The money and resources that are being provided have too many barriers. Lack of documentation or other things necessary to qualify for support is a huge barrier. You have to be on the verge of homelessness or losing services in order to qualify for assistance. Things should be fixed BEFORE it gets to the point of almost losing housing or utilities.

Housing is a human right not a privilege. No one should choose who deserves it and who doesn’t. As long as there is an abandoned building on every corner there should be no homelessness. Governments should use eminent domain to bring communities together and house people!

“Accountability is required across many spectrums. People who cause harm within Black and brown communities are often unpunished. But this does not hold true for Black and brown people who may commit even small crimes, or none at all. We always having a guard up and be in defense.”

When you try to access services, such as trying to just find a bed and shower, first you call 211 and tell them too many details, then centers and tell them all of your trauma, it’s too much. It’s a full time job. It’s retraumatizing to explain why you deserve a roof over your head. A case worker should have a simple portal that doesn’t retraumatize people. Service providers should have to explain themselves and allow clients to choose from services that fit them. Not the other way around.

Liberation is ensuring that every person, regardless of who they are or how much income they have, has a home. Housing is a human right and basic need. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs – basic needs first! Everyone has access to a home!

Housing liberation looks like safety and autonomy in housing choices. Over policing in these spaces removes privacy and autonomy. Being able to access affordable housing, which looks different for everyone – should be QUALITY – safety, physically AND environmentally. Housing should not shorten your lifespan. The impact on mental health in spaces that lack autonomy and privacy is devastating. Constantly looking for notices, constantly anxious about conditions of housing and maintenance checks. Causes stress and anxiety with my son as well. Housing should preserve dignity and respect. ACCESS TO SCHOOLS! Housing isn’t just about what is cheap or affordable but what do the educational prospects look like? Can I safely expand my family? MULTIGENERATIONAL stresses are passed down to children within the home. Constantly on the defense. Addressing the intersectional barriers that keep people from accessing housing like language barriers, racism, poverty etc.”

Affordable housing places that receive grants or govt money, that money should be put aside for repairs and maintenance. That money is not used properly. Current systems are just not adequate and there are always loopholes that can be exploited.

When you try to access services, such as trying to just find a bed and shower, first you call 211 and tell them too many details, then centers and tell them all of your trauma, it’s too much. It’s a full time job. It’s retraumatizing to explain why you deserve a roof over your head. A case worker should have a simple portal that doesn’t retraumatize people. Service providers should have to explain themselves and allow clients to choose from services that fit them. Not the other way around.

“Start at the root of the problem, the GOVERNMENT – they pretend to try but they are not effective. Voucher systems are insufficient. The government is wasteful on wars and military. Landlords should be educated about what it means to offer and maintain housing. Landlords have too much power – accountability is lacking for those charged with housing low income people. Affordable housing isn’t affordable housing. The rent is essentially market rate at this point. Justice would be the government investing in their citizens!!”

Affordable housing places that receive grants or govt money, that money should be put aside for repairs and maintenance. That money is not used properly. Current systems are just not adequate and there are always loopholes that can be exploited.

Daycare is expensive and some “affordable” daycares might not cover mothers who want to go to school

I have attended a lot of webinars and heard stories of others that have obtained higher education degrees without debt. This is not the case for so many people. Getting loans sets people back after they get their degrees. I had a counselor that helped me avoid loans throughout my education. We need to do things like offer gift cards to buy food in school libraries – you can’t succeed when you are hungry. Students need basic needs met so they can realize their full potential. Students without parental support are often driven to loans for education which puts them in debt.

Black women in America have additional stereotypes applied to us. When I apply for things my name signals whiteness but then my voice and physical appearance result in different treatment. This is straight up systemic racism. It discourages people from bringing their full self to situations due to systemic biases about Black people. People in services that don’t have lived experience often treat those seeking services poorly because they don’t understand our issues. I have the goal of going to an all Black college like Howard someday, where I will feel more empowered and accepted.

We need to normalize family therapy. Living in poverty is criminalized and tools are not offered to help family units stay together. Providers are often hamstrung by rules and regulations (took by the book). Families should have some sort of coach/teacher/community support to help through issues. Someone with similar experiences to get families through hard times. Quite often the crimes that are committed are crimes of poverty and they impact the entire family unit. We need to stop solving problems through separation! It creates anxiety and insecurity in young people which can lead to spiraling issues and increased exposure to criminal justice systems. We need job training, connections to mental health services, connections to school/degree programs. People feel pushed into creating the circumstances to qualify for help – like having a baby because mothers have more access to certain systems and services. The current systems are set up for people to fail.

