A House Isn't Always a Home: Homelessness in Check | Maurizia Johnson
As a Housing Navigator, I support clients in securing safe, stable, and affordable housing by delivering comprehensive, client-centered services throughout the housing search and placement process. This work is made possible through investment by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. No day is the same with tasks like assessments of client needs, identifying appropriate housing opportunities and collaborating closely with landlords, property managers, and community partners. A lot of my work is spent fostering opportunities to build long-term independence, stability, and improved quality of life for the individuals and families I serve.
As a whole, there are limited program spots available and we still have unaddressed pockets of homelessness both in our community and around the country. In theory, we will never have the resources to “eliminate” homelessness, there are several observations that I’ve made in my time as a case worker that might paint a broader picture as to how interconnected this issue is to many others.
Homelessness is an economic issue. Think about a time that you were rushing out of the house and you didn’t have your morning coffee. It really messed up your routine and you could feel it. While this is not anywhere close to or equivalent to not having a safe place to go, it’s a fairly easy way to connect the issue. When individuals do not know where they are going to stay the next night, or have instability in their housing situation, or even worse, are parents and experiencing homelessness, it is hard to maintain “the status quo”. We see extraordinary levels of unemployment, job turnover (as much as 70%), and skill deficits amongst our homeless community. When you don’t have a foundation to stand firm on, everything else collapses on top. Making strides to identify ways to increase access to safe shelter and housing will have a positive impact on economic growth and employment in the community.
Homelessness is a health issue. In some news headlines, you will see a community declare a public health emergency related to homelessness. There is some benefit to approaching this complex issue using health as a pillar of the problem solving. Why? Think about how you feel going out to get the paper in the morning on a particularly cold morning -- or how on especially hot days, even our dogs have to limit their time on the pavement. It’s pretty unbearable in our short window of experiencing the elements, now imagine you can’t escape that. The Warming & Cooling Shelters are only open during business hours and the shelters are completely full. Being out in the elements creates substantial risk for permanent health risks including death. Often, our homeless neighbors have also lost their health insurance or have other underlying health issues which compounded create major problems for them. These health issues turn into ER and hospital visits. With no means to pay, the costs are absorbed and we all absorb those costs. Having a plan for safe shelter and housing may allow us to alleviate these long term health challenges.
There are many other micro-issues in the macro-world of unresolved homelessness. These are just two examples of adjacent issues that we must contend with in this work. We’re making a difference with the resources we have today but we can do so much more.
I urge you to learn more, get connected, and ask: How can I help?
Maurizia Johnson is the Housing Navigator for KHDS.
