In a number of recent conversations I have been asked what’s “your Story”? What’s behind TEAM CONNECTED? 

Well — As Don Quixote offers in the Cervantes’ novel: “… maybe it’s a dream” — but at this point — I believe in the Lakes Region … it’s much more than a dream.

In my younger days I attended (on a scholarship) an English-style boarding school.  And in my Fifth Form (11th grade) the musical “Man of La Mancha” was playing on Broadway. 

I attended that musical; and subsequently obtained a vinyl LP version of the soundtrack, WHY? Because it moved me to tears.  In my dorm room I’d play it on a turntable over and over again … skipping to the song “The Impossible Dream”; playing and re-playing it to the jeers (at times) from my dormmates.  In their defense … it was the 60’s.

Recently the song made it’s way back to Broadway; performed by many well-known artists.  Why is this important?  I might say it’s one of several theme songs applicable to:

• Recognition of the enormity of challenges presented by HOUSELESSNESS;

• Our Calling, our Mission, and our Commitment.

It answers the initial question:  “What’s your Story?”. Is addressing HOUSELESS people with kindness “just an impossible dream”?  

Maybe for some it is; but I am called to press forward with TEAM CONNECTED on this quest where HOUSELESSNESS ends in the Lakes Region.  I welcome one and all to share this dream

There are a number of relevant TakeAways in this Blog Post including:

46.7% Of NH residents are “Rent Burdened” = Eviction Increases = HOUSELESSNESS | So Let’s Do Some Simple Math, and Between 2020 to 2024 — HOUSLESSNESS Increased 49.5%

Yesterday’s Blog Post “Dehumanizing Houseless?  — Is THIS ONLY WAY to “restore” a community in the Lakes Region?” detailed the July 24, 2025 Executive Order 2025-14391 … which stated and implied HOUSELESS increases in America are the result of illicit drug use by members of HOUSELESS in our communities.  Let’s be clear.  While some HOUSELESS in the Lakes Region may participate in illicit drug usage; not only is that same usage true for those who currently live in a house and those who distribute illicit drugs — but it is a logical fallacy of a “sweeping generalization” — to state or imply — this to be “the root cause” of HOUSELESSNESS in the Lakes Region.  WHY? 

Rent Burden (GAP between Income and Affordable Rents) + Eviction Increases + No Affordable Housing =

A National Emergency of HOUSELESSNESS

According to New Hampshire Housing, only about 24 percent (https://www.nhhfa.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/NHH-2024-Residential-Rental-Cost-Survey-Report.pdf#page=8 ) of rental units in 2024 were affordable to those making the renter median household income of $56,814.

Based on wage data analyzed by New Hampshire Housing, out of 11 selected high-demand occupations, only nurses had median wages sufficient to afford rent and utilities for a two-bedroom unit in the state. Further, public school teachers and electricians were the only occupations that could afford one-bedroom unit based on median wages, while all other high-demand occupations, such as nursing assistants and construction laborers, earned median monthly wages lower than the median price for a one-bedroom unit. Renters are also more likely to pay more than 30 percent of their income towards housing costs, the amount defined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as being cost-burdened by housing that functions as a simple but reliable (https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/Harvard_JCHS_Herbert_Hermann_McCue_measuring_housing_affordability.pdf ) measure of affordability.

According to U.S. Census Bureau data (https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2022.B25074?q=B25074&g=040XX00US33 ) from 2018 to 2022, nearly half (https://nhfpi.org/resource/nearly-half-of-new-hampshire-renters-are-cost-burdened-by-housing/ ) of renters in the Granite State were cost burdened by housing prices. Among those with a household income less than $35,000, about three out of four were paying more than 30 percent of their income towards rent.

The increase in housing costs may have some association with the rise in eviction filings across the state, as more New Hampshire families with low incomes may face difficulty paying rent.

From January 2022 to January 2023, the number of unhoused people in New Hampshire increased by about 52 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s point-in-time estimates (https://www.hudexchange.info/programs/hdx/pit-hic/#2024-pit-count-and-hic-guidance-and-training )”

https://nhfpi.org/resource/living-expenses-financial-vulnerability-and-poverty-in-new-hampshire-2/

This Blog Post is an immediate follow-up to yesterday’s post entitled: “Why we use the word “HOUSELESS” and not “HOMELESS” in Lakes Region Discussions” In that post Franklin D. Roosevelt was quoted on the subject that “WORDS MATTER” in a political policy discussion such as HOUSELESSNESS:

“In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way”.