I come from a nontraditional family – lived with my grandmother because I had an incarcerated parent and my mother passed away. A custody battle ensued – a lot of loved ones were not fit to take me on. What I needed most was a clean space (uncluttered), a place to eat meals, transportation to and from school and activities. I did not have places to study and I have always been a high achieving student without the physical and mental space to fully feel safe and supported. In college there was a lack of understanding and support for dealing with a roommate with mental health issues. All of these things affected my feelings of safety.

We had to take our pride flag off the porch because people would sit in our parking lot in their cars and watch our house. Faith based shelters are discriminatory against trans communities, like not being able to use showers that match their gender identity etc. We’re homeless and starving and sick and being shot in this country but those in power would rather talk about minorities or no fault divorce. The world keeps telling us that there is no room for people like us here, and sometimes people listen.

Housing liberation looks like dignifying architecture. Everything is the same shade of white. Things that are supposedly marked off as repaired are not. My wife can’t get a GED because HUD housing says you can’t be a student and live in HUD housing. We are stuck in small damaged apartments that we can’t decorate and make our own. Feels like housing is built to erase us once we are gone. True liberation would focus on the mental health aspect of what makes a house a home. The rental office is open for 28 hrs a week on weekdays during work hours. If I need something I have to take a day off of work and schedule ahead in order to meet with them.

I work with the city’s homeless coalition – supposed to come together to talk about food and housing. Anti discrimination came up – one member was anti trans and now the work is distracted from the real issues to discuss if this person is allowed to treat homeless trans kids poorly. Society is built around acting on immediate dangers so we don’t have time to focus on bigger systemic pictures. Built so we can never stand next to each other and rise up against those to blame for our strife. Survival prevents us from elevating ourselves.

I’m a trans person who fears what bathroom to walk into, the only bright side is being blind makes people second guess if I just didn’t see it. I fear losing my home, my rights and knowing others who lost everything over night. I don’t know what safety looks like, all I know is to keep positive energy. To never let anyone hold you down. I might be suffering, but I will be there, upbeat and somehow pushing for everyone to feel better. If they wanna cry, let’s cry, scream, throw a pillow or go to a smash room. Safety isn’t known to me, but self care and creating a positive energy to help heal is.

I am scared. Current youth shelters are already homophobic. New ones being built near me are close to prisons and enclosed. They are not suitable for youth as they are used as a tactic to scare youth to go back home. To then see no protocols are put in place for LGBTQ youth. County commissioners are suggesting things that are not safe, suitable or accessible. Policies do not match what’s being done around me. Though they look good on paper, who are they truly helping? As youth are being pushed away, when all they truly need is to be supported.

There is rampant discrimination in housing options against those with disabilities. Application processes are too long to qualify for housing and very often people are considered too disabled to live in available housing and need 1 on 1 care. You can be kicked out of your housing for being a student. Studio apartments are like shoeboxes – they are not accessible to those in wheelchairs or those who are older.

Structures are often fatphobic. My partner is not able to use the bathtub because it is not built to accommodate their height and weight. The housing offered to those struggling often feels like living in a shoebox. When I started working from home, housing office hours were unreasonable and apparently optional, making it difficult to get help when I needed it.

I don’t call the cops for anything. They do not have the best interests in mind of marginalized people. Period.

On the mental health aspect, healing looks different for everyone. Personal therapy DBT therapy, peer support, this might work for some people but not everyone. We need medical providers who don’t judge but consistently support us because relapses happen. Making therapy accessible. Providers need to be educated on youth issues so they are better equipped to help with our specific needs. We need providers who look like us, in these spaces. Instead of having a white man shame me for not being trans enough, my blind self rather be supported by someone who knows we come in all shapes and sizes. Love is love, and living my life as I see fit, is how I wish we all can live. How we see fit. However, that may take forever.one day at a time!

Certain crimes are classified differently (i.e.,quality of life crimes, sex…) and if you confess to those kinds of crimes you can be considered inadmissible. Poor immigrants are prone to those crimes because they are barred to receiving benefits and are often brought here through trafficking. If you confess to abusing substances you cannot be granted citizenship therefore there is ableist eugenics trend in immigration system, hindering harm reduction for noncitizens, they are not worthy to become citizens if they have a substance use problem.

There is a lack of training and understanding of the basics of the immigration system and services end up not being helpful or effective. There does not seem to be a willingness to learn from service providers.

Hope and healing looks like the ability to be in community and space with people who are like us. This requires money, housing, stability and time. A lot of these things intersect. I feel the most healed and centered when I’m around other black trans folx.

