A Place To Call Home
The seeds of change are found in everyday experience. The stories of people who live in supportive housing can shed light on important issues, such as what it is like to experience homelessness or live with mental illness or a disability. Because of this, during 2019, the Supportive Housing Providers Association (SHPA) and Housing Action Illinois partnered to bring a series of five workshops to help residents of permanent supportive housing explore telling stories to make a difference. The stories in this publication grew out of the workshops, and we are grateful to everyone whose experiences are shared in these pages. Together, we can build a more understanding, compassionate world. Our thanks to the Illinois Charitable Trust Stabilization Fund for making this collaboration possible.
The seeds of change are found in everyday experience. The stories of people who live in supportive housing can shed light on important issues, such as what it is like to experience homelessness or live with mental illness or a disability. Because of this, during 2019, the Supportive Housing Providers Association (SHPA) and Housing Action Illinois partnered to bring a series of five workshops to help residents of permanent supportive housing explore telling stories to make a difference. The stories in this publication grew out of the workshops, and we are grateful to everyone whose experiences are shared in these pages. Together, we can build a more understanding, compassionate world.
Our thanks to the Illinois Charitable Trust Stabilization Fund for making this collaboration possible.
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silverware. They offer counseling and match you up with other programs
that you may qualify for.
Being homeless leads to so many other negative situations. With no
address, a job is next to impossible to obtain. How do you bathe, wash
clothes? With no job, how do you obtain an apartment? Many landlords
will not even consider you. How do you stay on medication? So many have
to do without critical medicine. So many of those meds are psych meds,
insulin, heart meds, and so many other life-saving medications.
So many—too many—see someone who is homeless and automatically
think, “Bum, get a job,” and many other negative assumptions. Being
homeless is a horrible experience. It is an embarrassing, soul-crushing,
and hopeless situation to be in. It isn’t just men, as so many assume. It is
women with children trying to get out of abusive situations, it is families,
young people, and senior citizens who
“It is women with
children trying to
get out of abusive
situations, it is
families, young
people, and senior
citizens who cannot
or do not make
enough money to
keep a home.”
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cannot or do not make enough money to
keep a home.
It is such a blessing that there are programs
such as Southern Illinois Coalition for
the Homeless and many others. I was
fortunate that I found the coalition so
quickly and that they had an apartment
available. But there are countless others
who are not so fortunate, who remain in
horrible, soul-crushing situations.
And yes, there are some who have mental
illness who cannot stay on meds. And
some who may be addicts or alcoholics, who may have been released from
a hospitalization or incarceration. There are the lost, the hopeless. There
are the good, the bad, and those who are struggling to keep their heads
above water.
If you say “Not me, not my family,” don’t be so sure. It is amazing just how
many people in this country are actually two or three skipped paychecks,
or just one illness, away from being homeless.
It can happen to anyone, at any time. Never say never. It happened to me,
and trust me, it could happen to you.
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