The Work of Being Unhoused
Meeting basic human needs while unhoused can quickly become a full time job.
I met a young couple huddled under a blanket the other day. One of them was getting over a lengthy chest cold, and had been in and out of Urgent Care for breathing issues. They were able to get themselves on SNAP and Medi-Cal, but when it came to securing housing, and even just regular access to a bathroom and shower, they were running into a wall. Despite an influx of funding and programs to address LA’s unhoused epidemic, securing space in a shelter is nothing short of a herculean feat. I know one man, a senior citizen with congestive heart failure (things that will bump you up on many waitlists) who has been waiting for a space in a shelter for over two years.
A space in a shelter is valuable, not just for the basic resources it provides, but also because the shelter can be considered a residential address. Lacking a residential address poses an obstacle to getting things like a driver’s license/ non-driver ID (a prerequisite for finding work, and even getting a temporary reprieve at a cash motel from DBT).
Regular access to bathrooms is another obstacle. The few public restrooms that do exist (at libraries, parks, and public beaches) close around sunset, and don’t reopen until the next morning (less so when it comes to the diminished hours at public libraries).
Showers are even more difficult to come by. Shower of Hope (an organization that provides mobile showers to unhoused communities) comes to Venice for just four hours each week. Asking for money to cover the cost of socks, clothing, and toiletries takes additional time and energy.
It’s easy to look at the magnitude of an issue and assume that there is nothing that you can do to help, that the issue is just too big, and requires a larger government funded response. That isn’t entirely wrong. But the truth of the matter is that top down funding can only get you so far. We also need more regular, everyday people to step up and do what they can to help.