There is a lot of just shuffling people around between agencies to keep them busy and to keep it out of one’s hands. Nobody wants to be the one responsible in a legal sense so they pass you around

I think it’s important that there is some form of taking down the categorized housing structure as well. Means by categorized: mental health issues, disabled, drug abuse disorders, STOP PUTTING PEOPLE IN BOXES. Separating people based on specific issues rather than just structuring housing around the community. Wait lists are too long – had to wait 3-5 years

The government does not care for anyone they are not obligated to care for – especially not those without citizenship. People are living without the ability to travel, work, or receive benefits and are in constant fear of deportation.

Many providers pride themselves on “encouraging self-sufficiency” Why is self-sufficiency the end goal? People need help!

For me, it is about not putting on people’s shoulders whether they will lose their housing or not. We will sometimes fail, and it should be fine without costing us housing. Don’t take the humanity of failure away from people. Housing liberation is existing together, loving people unconditionally and supporting them unconditionally.

When a provider in our community was looking for a space for a shelter, suggestions to add a ramp were denied because it costs money and time and since it’s a historical building there is no requirement.

Whatever little bit you have been able to gather can be lost through bureaucracy. We need a collective effort to get service providers to understand our daily struggles. The system builds walls around us that make it more challenging to reach those in power; they want to develop programs for us but will get nowhere if they don’t ask us what we need. We are the experts on what we need, and no book can teach that. We must sit at the table and help you pioneer what the end of homelessness will look like.

As an asylum seeker, I lost most of my documentation. Accessing resources was a nightmare. You need documentation to qualify—doctor’s notes, medical history, etc. They made it impossible for me to get help, and I battled my illnesses alone. But the system also fails those who were born here. I had a friend whose shelter refused to buy him an orthopedic bed for his chronic back pain. This pain kept him from walking at times; he didn’t have an official diagnosis, so the shelter didn’t seem necessary to provide him with a bed that accommodated him, even though the doctor had written a note stating that the diagnosis was unknown and would remain unidentified as they didn’t know what was happening to him. He had to sleep on the floor till he exited the program. If service providers are not there to practice radical love to those needing help, you just become another number. And we can see that we are that to you, so why should we trust anyone in our “team” to help us escape homelessness?

It makes it harder to access housing, and you have to figure out medication, transportation, fresh food, etc. Shelters without ramps can’t serve people adequately. Housing without safe sensory rooms is clearly about erasure and lack of representation. It causes even more breakdowns in the body and trauma. Service providers need more training and help to support those with visible and hidden disabilities. Ensuring that we are provided with rest and healing practices that are decolonized and decentralized to fit a demand.

There should always be somewhere for everybody to go. Money is given through lottery systems etc there should be a way for everyone to be housed. Sometimes men are left out of housing assistance while women with children are favored. We all should be able to have the housing we need. It shouldn’t be something that you HOPE to get, it should be a given. Build more shelters, more housing. I am still learning what liberation looks like for me.

Requiring a police report can keep people away from seeking services. Sometimes victims are not ready or willing to turn to police so these requirements can leave people outside longer. Also helping people deal with the shame of being in a dv situation. REMOVE BARRIERS!!

Everybody has somewhere to go and people don’t have to stay in unsafe situations in order to have a roof over their heads. Leaving an unsafe situation shouldn’t make you homeless. Systems are TOO SLOW. In 2021 I was matched to a voucher, yet I am still in a shelter. I did everything right but the system is too slow. Affordability is also a part of liberation – people shouldn’t need 3 jobs and 4 side hustles to afford housing. Our systems are inefficient.

I found it hard to find adequate DV housing identifying and passing as male.There needs to be far more awareness, and advertisements, for these programs. There are many other causes that are brought to the public eye in that way.

As long as protection and support is offered to these victims, I believe the mental health treatment for the PTSD that is caused from those who experience DV, will feel protected and secure enough should confidentiality be jeopardized. I also think there should be better protection in place for people who are escaping their abusers.

Safety for me looks like the ability to defend myself. Severe mental health issues have normalized a lot of things that make me feel unsafe. Safety is the emotional and physical ability to defend against harm. Classes, services and support to help prepare me so I don’t feel weak or defenseless in certain situations.

I think more emphasis should be placed on the term Domestic, I think a lot of people fail to understand that it doesn’t exclusively apply to romantic relationships. I also think in a suspected DV case both parties should be brought into psychiatric evaluation and, again, more attention brought to how mental illness is responsible for violence.