The Homeless Union’s Winter Offensive is a series of synchronized actions and protests that take place on “key dates” during the Holiday Season (from Thanksgiving through Martin Luther King Jr's Birthday) in order to highlight the time of year when the poor and homeless experience the most deadly conditions and the highest rates of suicide and death.
The National Union of the Homeless comes together across 5 U.S. regions (the South, Appalachia, Midwest, West and Northeast) to declare: Housing and Healthcare NOW. An End to Genocide and the War Economy! No More Death on the Streets Both Here and Abroad!
We work together to fulfill our mission statement, declaring that “we commit our lives to ending homelessness and poverty and to work tirelessly for the human right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, for social and economic justice for all.”
As part of the National Winter Offensive Organizing Drive we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and commemorate his life as a Revolutionary.
In a time when there's a relentless push to commercialize this holiday season we're fighting to “Put Christ back into Christmas” –The Revolutionary Christ who fed the hungry, healed the sick, cared for the poor, and built a love revolution to bring down the oppressive power structure of his time.
Our Winter Offensive honors Jesus Christ for the Revolutionary that he was and takes up his message to love one another and organize to end the wars on the poor both here and abroad!
The ‘Longest Night’, also referred to as Homeless Memorial Day, is always December 21st. It is the longest night of the year, the Winter Solstice, the longest night of darkness for our siblings living outside.
On this day/evening we condemn the mass graves of unnamed poor and homeless men, women, and children in potters’ fields around the country and internationally. We honor those we have lost due to this unjust system that denies us our basic human rights and pledge to honor them by continuing to unite and organize for human rights for all!
The Pittsburgh Homeless Union organized two events for the Winter Offensive, a Caroling March on December 19th and a Longest Night Memorial.
For the Caroling Event, about 50 Pittsburgers braved the cold and ice to sing carols downtown and demand housing now! Starting from the corporate-sponsored Holiday Market and marching to a weekly food distribution outside the County Jail, the Pittsburgh Chapter of the National Union of the Homeless and Our Streets Collective teamed up with partner organizations and faith leaders.
Speakers and carols called out the cruel and deadly practice of encampment sweeps, inhumane shelter conditions, the systemic causes of homelessness, and that, as Pastor Leann Younger put it, "the feel-good noise of this season blinds us to the suffering of those around us." She continued, "Whatever this season has become in American culture, it started as a reminder that systems that crush the poor cannot stand."
The Longest Night Memorial followed an annual event hosted by the City of Pittsburgh and Operation Safety Net that memorialized the 28 individuals who died on the streets in 2025. Up from 12 the year before, this was already a staggering amount – we believe due to the increased use of encampments by the City – but there were an additional 57 people who died as a result of street homelessness who weren’t included because of a technicality, often that they died in the hospital within days of being on the streets.
The Pittsburgh Homeless Union memorial, organized at the site of the former Grant Street Encampment, was dedicated to remembering these additional people who city officials left out of their memorial.
Link to Caroling video:
https://youtu.be/7N9T-IC3WTQ?si=f_lCbAQZfDI-QXxt
Change comes from below not above! The system will not save us, we must unite, organize and save each other! Join the growing poverty abolitionist movement!
The Pittsburgh Homeless Union operates in partnership with Our Streets Collective. If you are interested in getting involved, visit Our Streets Collective on Instagram or come to one of two weekly food distributions outside Allegheny County Jail, Tuesdays from 5-8pm and Fridays from 6-8:30pm.
Not in Pittsburgh, PA but want to join the National Union of the Homeless? Send an email to 2020nuh@gmail.com