In this context, please consider the following recent Executive Order. Using the faculty of Critical Thinking skills; perhaps ask what assumptions are being made in this order? What policy solutions are being offered in this order? And — WHY? — Those are important and relevant questions. Labels such as endemic, vagrancy, emergency, disorderly, sudden, violent, long-term institutional setting, and overwhelming majority (among others) have specific meanings and — these WORDS DO MATTER.

Three TEAM CONNECTED Blogs have been posted in the last 2 weeks using the phrase HOUSELESS as a term to discuss what many have described in Lakes Region news articles in The Laconia Sun as well as Letters to the Editor authored by mayoral and councilman candidates for upcoming November 2025 elections. The current state of HOUSELESS human beings and their families (including those — one paycheck away from that condition) has been in the local news cycles and remains so. Some Lakes Region neighbors have asked WHY use HOUSELESS and not HOMELESS. The answer is simple: WORDS MATTER!

In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

TEAM CONNECTED on:  “God Pods” For HOUSLESSNESS in the news in the Lakes Region | & Other Temporary Shelter Solutions to Evictions | Wearable Insulated Shelters and Rapid Deployment Shelters | WHY NOT?

In the News in the Lakes Region, The Laconia Daily Sun recently reported (Aug. 2025) on meetings between the HOMELESS SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE LACONIA HUMAN RELATIONS COMMITTEE and certain residents presenting the concept of: “God Pods” for HOUSELESSNESS.

New Hampshire counties and cities are looking for solutions for HOUSELESS shelters.  And “God Pods” is one.  And some other far less expensive temporary, insulated shelters (for winter months) are presented in this Blog Post below — after a discussion of a trend of evictions of the HOUSELESS in Manchester and Concord during the past two years. WHY? Evictions lead to a self-evident need for temporary shelters; being a challenge for many municipalities which face a lack of inventory of temporary and permanent housing solutions.

HOUSELESSNESS is in the news cycle throughout America, especially in municipalities and regions where elections are taking place. The Lakes Region in New Hampshire is no different.HOUSELESSNESS is in the newspaper again.  update 08/26/2025 So let’s consider this for a moment with this graphic.

Some say: Criminalization of HOUSELESSNESS is one solution which is suggested by a few such as the author of the Letter to the Editor recently published in The Laconia Sun (Aug. 26, 2025). The suggestion has a premise. HOUSELESSNESS is caused by drugs mental health issues, enabling gateways, etc. That may well be true for “some” HOUSELESS people. However, those conditions are shared as well by many people who live in homes in the Lakes Region. And according to DATA of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in The 2024 Annual Homeless Report to Congress (AHAR) (117 p. PDF), the primary cause of HOUSELESSNESS is the rapidly expanding GAP between income and expenses for rent, mortgages, property taxes, energy, food, and other costs common to both HOUSELESS individuals and families; also being a condition which is shared by people currently living in a home.

Yet opinions persist with the public bringing to mind the subjective aphorism:

“When you are a hammer — every problem looks like a nail.” 

Synopsis:  When we seek a Solution to the Houselessness in the Lakes Region … are we Living in the Kingdom of God?  OR Living in the Empire?  It’s a Free Will Choice…

Yesterday I became engaged in a YouVersion online  Bible study entitled “Kingdom Come”  and sent invitations to join to a number of folks.  Why?  

First, this forms a part of TEAM CONNECTED’S outreach mission to the Lakes Region community in New Hampshire.

Second, this particular bible study focuses in part on living in the Kingdom of God (within a “Connected” Worldview) versus living life in the Empire (“Separation” Worldview). These are both discussed below in the contest of one proposed solution to growing numbers of HOUSELESS people and families in the Lakes Region.

LINK to “Kingdom Come”: Bible Study.

Third, this post comes after to several months being called into researching locally the exponential rising numbers of HOUSELESS people (or one paycheck away) in the Lakes Region.  Three recent TEAM CONNECTED posts in the last week are included in this blog post today.

Houselessness:  Data Obsessed? | Date-Driven? | OR BOTH | Is the Data Accessible in the Lakes Region?  HMIS DATA Collection

When any human being commits to research and then study the growing number of HOUSELESS people and families in the Lakes Region, certain tropes will be found repeated in local news articles, posts, short form videos, and more.  In common discussions, a false premise is deployed beginning with “… All HOUSELESS people are HOUSELESS because …”.

These BECAUSEs may include one or more of these conclusory statements:

1.      The HOUSELESS live without a home by choice,

2.      The HOUSELESS live without a home due to substance abuse;

3.      The HOUSELESS live without a home due to domestic abuse;

4.      The HOUSELESS live without a home due to their criminal history;

5.      The HOUSELESS live without a home because they have failed to submit an application for housing assistance; … ant there are more  GENERALIZED premises not supported by DATA.

