The weight of shame: a common burden on the street
By Andy Pope on How the shame associated with homelessness can become something like a mental illness.
Homeless No More
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Homeless No More is a column that features the stories of people making the transition from homelessness to housing.
The lingering feeling of homelessness
By Andy Pope on Even after moving inside, one may never stop "feeling" homeless—as if they might be "found out" for their past at any moment.
To make change, we must listen to the voices of the streets
By Andy Pope on All we really wanted down there, any of us, was to be treated with normal human respect and dignity, and treated as equals—not as inferiors. We wanted to be listened to, we wanted our voices heard.
How shelter in place helped me feel more at home
By Andy Pope on During many years of homelessness, I lived in a place where there is no shelter. Now that sheltering in place is required, I am living a lifestyle that is the direct opposite of my previous manner of life.
You can’t leave PTSD at the door
By Andy Pope on When I was homeless, I was in a constant state of shock. Now the “shocks” are only intermittent. This is the essence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Use caution when telling people you were homeless
By Andy Pope on When I was first trying to get inside, I made sure my prospective landlord wouldn’t know I had ever been homeless. Why? Simply put, I didn’t want to jeopardize my chances. It was enough to tell him I was on a fixed income, which at the time was Social Security Disability
My read on Street Spirit changed when I moved inside
By Andy Pope on My relationship to many things has changed since I’ve been living indoors. Obviously, my association with homelessness and with homeless
Homelessness taught me gratitude
By Andy Pope on When one lives outdoors, and weather conditions are less than favorable, one sometimes wakes up freezing and soaking wet—not to mention flat broke. Under such circumstances, you can’t imagine the feeling of grati- tude that would overwhelm me as I succeeded in scraping up 63 cents for a senior cup of coffee at a Mac- Donald’s. At the store most frequented, they wouldn’t let us in if we didn’t have coffee change.
The homeless habits that followed me indoors
By Andy Pope on One of the many unexpected challenges that arose during my transition from homelessness to indoor living stemmed from the fact that I had simply gotten used to living outdoors. This caused many of the practices that worked for me when I was homeless to be carried over into the context of indoor living.
Affordable housing: One size does not fit all
By Andy Pope on As the homelessness crisis worsens, cities all over the U.S. are desperately trying to come up with solutions. California, for example, is in a frenzy to build new homeless shelters that will fit thousands of new shelter beds.
Moving inside: Antidote to mental illness?
By Andy Pope on Mental illness is often cited as one of the driving factors behind the growing homeless population in cities such as Berkeley and Oakland. A lack of resources for the mentally ill has led many people to the streets.
How I Got Inside
By Andy Pope on When I was homeless in the San Francisco Bay Area, I relied to a large degree on the moral support of lifelong friends and family who were not. For one reason or another, it was not feasible for any of them to let me stay in their homes for any substantial length of time.