About

In the U.S., homelessness is typically rooted in serious personal problems for which there are no quick fixes. However, it is compounded by systemic problems, such as the general lack of affordable housing in America today, as well as social bias and stigma that makes it harder than necessary for homeless individuals to put their lives back together and re-enter normal society.

The hope is that this site can provide information for both individuals and agencies interested in making headway against the societal piece of the problem. The intent is to provide a gold standard of solutions grounded in the realities of what causes homelessness while honoring the fundamental humanity and dignity of homeless individuals. Anything less tends to make the problem more entrenched, not less entrenched.

It is a high bar to meet, and that's part of why the site is being developed so very slowly. Many well meaning programs have design flaws that interfere with individuals achieving real solutions. There are relatively few gold standard examples to draw upon. 

This is a sister site to the San Diego Homeless Survival Guide, a resource for homeless Americans, but especially those in San Diego County, California. The mission of that site is to help homeless individuals keep their freedom and personal agency alive while they try to solve their own problems.

Homeless individuals are hard pressed to survive, much less solve their own problems. They need help. As a minimum, they need society to meet them halfway. This site aims at dismantling institutional and social barriers that make life artificially and unnecessarily harder.

The author of this site has about six years of college, including an incomplete Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Resource Management with a Concentration in Housing. As part of that concentration, she took an online class at San Francisco State University called Homelessness and Public Policy, which required her to do an internship at a local homeless shelter. After the class was over, she continued to volunteer at the shelter for several more months. Years later, while homeless herself, she started the San Diego Homeless Survival Guide and also this site.

Popular posts from this blog

Hotel Stays, Especially in Inclement Weather

I hate the shelter system and have never used it. I once started the intake process at one when there was an incoming snow storm. Ultimately, we just asked for a change of clothes for each of us and a shower for me. Then we left and went to seek a sheltered spot to camp, which we successfully found and spent the night perfectly comfortable -- far more comfortable than if we had been in the shelter, where the discomfort may have been more about social crap and other people controlling us than about physical comfort. But, I don't know. I am not convinced we would have been physically comfortable in the shelter either, with all the limitations they expected us to abide by. However, we have had kind strangers put us up in a hotel a few times when I was ill or the weather was bad or whatever. In my experience, this is a far more civilized means to help homeless people than the shelter system. Don't get me wrong, I don't expect the shelter system to go away any time soon. But...
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Affordable Housing

A high percentage of people on the street have serious medical or mental health issues. This often fuels addictions and then the general public concludes that homeless people are all alcoholics, addicts and crazy people and it either is basically their fault or there isn't much that can really be done because we don't know how to cure insanity. In short, it gets dismissed as a personal problem, not a symptom of a systemic problem. But, homelessness is on the rise nationwide. So, it really doesn't make sense to act like homelessness is merely caused by individuals being irresponsible or unfortunate. This is clearly a systemic problem. In the 1950s, new homes were around 1200 sq. ft. and housed an average of about 3.5 people. These days, new homes are around 2500 sq. ft. and house around 2.5 people. They also have more amenities, such as appliances. Meanwhile, homelessness is on the rise and the availability of affordable housing has been shrinking for decades. Additional...
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Social Connections

Most homeless people are not simply poor, they are people whose lives have come unraveled. This is not something that happens simply because you lost your job or even because you drink too much. The fabric of their lives has come undone and a large piece of that is the social fabric. Lots of people have some sort of personal crisis without ending up on the street. For example, you can lose your job and not wind up homeless because your spouse has a job or family takes you in until you can get back on your feet. People who are homeless are people who have not just run out of money, but have also run out of all of those kinds of options as well. In fact, hard to solve social problems are often a root cause of homelessness. Some people wind up homeless because they are fleeing an abusive situation, and they have nowhere else to go. So, this isn't necessarily a case of someone being difficult themselves and wearing out their welcome with all of their friends and relatives. Some peop...
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