“Not everything that is faced can be changed; but nothing can be changed until it is faced”— James Baldwin

This quote epitomises how Home has chosen to show up to end homelessness in Bermuda, and it is the mindset I take into each case management meeting with a client. This mindset is about choosing what is right over what is convenient.

On a personal level, I rely on the quiet voice, which some may call conscience or a moral compass, to guide the next honest step. As an organisation made up of people trying to tap into that same voice, any effectiveness we have comes from that posture, strengthened by partners who allow us to provide the necessary resources.

The mission to end homelessness in Bermuda starts within each of us. Knowledge of self and self-discipline allow us to face barriers directly and make conscious choices that become habits and future opportunities.

In 2024, that meant dozens of crises averted and keys exchanged, including 85 people whose homelessness was prevented or ended. Working with the Bermuda Housing Corporation and private landlords, we secured settled housing for 49 individuals.

Our Housing First programme has a 90 per cent success rate, roughly ten points above global averages for similar programmes. That result belongs first to the people doing the work of getting back up after setbacks, and partners who open doors and stand with them. Home’s role is to make that effort count by providing shelter, access to integrated care and case management.

We have worked to put faces to the 1,101 people in Bermuda with no home to call their own. This helps the community better appreciate who they are showing up for. A core part of ending homelessness is helping policymakers see the full picture, with a clearer view of both the scale and the nature of the issue.

Progress is made possible by a growing network of Bermudians who believe in community-led solutions. Volunteers, donors, landlords, employers, churches and families are all guided by the same principles that allow them to show up consistently, listen to understand and act with courage. Collectively, we must refuse to reduce anyone to their worst day, as this moment in time does not define them. That is how the quiet voice becomes action.

In housing journeys, the people who sustain progress tend to practise simple, repeatable disciplines: setting small and concrete goals, keeping appointments, asking for help early, repairing relationships, budgeting with intention, pausing to listen before reacting. These are skills we can teach and are also dispositions of the heart. They do not make life simple, but they do make us sturdy.

Everywhere we turn, we are told the fix is outside of us: higher grades, better jobs, newer technology, more money. Those things can help, but if they were enough on their own, the world would be already at peace and our island free of social ills.

If more of us, housed and unhoused alike, practised the daily disciplines of reflection, truth-telling, making amends and choosing service over spectacle, we would see the ripple effects: steadier households, stronger communities and a Bermuda where more of us have achieved stability.

Let us keep facing what must be faced, together, guided by that quiet voice within. That is how Bermuda becomes a place where everyone has a home — and every home has hope.

• Omar Dill is a case manager at Home and holds a degree in psychology and sociology