Societal shame degrades self-esteem; makes it hard to get off the street
By Andy Pope on Often, society’s expectations of unhoused people are degrading, and do nothing to help get people indoors.
andy pope
Holding onto housing requires confidence, healing
By Andy Pope on Mainstream expectations make some people feel trapped on the street, Pope rights.
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.
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
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.
Which comes first: homelessness or drug use?
By Andy Pope on “Does the crackhead become homeless, or does the homeless person become a crackhead?” This question was posed on the website
The homeless Christmas day
By Andy Pope on It looks as though we’re closing in on Christmas again, folks. That’s bad news in my book, and (I daresay) in the corporal book of homeless people everywhere. Take my holiday experience several years ago, for example. I spent Christmas Day stuck out in the rain, with services closed for those of my ilk, not to mention the usual five-in-the-morning “indoor resources” being closed (Starbucks, McDonald’s, etc.).