Taking the Next Step for the Homeless

Walk Aims to Ease A Growing Problem

An estimated 25,000 to 30,000 turned out for the 19th annual Fannie Mae Foundation Help the Homeless Walkathon, which circled the Mall and Tidal Basin. (Photos By Linda Davidson -- The Washington Post)

Homelessness in the Washington region has increased six years in a row to more than 16,000, a number that includes Thurman Babbs.

Standing on Independence Avenue yesterday morning as participants in the 19th annual Fannie Mae Foundation Help the Homeless Walkathon streamed by, he had nothing but praise for the estimated 25,000 to 30,000 who turned out.

"I think it's wonderful," said Babbs, 68, who once worked in the old composing room of The Washington Post, where printers set type in the days before automated production. "Anything that helps the homeless is wonderful."

The 5K walk around the Mall and the Tidal Basin raises money for 180 organizations that work on housing and homelessness issues. Last year's walk, and other activities such as an auction, raised $7.8 million, foundation officials said.

The event began with 150 participants in Rock Creek Park in 1988. The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments counted 16,434 homeless men, women and children in January in a one-day survey of housing programs, emergency shelters, soup kitchens and suburban encampments -- a 6.4 percent increase over the 2005 count. A shortage of affordable housing, chronic mental illness and drug and alcohol abuse remain driving forces behind the numbers.

But little discouragement could be found among the church members, social service volunteers, students and employees of Fannie Mae and other firms who turned out yesterday.

The showing was "an incredible witness to the problem," said the Rev. David C. Myers, pastor of St. Luke's United Methodist Church in the Glover Park section of the District. The church offers six months of transitional housing to a small group of men.

Diego McCoy, 45, who lives in a shelter at Gospel Rescue Ministries in the District, said the annual walk inspires those on the margins. "It helps motivate people. I don't think people are aware of the options they have."

Less than 15 percent of the Washington area's homeless regularly live on the street, researchers say. The rest are sustained by a network of shelters and other forms of housing. Babbs, who said he spent 10 years outside, now resides in a Silver Spring assisted living facility. But his situation still seems precarious. As he watched the walkers pass in front of the Department of Energy building, he held out a large plastic McDonald's soda cup for change.

"I've still got to eat," he said.

Before the walk, participants heard from a series of speakers, including Jewel Kilcher, 32, the singer and songwriter widely known as Jewel, this year's honorary chairman. Recounting living in her car as she struggled to break into the music business in Los Angeles, she described the stares of people as she washed her hair in a Denny's restroom.

"I didn't mean to end up homeless," she said. "I don't think anybody does."

Joining her on stage were the incoming and outgoing District mayors. The drive to end homelessness is "one of the noblest struggles any person or city can engage in," said Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D).

"We all have to be committed to those who have been left behind," said Mayor-elect Adrian M. Fenty (D).

Staff researcher Magda Jean- Louis contributed to this report.