Front Lines Part 2

Burnout with homeless outreach workers is common. It is rare for an outreach worker to last in their position longer than 2 years. Often this is due to a lack of full-time pay, benefits, access to counseling, supportive supervision, and achievable goals.

Many times positions for outreach workers are ultimately viewed by programs and the employee as entry level and used as stepping stones to higher-up positions. We at ROC are witnesses to this constant revolving door and the inability to create trusting relationships with clients that it causes. This in effect hinders efforts to end homelessness. Knowing this leads us these days to doing a lot of advocating about, working towards, and hoping for days where homeless outreach workers will be treated, hired, compensated, respected, and looked to as the cornerstones of an effective homeless service system.

The video below captures both the importance of and the struggles within the work of being a homeless outreach worker. This video is 2 of 2 recently released by the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

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