Chronic Homelessness: Changing One's Own Frame of Reference | Article by Cynthia Latcham, Executive Director | April 8, 2022
Building trusting relationships with our tenants in Permanent Supportive Housing is central to the service delivery model program managers' work within at Anawim Housing. When you serve people well, and Anawim Housing program managers do, you hear their stories. I am privileged to hear about some of these stories of resilience and transformation. Oftentimes the stories don't line up with traditional metrics of success. Frequently these stories challenge my own frame of reference in how I view people who have experienced homelessness.
Anaïs Nin said, “We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.”
Our own life experiences inform our belief systems. If we have a world view that people should be self-sufficient and "pull themselves up by their bootstraps", it is usually because we have overcome obstacles and believe others capable to do the same. But not everyone is issued a pair of boots at birth.
Generational poverty, domestic violence, systemic racism and histories of mental illness factor heavily into people becoming housing insecure. Chronic homelessness occurs when all of the above occur and there has been a complete disenfranchisement between support systems, both formal and familial, that could provide a safety net for avoiding loss of home. When this happens, permanent housing offered without preconditions is the most effective practice in regaining housing stability.
Anawim Housing is proud to offer these specialized and customized services for our vulnerable citizens. As I have listened to people's stories, I am often shocked at the level of creativity, industriousness, curiosity and ingenuity our program participants' exhibit. I'm then chagrined at my surprise, because by now I should know that people don't choose their homelessness status, and hard work rarely cures their homelessness. Safe, affordable and decent housing offered without preconditions and barriers does work. Home is Everything!