Based on the length of time that various organizations have served the homeless population in Xenia, one can surmise that the problem has existed for well over 50 years. Miami Valley Community Action Partnership has been serving the homeless population of Xenia and the surrounding area since its inception in 1964. Interfaith Hospitality Network has provided shelter for homeless families since January 1995. Christ Episcopal Church opened its doors as a winter overnight shelter in 2007, and operated for 8 years. 

Although several agencies in Xenia assist homeless families with finding long-term housing, emergency shelter options for single adults have been limited. Currently there is a new emergency overnight shelter called Bridges of Hope that has received City approval to operate on a limited basis.

There seems to be a consensus in the community that homelessness is a problem; however, individuals and organizations have differing opinions on the nature of the problem and how to address it. Often, homeless people will seek shelter in and around local businesses, loitering for hours without making a purchase, and sometimes begging customers for money or food. A local McDonald’s restaurant decided to address this nuisance behavior by posting a sign instituting a new policy stating that no loitering is allowed, customers have a 20-minute time limit to consume food, and no outside food or drink is allowed. The sign received backlash from advocates for the homeless population in the community and was eventually taken down by management.

While poverty, mental illness, and substance abuse are important concerns in Xenia, multiple agencies exist in and around the community to address these concerns. In contrast, there is only one emergency homeless shelter in Xenia, which opened just a week ago at the time of this writing. Thus, it appears to be a pressing need at this time.
June and Black identify some of the problems that can lead to homelessness, including substance abuse, women and children escaping domestic abuse, and severe mental illness such as schizophrenia that, when left untreated, can leave a person so impaired that they end up homeless. This author has personally encountered people with untreated mental illnesses who became so overcome by psychotic delusions that they forgot they had places to live and believed they were homeless, so they began living in the streets. 
In their “Profile of a Typical Unemployed Man”, Fletcher and Womack-Ross, as cited in June and Black, list several personal characteristics and behaviors such as laziness, immaturity, dependency on others, irresponsibility, hopelessness, addictions, lack of education, and blaming others for one’s problems. Indeed, any one or all of these can be contributing factors for homelessness as well. In fact, modern conventional wisdom often discourages us from helping people in such situations, emphasizing the need for individuals to face the consequences of their own choices rather than having us enable them to continue in their foolish behavior. In contrast, when Jesus commanded us to reach out to those less fortunate, he did not instruct us to first determine whether their condition was caused by their own character flaws. While it is necessary to establish boundaries in helping relationships, these do not absolve us of the responsibility to reach out to those in need as Jesus commanded us. 
