For Michael Stoops, ending homelessness isn’t just his job, it’s
his way of life.

"My grandfather was an alcoholic and became homeless when I was seven," says Stoops, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH). "Because of his drinking, he ended up freezing to death."

While dying of hypothermia isn’t a problem for the homeless in Florida, Stoops says the state’s treatment of the homeless isn’t as fair as the weather.

"Florida is notorious for passing laws that selectively target the homeless," Stoops says. "Orlando passed an ordinance a couple of years ago forbidding the feeding of the homeless in the downtown area."

Eventually, the ordinance was overturned and ruled unconstitutional, but that didn’t diminish Florida’s reputation for crimes against the homeless.

"For 2005, 2006 and 2007, the NCH annual report has Florida as the No. 1 most violent state in the country for crimes against the homeless, both lethal and non-lethal," says Stoops, who believes that Florida may be a top state again in the 2008 report.

But Stoops sees some good signs. Some Florida legislators are trying to add "homeless" to the state hate crime laws, which would hike the punishment for perpetrators who commit violent crimes against the homeless.

Nationally, Stoops sees progress.

"With [President] Obama’s stimulus package, we have received $1.7 billion for homeless prevention, which helps people stay in their homes," he says. "We also received $1.5 billion for emergency food and shelter."

Although the stimulus package is creating more funding to help end homelessness, Stoops believes that the crisis of homelessness will get worse before it gets better.

"One out of every 50 children is
or will be homeless in their lifetime," Stoops says. "People think that if the shelter wasn’t here, homeless people wouldn’t be here, and that’s
not true."