Family members, friends, people experiencing homelessness, as well as those formerly homeless, and housing advocates held a vigil for the late Wayne Strobel Thursday evening, Sept. 4.

Strobel was struck by a car while attempting to cross Pontiac Avenue in Cranston late at night; he died some weeks and many surgeries later. The vigil was held in front of Harrington Hall, Rhode Island’s largest emergency homeless shelter, just a few blocks away from where Strobel was killed – Strobel had occasionally spent the night there. Harrington Hall is operated by House of Hope CDC.

“All of us at House of Hope CDC are saddened at the passing of Mr. Strobel,” said Jean Johnson, executive director of House of Hope CDC in a statement. “We look forward to a day in Rhode Island when no one has to die homeless. It’s a vision that keeps us going in our work to house the chronically homeless and the comprehensive services we provide at Harrington Hall.”

According to a program provided at the vigil, Strobel, who was born and raised in Rhode Island, grew up in Warwick on Grandview Drive, “a waterfront property where he found his love of the water.”

Strobel was a self-employed mechanic for many years, and was a loving father of two boys: Wayne Strobel Jr., 19, and Austin Strobel, 13.

“Wayne will be remembered as a loving family man who enjoyed fishing, spending time with his two boys, and life on the water,” the program read.

Advocates argue Strobel shouldn’t have been crossing Pontiac Avenue that night; instead he should’ve been housed as called for by the state of Rhode Island’s strategic plan to prevent and end homelessness, Opening Doors Rhode Island. Had he been housed in his own place, it’s unlikely that Strobel would have found himself suffering the extraordinary amount of damage done to him; most of his internal organs were damaged in the collision that took his life, and his back was broken.

Strobel’s death is one among over half a dozen deaths of Rhode Islanders experiencing homelessness reported to the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless (RICH). At the beginning of this year, its Statewide Outreach Committee (comprised of outreach workers from across the state) made a commitment to hold a vigil for anyone homeless in Rhode Island who died while outside. The goal is to bring visibility to these deaths. Strobel is the fifth individual remembered at a vigil like this so far this year.

Officer Jimmy Winters of the Newport Police Department, and a longtime advocate for Rhode Islanders experiencing homelessness, opened the vigil with a song. Winters is the founder of Housing Hotline, a non-profit organization that helps people with any kind of housing issue or homelessness.

Housing advocates say that deaths like Strobel’s could be prevented by housing.

“Death should not be the answer for homelessness. We need to do better, we can do better than allowing the homeless to die on our streets,” said Barbara Kalil, an outreach worker for the Rhode Island Homeless Advocacy Project (RIHAP).

Advocates point to last year’s decrease in the amount of Rhode Islanders experiencing homelessness as illustrating the importance of housing. After climbing for five years, the number of homeless Rhode Islanders fell from 4,868 in 2012 to 4,447 in 2013. While some of this drop is attributable to the economic recovery, a significant portion comes from the $750,000 for rental vouchers approved last year by the General Assembly. Those vouchers mean more than 125 of the most vulnerable homeless people are either housed or in the process of being housed.

The vouchers are called for as part of Opening Doors Rhode Island, which seeks to house those who find themselves homeless regardless of their situation. The state of Rhode Island has begun implementing Opening Doors, but deaths like Strobel’s make it abundantly clear that more needs to be done.

Strobel had struggled with alcoholism in the past, but friends say that despite his homelessness and other troubles, he was a committed father to his two young sons.

Strobel participated in Camp Runamuck, one of the tent cities of homeless people in Rhode Island during 2009 that drew the eyes of the nation. Experts say that the daily stresses of sleeping in shelters and outside don’t create a healthy environment for recovery.

“People with drug and alcohol issues are much more likely to deal with them more effectively when they have their own place, because they want to ensure they keep their housing. Housing stability makes it easier for them to get help,” said Eric Hirsch, a Providence College professor who also chairs Rhode Island’s Homeless Management Information System Steering Committee.

Hirsch is referring to Housing First programs called for in Opening Doors. Housing First is a change from the traditional way of treating homelessness that demanded that before people could get into housing, they first had to go through a number of hoops such as getting sober and finding work. Housing First is exactly that, it provides a home to those in need, and they use that home as a stable place from which to rebuild.

Hirsch’s own studies of Housing First programs already in Rhode Island have shown not only high success rates in housing, but also increased cost savings. Even with full supportive services in place, Rhode Island programs have saved anywhere from about $4,000 to about $8,000 per client. A large part of this savings comes from reduced use of Medicaid.

But until Opening Doors is fully funded and ends homelessness, Rhode Island’s homeless population is living dangerously. A study by Boston’s Health Care for the Homeless found homelessness has a mortality rate three to four times that of the population as a whole, and higher for those who live on the street without shelter.

And for the friends and family Wayne Strobel leaves behind, there’s nothing that will bring him back. They can only hope that his death will help ensure a day when no one else loses a loved one on the street.