We all like it when a sad story gets a happy ending. So we, along with many others, were glad to see that our article helped Terry Edick avoid a state burial in a plot designated for the unclaimed.

Edick, 58, paraplegic and homeless, was sheltering at the Pines encampment last month when the couch he slept on ignited from a nearby campfire.

Serious burns placed him on life support, and he was airlifted to Grand Rapids’ Spectrum Butterworth Hospital from Traverse City.

When conscious, he opted to get off life support, according to the Kent County medical examiner. Efforts to notify Edick’s family of his death were unsuccessful for weeks. Two community members came forward after reading Sunday’s Record-Eagle, resulting in a successful connection to Edick’s next-of-kin.

It’s a better ending than we’d hoped, but the situation still is tragic for Edick, his family and our larger community family.

It could happen to any of us.

Few families get off scot-free from the ravages of addiction and mental illness. We can relate to stories of substance abuse and mental disorders that spiral into something worse, like homelessness. We don’t know how long Edick was unsheltered. Or why he chose, along with the five others in the camp, to spend a 20-degree February night outdoors when there was plenty of room in the Traverse City shelters.

What we do know is that the population of unhoused people is growing, and affordable housing options are decreasing … even after the strenuous amount of time, energy and funding dedicated to this problem. Every year we talk about it, and every year, a memorial ceremony takes place, remembering the people who died homeless in our area. Some years it’s single-digit deaths; some years, it’s double digits.

In 2020, Danielle Cornish was one of 13 people to die homeless, even as she had a Rapid Re-Housing program voucher, aimed at getting her into an apartment in 30 days. Every year in our region, tens of thousands of dollars in vouchers go unused, because there are no affordable apartments to be had.

Those formerly homeless and their advocates tell us that once a safe roof is overhead, things often change for the better. The stories may not be instant-improvement but housing gives the vulnerable members of our human family more possibilities, and the chance to write a happier ending to the story.