Keith Overholt of Downtown Rescue Mission

In episode four, we interview Keith Overholt, the CEO and president of Downtown Rescue Mission in Huntsville, Alabama. The mission was started in 1975 and provides shelter to men, women, and children of all backgrounds. They have emergency shelters as well as a year-long program that helps individuals with job readiness skills and offers Bible-based teachings. Keith shares his personal connection to homelessness through his father’s work at a mission in Buffalo. He emphasizes that homeless individuals are regular people who come from various educational backgrounds, including doctors and engineers. He also addresses misconceptions about the homeless population being dehumanized or choosing to be homeless. Keith highlights the importance of recognizing the precarity many people face and the need for social safety nets. He dismisses the idea that unhoused individuals should just move to cheaper areas because housing costs are rising everywhere.