Are Homelessness Agencies the New Future?
For years now, homelessness service agencies have been bashed as “old technology,” still stuck in the 1980s when it comes to helping people who are homeless. We imagine bunk beds in barren warehouses,...
View ArticleEnding Homelessness in Los Angeles: Top 10 Highlights from 2013
For decades, Los Angeles has been referred to as the “homeless capital of America,” given its large homeless population. When the latest Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) report showed...
View ArticleTough Love or Tough Luck?
Back when I started as the head of a small homeless agency on the Westside of Los Angeles, the board of directors and I were proud that our programs were based on a “tough love” approach. People in our...
View ArticleSelfies With People Who Are Homeless… Really?
How many times will this country disrespect its most vulnerable, hurting people? Those who are homeless have endured people screaming at them from their luxury cars: “Get a job, you bum!” Other people...
View ArticleHomeless Numbers Can Be Tricky
I used to sit in my third grade class during math sessions, daydreaming about playing basketball on the playground or going to the beach. The numbers scribbled on the blackboard were like Greek letters...
View ArticleDesign Out of Reach: The Best Way to Shoo Homeless People Away
Photo: Andrew Horton/Twitter When I was studying architecture, the design projects we were assigned typically involved creating spaces or products that benefited people. In our intensive workshops, we...
View ArticleHomeless Agencies: Growing Bigger and Smaller at the Same Time
Back in the 1980s, when the original founders of PATH created a small program to help people who were homeless on the Westside of Los Angeles, they never imagined that they would still be in business...
View ArticleHome Remedies for Homelessness
Providing real homes, rather than shelter beds, for people who are homeless has been all the rage these past few years. This approach is called “Housing First,” and it allows people to live in...
View ArticleConvert Prisons to Homeless Shelters?
Years ago, I was part of a small group of leaders who toured the notorious Los Angeles Men’s Central Jail, which was home to 19,000 inmates last year. The facility was less of a place for personal...
View ArticleConvert Bus Benches into Homeless Shelters?
Vancouver bench/shelter A “homeless-looking” man sleeping on a bus bench is certainly one of the many stereotypical images of homelessness in this country. Of course, if I were homeless, I would look...
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