Tanya Tull is the founder and CEO of Partnering for Change as well as the Beyond Shelter, and spared a few minutes of her hectic schedule to speak with me. Below are the main points I've summarized from our conversation.
Q: Please share your motivation behind The Beyond Shelter.
Tull: Women and children account for ⅓ of individuals homeless in Los Angeles, but they are often not thought of when we use the term “homeless." A majority of people are becoming homeless because they can not afford the rent. Shelters are filling up.
Facts and figures:
-95% living in the neighborhoods are renters, many families are living multiple families in one studio apartment
-70% of the rental units are studio or one-bedroom apartments
-Women and children are sleeping on floors
-Los Angeles Unified School District is not responsible for helping families find housing, it's not federally mandated, they just provide education
-A majority of displaced individuals are not eligible for homeless services
Q: Why hasn't significant action been taken place to correct the problem by now?
Tull: What [lawmakers] were doing wrong was they were not talking to each other. They need to see women and families with children at different levels - they need to see them in the education system, in family daycare's, in special education schools, in community colleges, in after school programs, in family resource programs... these individuals are multi-faceted and policy needs to reflect that. Rather than integrating into the community based systems that were already there, they separated it early.
Q: What should policymakers do in the near future?
Tull: We need to engage these systems as first responders by learning how to screen and identify at different stages a family’s housing problem. It is vital that we refer them to a system that would provide housing interventions at every stage to get current homeless families back into housing and those at risk to stabilize so they do not become homeless.
Q: What do you envision as a solution?
Tull: Housing is at rents that people simply cannot afford. We need to focus on a housing plan, training programs, and the development impact model - a shared boarding house for women who can’t afford rent, which my program is kick-starting.
Everyone should have access to housing whether they are homeless or not.
Skid Row is currently the site of the only homeless shelter in Los Angeles that refuses to turn away women. Union Rescue Mission, who uses blow-up mattresses to house 300-400 women, is just the tip of the iceberg. The shelter's CEO Andy Bales said, "The other day I got a call that there was a twenty-six year old woman who ran into our building naked after being beaten and raped. It is a FEMA-like, Red Cross like disaster."
To get involved and check out the work being done, please visit Partnering for Change's website here.
Q: Please share your motivation behind The Beyond Shelter.
Tull: Women and children account for ⅓ of individuals homeless in Los Angeles, but they are often not thought of when we use the term “homeless." A majority of people are becoming homeless because they can not afford the rent. Shelters are filling up.
Facts and figures:
-95% living in the neighborhoods are renters, many families are living multiple families in one studio apartment
-70% of the rental units are studio or one-bedroom apartments
-Women and children are sleeping on floors
-Los Angeles Unified School District is not responsible for helping families find housing, it's not federally mandated, they just provide education
-A majority of displaced individuals are not eligible for homeless services
Q: Why hasn't significant action been taken place to correct the problem by now?
Tull: What [lawmakers] were doing wrong was they were not talking to each other. They need to see women and families with children at different levels - they need to see them in the education system, in family daycare's, in special education schools, in community colleges, in after school programs, in family resource programs... these individuals are multi-faceted and policy needs to reflect that. Rather than integrating into the community based systems that were already there, they separated it early.
Q: What should policymakers do in the near future?
Tull: We need to engage these systems as first responders by learning how to screen and identify at different stages a family’s housing problem. It is vital that we refer them to a system that would provide housing interventions at every stage to get current homeless families back into housing and those at risk to stabilize so they do not become homeless.
Q: What do you envision as a solution?
Tull: Housing is at rents that people simply cannot afford. We need to focus on a housing plan, training programs, and the development impact model - a shared boarding house for women who can’t afford rent, which my program is kick-starting.
Everyone should have access to housing whether they are homeless or not.
Skid Row is currently the site of the only homeless shelter in Los Angeles that refuses to turn away women. Union Rescue Mission, who uses blow-up mattresses to house 300-400 women, is just the tip of the iceberg. The shelter's CEO Andy Bales said, "The other day I got a call that there was a twenty-six year old woman who ran into our building naked after being beaten and raped. It is a FEMA-like, Red Cross like disaster."
To get involved and check out the work being done, please visit Partnering for Change's website here.
What is also being done:
Shirley Raines started "Beauty 2 the Streetz": a volunteer-run project that provides home-cooked meals, makeup, and compassion to hundreds of homeless women. She comes to Skid Row every Saturday to offer free meals and beauty services along with the Fighters for the World motorcycle group who also help to support the homeless.
Raines wants to restore the dignity of these women with hair and makeup. She found that just like at a hair salon, they open up once they feel beautiful. Though she restores both the inner and outer beauty of these women, she recognizes that her efforts aren't enough. "I don't think that I can end homelessness, I think it's a gangrene situation right now. We're trying to put a band-aid on a gunshot wound," she said.
Raines wants to restore the dignity of these women with hair and makeup. She found that just like at a hair salon, they open up once they feel beautiful. Though she restores both the inner and outer beauty of these women, she recognizes that her efforts aren't enough. "I don't think that I can end homelessness, I think it's a gangrene situation right now. We're trying to put a band-aid on a gunshot wound," she said.
It's very important to put something on and see something other than what you're going through. - Shirley Raines
Clearly, homelessness is an incredibly complex problem that will take years and resources to fix both in Los Angeles and around the nation.
In the meantime, we can continue supporting organizations like Raines'. She is asking for donations on her website here.
We can also do something that is equally as free as it is effective: treating homeless people with dignity and respect, knowing that any one of us could be in their place in an instant.
In the meantime, we can continue supporting organizations like Raines'. She is asking for donations on her website here.
We can also do something that is equally as free as it is effective: treating homeless people with dignity and respect, knowing that any one of us could be in their place in an instant.