As I've said over and over again, there is rarely just one reason someone falls into homelessness. Housing costs, unemployment, mental health challenges, addiction, fractured relationships can all play a role.

For young people leaving foster care, many of those vulnerabilities can converge at once, often at the exact moment they're expected to make it on their own.

But research suggests that 31% to 46% of young people transitioning out of foster care experience homelessness at least once by age 26.

My friend and former City Relief colleague Malika Zlatkin has spent nearly eight years serving as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for children and young people in foster care in Bergen County, New Jersey.

We’re spending more money on homelessness. So why are more people still losing their homes?

It’s a fair question. New York City’s budget for homeless services went from roughly $2.1 billion (with a “b”) in fiscal year 2020 to more than $3.1 billion in 2025—a nearly 50 percent increase. I’m all for investing in services that help our neighbors get back on their feet. But when spending and homelessness both keep rising, I understand why people wonder whether any of it is working.

I’ll never forget a father and his teenage son who sat across from me at a City Relief outreach in Harlem many years ago. Someone had given them a flyer with our location the night before. Desperate to find help, they walked all the way from the Bronx.

His son wouldn’t meet my eyes. At fifteen years old, he stared at the floor as his father told me what had happened. His wife had died a few months earlier. He had quit his job to care for her during the final months of her life, and without a steady income, the family fell behind on rent. Shortly after her death, they were evicted.

This boy had lost his mother and his home in a matter of months.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been exploring what it means to see, welcome, and move toward people experiencing hardship.

We began with a man in the South Bronx who taught me that while people experiencing poverty are often recipients of ministry, they may also be the people through whom God ministers to the rest of us.

Then we considered the difference between Disney and the DMV, and why our processes should always serve people, not the other way around.

Over the last two weeks, I’ve written about seeing people differently and creating spaces where they feel genuinely welcomed. Last week, I argued that our processes should exist to serve people, not the other way around.

But even the best process cannot help someone who never finds their way through our doors. Welcoming people when they come to us matters. We must also practice looking up, stepping outside, and moving toward those who may never ask for help.

Disney and the DMV are both effective organizations, but they make you feel very different. My kids would vehemently protest if I invited them to spend an afternoon running errands with me. Tell them we’re going to Disney, however, and I’d get a very different response.

At Disney, nearly every detail is designed around the guest experience. Signs help you find your way, employees anticipate your questions and are trained to make every problem less… problematic. There are shops offering food, toys, and games, and there are characters everywhere ready to pose for photos. The environment communicates: “We knew you were coming, and we’re glad you’re here.”