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STORY: Hope and Homelessness
Rebecca Nathan, a young woman who experienced homelessness during her pregnancy, received help from Hope Community. Rebecca first moved into Hope in 1999 when she came to Minneapolis as a transfer student. Due to a problem with a landlord, Rebecca became homeless, and Hope Community provided her with affordable housing, which allowed her to finish her degree and become an advocate for herself. Rebecca is now involved with Hope Community’s outreach efforts.
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| Key Terms |
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| Affordable housing |
| Homeless |
| Predatory lending |
| Racial steering |
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| Before Viewing |
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What effects does being homeless have on one’s ability to get educated and employed?
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| After Viewing |
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- What does Rebecca mean by a "harder landing"? How did it affect her?
- What does she mean by “it was bigger than me”? Why does she not consider herself a victim?
- Rebecca says “poverty is cyclical”, do you agree? Discuss.
- Rebecca says that a lot of “working class families do not have an advantage of being an advocate for themselves”? Why do you think that is? Why was Rebecca able to become an advocate and change her situation?
- What does Hope Community do? How did they change their mission, and how did it affect Rebecca and other families?
- How, if at all, does homelessness affect all of us?
- Do you know of any other community organizations that are trying to help homeless individuals?
- How can you help?
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| Suggested Activities |
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Ending Homelessness Locally and Nationally
This activity aims at familiarizing students with local and national efforts to end homelessness. The students will learn about two organizations, one acting locally and the other nationally. They will be able to examine current social, legislative, and economic issues involved in the homelessness debate, and be inspired to act on behalf of poor and homeless people in their communities.
- Introduce the activity: Students will research and present on homelessness issues locally and nationally. They will work in teams to learn about two organizations:
Minnesota Coalition of the Homeless: http://www.mnhomeless.org
The Coalition works to “generate policies, community support, and local resources for housing and services to end homelessness in Minnesota”.
The National Coalition of the Homeless:http://www.nationalhomeless.org
The National Coalition is a national network of people who are currently or formerly homeless, activists and advocates, community-based and faith-based service providers, and others committed to ending homelessness.
- Divide students into teams of 3-5 people, and assign them to “local” or “national” projects. Depending on the number of people in your classroom, you may have 2-3 teams working on each project.
- Explain that “local” teams will focus on learning about the Minnesota Coalition of the Homeless and “national” teams will focus on learning about National Coalition of the Homeless. Have teams come up with one homelessness issue they would like to explore (e.g., causes of homelessness, children and homelessness, domestic abuse and homelessness, affordable housing, etc). A good way to come up with issues may be a quick brainstorming exercise. Local and national teams should work on the same issues.
- Students will work in teams for 30-45 minutes to examine their issue. They should come up with a 10-15 minute presentation based on their research. Prepare and hand out a list of questions:
- What does the organization do to address the issue?
- What was the most unsettling or surprising fact you found? Why?
- What can you realistically do to address the issue?
Invite the teams back into the plenary for discussion and debriefing:
How is this issue addressed locally and nationally? Are there any national practices that should be adopted locally, or vice-versa?
Resources:
Participants can also take the Right to Housing in the United States Quiz and then review the Right to Housing in Minnesota Fact Sheet.
The Right to Housing in the United States Quiz:
http://hrei.urbanplanet.com/94e5b074-e6a7-43da-be29-7166551acc36.html?NodeId=
The Right to Housing in Minnesota Fact Sheet:
http://hrei.urbanplanet.com/sites/7cc8fb84-899d-457d-a486-
70ccb03fb16/uploads/Housing_Fact_Sheet__Minnesota_Nov._1__2007.pdf
Additional resources include:
- Voices of the Street website-www.voicesofthestreets.org, contains stories of homeless people in Minnesota in the form of a multimedia documentary the Land of 10,000 Homeless, and other resources aimed at ending homelessness in Minnesota..
- The Online Community Action Planning Tool can provide a useful template for a Community Action Project: http://www.hrusa.org/thisismyhome/project/tools.shtml
Participants can also review Overview of Homelessness in Minnesota 2007 report prepared by Wilder Research to gain more information about homelessness and housing issues in the state.
Other useful sites:
Twin Cities Compass www.tccompass.org
Mind the Gap Report www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/rc/reports/2005/10cities_sohmer/20051027_mindthegap.pdf
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