This Saturday, Dec. 21, marks the winter solstice, the longest night of the year. In San Antonio — and in many other cities — it’s also a night of remembrance, mourning and honor for the hundreds of residents who died while experiencing homelessness this year.
During the 18th annual Homeless Person’s Memorial Service at Milam Park at 7 p.m. on Saturday, more than 360 names will be read, a bell will be rung and a candle will be lit in each person’s honor. Volunteers and partner organizations will provide warm meals, coats and information about housing assistance and other resources to attendees who may also be experiencing homelessness.
Last year, 322 people died without a place to call home, according to SAMMinistries, the nonprofit that organizes the memorial and maintains the list of reported deaths. So far, this year’s count has reached 364, a 13% increase over last year so far and officials said the list may still grow before Saturday.
That’s about one person per day.
Homeless Person’s Memorial Service
Saturday, January 21 at 7 p.m.
Milam Park, 501 W. Commerce St.
The average life expectancy for someone experiencing homelessness is roughly 50 years, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness. That’s nearly three decades fewer than the national life expectancy of about 78 years.
The causes of these deaths “range the spectrum from chronic illness to overdose to exposure to the elements to you name it,” Nikisha Baker, president and CEO of SAMMinistries, told the San Antonio Report.
In 2023, SAMMinistries and other partners within the homeless response system started to improve their data-gathering methods for the memorial. As a result, that year’s count nearly doubled that of 2022, when 160 people were honored in Milam Park.
“That begs some really significant conversation on our end, as a system, as to why we are continuing to see an increase,” Baker said. “
Among the names read this year was Paul Holmes, who spent years sleeping on benches in downtown San Antonio.
Holmes, a military veteran, died in hospice care on Nov. 10 after untreated colon cancer spread to his liver and lungs, his friends shared during a memorial service on Houston Street last month. He had experienced homelessness for about 14 years, declining to accept shelter until his illness made him unable to walk or talk.
Holmes was a direct beneficiary of a new skilled nursing pilot program — which places acutely disabled or ill chronically homeless individuals into nursing homes — that launched this year.
The Alliance to House Everyone, a coalition of local government, private and nonprofit partners, will implement a 2025 action plan as part of the final year of the city’s 2020 Together to End Homelessness plan. Some progress has been made over the last four years, including improved technology and training and increases in funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, permanent supportive housing, housing vouchers and low-barrier shelter beds.
“That skilled nursing care pilot didn’t exist a year ago,” Baker noted. “The [low-barrier] shelter at its capacity today was only just coming online a year ago. I see mental health resources that are coming into [Christian Assistance Ministry] and CorazĂłn to treat those who are unsheltered and on the street. I see all of the steps that we’re taking forward, we’re just not taking them fast enough.”
Bexar County’s 2024 point-in-time count report showed a 6.8% percent increase in the number of people experiencing homelessness compared to last year, for a total of 3,372 individuals. Of those, 888 people were unsheltered, meaning they were not staying at an overnight shelter.
The city’s nearly $4 billion budget for fiscal year 2025 included $44.2 million for direct homelessness prevention services, outreach, shelters, housing and encampment cleanups. That’s $6.35 million more than it spent last year.
The city’s $150 million 2022 housing bond reserved $25 million for permanent supportive housing, which includes support services such as caseworkers, counseling, and health clinics for people experiencing chronic homelessness.
Baker hopes Saturday’s memorial will spread awareness and spark action within the community.
“If there are folks in community who want to understand this issue and how they can help in terms of time, talent or treasure, we want to know who they are,” she said. “Essentially what we need is a community coalition that is consistently working to address this issue.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story reported an incorrect amount for the city’s 2022 housing bond. It is $150 million.
