Week 1: The Barriers to Overcoming Houselessness

Yo yo everyone! Or should I say woah woah everyone, because this week was filled with a lot of “woahs” as I delved deeper into the meat of my project.

I began the week by planning my approach to my topic, as I aim to tackle a large issue in a fairly short period of time. This involved writing agendas for both my week, and meetings with my advisors. 

The first step of my project is to set up interviews. Because my research is predominantly based on word of mouth and qualitative research, ensuring that my interviews are diverse and well planned out, will ensure that my research is accurate and comprehensive. I am working with Abode Shelter and am in the process of connecting with two other shelters. These will be the three shelters that I will use to collect data for my project.

The next step was… FIELD TRIP! I made a quick trip to the Fremont Library to gather some more research material. At a past Simply Shelter event, my decision to delve deeper into this topic was reinforced when I was speaking to a fellow volunteer. He spoke about his involvement in a project in San Francisco, which invested hundreds of thousands of dollars into the housing crisis, yet had no impact. I became intrigued about why such projects are failing, and made a trip to the library and Jstor to do some background research. 

Finally, I began preparing for the semi-structured interviews that will be conducted have with houseless people. I want to make sure I am respectful while doing this project, so it is important for me to map out questions and ensure that I am prepared, though I still plan on keeping the interviews conversational. 

Have an amazing first week of March! See you next week with some more great findings. Rock on!