b'Regarding COVID-19, Brother depression, anxiety and addiction. The pandemicso others could maintain social distancing in theBob Donovan, SM, says: There exacerbates these conditions. shelters. That was until May when the shelter-in-placeare so many unknownsThe According to Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the mandates eased. And now that this funding has runpoor and those at the bottomalways get hurt the most.Homeless, on any given night, there are roughly 1,100 out and hotels are back in business, the fall and winterpeople experiencing homelessness in the city. In the months are looking bleak.wake of the pandemic, those numbers are expected There are so many unknowns, says Brother Bob.to increase. Whats more, in the last 10 years, the city This is always true with people experiencing home-lost federal funding for subsidized housing, pushing lessness. Their lives are impacted from several directions,more families into homelessness. Two years ago, there making them more vulnerable when something likewere 55,000 families vying for 15,000 homes. Without COVID-19 appears. The poor and those at the bottomCongress intervening, rental evictions and mortgage always get hurt the most.foreclosures are expected to ramp up, making thesituation worse, says Brother Bob. Inklings of hope amidst exhaustionIn March, when Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine mandated In June, Brother Bob decided to take a leap of faitha shelter-in-place order to flatten the curve of virus and started seeing patients in the clinic again. Imtransmission, Brother Bob worked with health care not seeing sick patients, especially those showingand social service professionals, scrambling to find a symptoms of COVID, but I do see my regular patients.way to safely house people living in homeless shelters.Once a day, he takes a walk to a local park in Over-The shelters were so crowded, says Brother Bob. the-Rhine where he lives. Several protests took placeFortunately, they were able to access federal funds to there in June after the death of George Floyd. Therepay hotels to house the sickest people, freeing up space was a certain energy to the protests and a diverse mix6 Call 1.800.348.4732'