“One of their greatest sources of both advocacy and support is the Coalition for the Homeless, the nation’s longest-standing organization of its kind. It was founded in 1982 but dates back to 1979 when, in the landmark Callahan V. Carey lawsuit, the coalition’s founder Robert Hayes took New York to task for the clause in the state constitution that reads “The aid, care and support of the needy are public concerns and shall be provided by the state…”

“For over 20 years, Coalition for the Homeless has been led by Mary Brosnahan, its executive director.

“The obscenity of people having to live on the streets really hit me,” she said. “It was a good thing to leave New York and come back to it because it made me realize how many, many people were living homeless on the streets here. It seemed unthinkable that so many people had so survive this way, and that there were so many different types of people suffering, because homelessness is so solvable. The quote from the Bible is ‘Jesus said the poor will always be with us.’ But that doesn’t mean they have to freeze to death on the streets.” 

– The woman looking out for New York’s 52,000 homeless, by  Sheila Langan (@SheiLangan) at irishcentral.com

(Emphasis mine)