Finding home
Taos has always been a beautiful place to live. But it is often a hard place to live, especially for those without financial means.
The landscape and environment that bring people here from all over the world and keep people here, can also be harsh – extremes of heat and cold and wind – for those living in dilapidated homes or no homes at all.
Finding affordable housing for everyone who needs it has been an ongoing challenge in Taos.
The Taos Coalition to End Homelessness – which operates the Taos Men’s Shelter – and many other groups have worked diligently on the problem, but it only seems to grow bigger every year.
This year in particular has been a blow to people who were already in precarious living situations as the pandemic caused businesses to close and people to lose their jobs. Through collaboration, groups such as DreamTree, Valle del Sol and the Taos Men’s Shelter, show what is possible in addressing housing challenges. Individuals like Dan Wohl, who helps clients at the Men’s Shelter find services and housing, are quiet angels trying to address the problem, a few souls at a time.
Their successes are worthy of celebration. When people like Glen Amick and Sarah (who asked to remain anonymous because of the stigma) – whose journeys to get into housing are detailed in a story this week by reporter Will Hooper – are finally successful, it is reason to cheer. Their perseverance, and those who help them along the way, are a testament of strength, resilience and hope.
In this dark time of COVID, their stories are a bit of light.
There is no place like a home for the holidays.
Collections for homeless
The many men and women who still lack a home, continue to need the help of shelters and the generosity of the community. is once again open during the day to the public. Inside the front entrance is a container where people can leave donations for the Men’s Shelter. They collect those donations and distribute them to men at the shelter and anyone in need who drops by the shelter to share a donated meal. With winter here, and many icy cold nights ahead, donations of sleeping bags, blankets, wool socks, warm gloves, long thermal underwear, boots and coats are always welcome. The shelter also needs personal hygiene products such as toothbrushes, toothpaste and soap.
The community has been immensely generous with donations in the past. Donations now can help keep our neighbors warm.