Each of those tropes, may indeed be true for some of the HOUSELESS and those conditions are also true for some people in the in the Lakes Region who live in either a rented or mortgages home.

In reviewing the slides below from HUD which has been studying HOUSELESS in America since 2007, the DATA which Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has gathered --  simply does not support these generalized statements about the HOUSELESS as a group, nor even as ubiquitous contributing factors to HOUSELESSNESS … that is; as outweighing one factor which is common to all: 

the growing GAP between income … and rising COSTS for:  rent, energy, food, and other expenses all households and individuals must pay in 2025.

Team Connected Blog | Four Solutions to Houselessness | But Do the Houseless Know About Them? | Is There “Public Data” to Support Successes and Failures?

This is a follow-up to a blog post on August 19, 2025: A summary of houselessness research and sharable graphics from the National Alliance for Homelessness are provided as a Team Connected outreach to the Lakes Region community.

Is There Really NOT ENOUGH? | And … Is the Another Way to Address “Houselessness”?

A good friend recently suggested to me that I was not clear where I stood on “houselessness” in the Lakes Region.  Admittedly he was correct, as I’d had faced an internal struggle with the dilemma of balancing the fiscal costs of solving this escalating challenge … amid the consistent cries from some that “we don’t have ENOUGH: money, land, buildings, staff, volunteers, and time to resolve this crisis.

A new lacto-fermentation of vegetables and fruits free WORKSHOP is being scheduled in 2025 for Fall and Winter indoor demonstrations. For more detailed information please go to our Fermentation page. The WORKSHOP is small part of ‘Team Connected’s” Lakes Region community outreach entitled “World Connected” outlined in Part 2 of our Executive Summary PDF.

In a bible study today “Confessions and Reflections of Who I AM” on the YouVersion app, I was led by Christ to comment from 1 Cor.15.50-53. And it was after Alex, a dear friend in Christ, shared with me yesterday a video from pastor Steven Furtick: “God, I’m Scared”. [see below].

Yes! Human beings without homes, or one paycheck away is very real in the Lakes Region of NH. The numbers are increasing from year-to-year. But let’s start this discussion with a perspective in this documentary: Homeless People Tell Their Stories (Breadline Documentary) | Real Stories. In 2025, every person in the Lakes Region is stressed without a lot of free time. That notwithstanding, these videos present compelling facts and stories … Many of which are shared by the growing number of people in the Lakes Region who do not have homes … or are one paycheck away from that condition. The last one of Brent (a law clerk) discusses “ageism” in the workplace, a circumstance this author experienced by being “displaced” in 2021 from my most recent job.

Every human being enters into a barrage … a sea of thoughts as we awake and prepare to go to work on Mondays. A few love it … perhaps more see it as a routine … and some may even dread it. All are understandable … thoughts we have in common.

At the end of August 2025, the PDFs of the “Executive Summary” (76 pages) and the “One Sheet Overview” (3 pages) for Team Connected were finalized and linked at our website. Readers are encouraged to read through both including our “Who Facilitates” page. On August 1, 2025, the local Laconia “Daily Sun” published a syndicated article by former congressman Gary Franks (5th district of Connecticut, and member of the Welfare Reform Task Force). It’s title is self-explanatory: “Mental illness is literally killing us”. And germane to the core mission of Team Connected, the congressman mentions those without homes several times or more.

In the first week of September 2025, Team Connected will be visiting the Isaiah 61 Cafein the Lakes Region of New Hampshire. Readers are encouraged to go to the Isaiah 61 website and invest some quality time. Recently this author spent several hours with one staff member who has volunteered there for a number of years. Her insights were not only “eye opening” but also remarkably encouraging on the subject of people without homes in our community. That is one core mission of Team Connected.

A month ago, amid a 10 week bible study program entitled “Following the Way” (John Mark Comer) one of the brothers invited me into a separate YouVersion bible study; which I joined and completed with others. It was a great experience; so, I then initiated two others and invited many to join. This latest new one was started yesterday:

I'm reading the @YouVersion plan 'Identity in Christ - Confessions and Reflections on Who I Am'. Check it out here:

https://www.bible.com/en/reading-plans/39070

This article “Homeless defies easy answers” was published in the Laconia Daily Sun six years ago in 2019. Since then the numbers of people without homes, or those one paycheck away from that condition … have consistently increased throughout the the Lakes Region of New Hampshire. It’s a focal point in our community monthly meetings spearheaded by Joia Hughes chairing the Housing Committee of the City of Laconia (in which I continue to volunteer).