New Project

During my time spent researching the ins and outs surrounding homelessness: talking with people on the streets, driving to places that offer services, and discussing people involved in the establishment of said services, I found a system that was lacking in effectiveness and efficiency. The shelters put in place were simply too ineffective to be utilized successfully by a large number of people. 

One of the most memorable demonstrations of the failure of the shelter system was in Lubbock, Texas. In an attempt to recreate the experience of someone needing to find a shelter, my dad and I searched up 3 shelters around the city. After driving around for an hour and a half, we did not see a single shelter, with seemingly broken down buildings in their places. After getting back to the hotel, I did some further research, and the reviews online for one shelter were extremely concerning, stating that they had been verbally abused at the shelter, with the management even getting violent at times, throwing and smashing items. Personally, this experience put into perspective how difficult it was to utilize homelessness resources, particularly in a relatively smaller city. 

Furthermore, Recently, during the COVID-19 pandemic, I began to wonder even more about how shelters could provide for the unhoused safely. When talking to a woman on the streets of downtown San Diego, she mentioned the discrimination from the shelters as a result of the limited availiability stemming from taking necessary social distancing measures. Allegedly, the cleaner and more ruly you looked, the more likely you were to be provided shelter. In addition, many of the unhoused choose not to stay at shelters purposefully. With a rigid schedule every day, from when one ate to bedtime, the lack of independence pushed many away from the idea. 

Over the next few weeks, I will be doing a deep dive into the various ways cities are combating the issue of shelter, from housing in hotel rooms to a camp of tiny houses.