Week 7: Diving into the Legislative and Social Barriers to Overcoming Houselessness

Welcome to week 7! 

This week, I hopped right into business on Monday, by interviewing Ms. Apra, a fellow Yellow Jacket. Anyone who talks to Ms. Apra for more than thirty seconds knows that 1. she has an unbeatable sense of humor, and 2. she has a British accent, which leads me to where she first began working with people experiencing homelessness.

Ms. Apra began her career in the UK working in HR. Yet, that job became boring after a while and she switched over to non-profit work. Her non-profit work often involved working with low-income disabled people in which she often listened to stories and learnt a lot about individuals’ life. When she came to America, it was only natural for her to continue her work in the social service field, which led her to her job at a rehabilitation shelter for houseless people in San Francisco. This center worked specifically with rehousing families, which she explains, “was a unique challenge in itself.” 

My final paper will give you more of an insight to everything Ms. Apra told me about her experiences working with unhoused people, and solutions she sees to help this community. In her words, “housing should be a basic human right”, and believes that steps must be taken by each of us, as well as the government to give people this right. 

I also reached out to Mayor Lily Mei inquiring for an interview. I hope to talk to her and gather some quotes to understand what the future of legislation towards the houseless community looks like.

Additionally, this week I spoke with Tyler who lived in a SimplyShelter micro-shelter in the past. He told me a bit about his experience with homelessness, and how he overcame it, but is forming a written email to me so that he can get his thoughts together and email it to me in one go. I am excited to read about his perspective, as it will be extremely impactful to my project. He currently works for a company and has his own housing. 

Overall, this week was extremely insightful, and now that I’ve gathered everything I could possibly gather, I am beginning my paper. My final product will consist of a final paper, trifold, presentation, and video, so these next three weeks are extremely important to wrapping up my senior project.

Blogger’s note: The senior project was an avenue for me to extend my impact to the houseless community, but I’d like to comment on how the community has in turn impacted me. Before, I had preconceived notions which I’ve learnt are just completely wrong. I see so much beauty in every houseless person I’ve talked to, and understand that they are much more than being unhoused. Instead, they are amazing friends, mothers, sisters, partners, and people. The conversations I’ve had with houseless individuals have brought me to tears, and I’m so glad I got this opportunity to speak with these individuals and interact with the community, which I may not have done if it wasn’t for this space through the senior project. 

Sadhwani out! See you next week.