significant impacts on the surrender of animals to animal shelters, with housing-related surrenders making up about 14% of overall intakes.
On Wednesday, November 13th, join us for in-depth conversations with and presentations by eight of the nation’s top pet-inclusive housing specialists, including Christine Kim, founder of My Dog is My Home, who will present “Understanding Human Homelessness Response Systems for Better Animal Welfare Advocacy & Program Design.” Part of Camp Maddie: Pet-Inclusive Housing Edition, this one-hour presentation will provide an overview of three elements of the human homeless response system: diversion and prevention, emergency shelters and interim housing, and permanent housing. By understanding these major components of the human homeless response system, attendees will have more clarity on how to advocate for and design programs to support pet-inclusive solutions. By the end of it, attendees will be able to: 1) define three major components of any community’s human homeless response system and 2) name at least one area of potential collaboration between their animal welfare organization and a housing and/or homelessness organization.
Camp Maddie: Pet-Inclusive Housing Edition is a free, half-day virtual event focusing on topics related to pet housing in presentations, videos and question and answer sessions. The event is Wednesday, November 13, 2024 from 9AM-1PM PT (12PM-4PM ET). Learn more about the four presentations and take a look at this short video from Kim.