I couldn't tell you the first time I ever met the Mayor of the Square. I was probably standing in the shade from the Cabildo in Jackson Square, listening to the square's ad hoc brass band along with wandering tourists and locals passing through the...
The UNITY we are today is able to house more chronically homeless people like Manuel Justin. After Hurricane Katrina, UNITY reinvented itself to respond to an explosion of homelessness. This summer, a New Orleans partnership led by UNITY further finetuned the way our teams approach...
But now, with support from UNITY, Mr. Dawson is housed and is learning to do things himself. This blog post is by Emily Leitzinger, a case manager at UNITY’s award-winning Rosa F. Keller Building, a UNITY-owned apartment community for the working poor and for disabled people rescued from homelessness. On...
[caption id="attachment_2132" align="aligncenter" width="258"] A newly empty doorway, where oneof UNITY's clients used to sleep.[/caption] By Mike Miller, UNITY’s director of supportive-housing placement There is one simple vindication for all the daily frustrations of being an outreach worker -- the disjointed, the systems of broken systems,...
By Mike Miller, UNITY's director of supportive-housing placementSometimes I have trouble explaining what I do for a living. When I say I work with the homeless, people often search for an appropriate response. Usually I get: “So what exactly does that mean?” Or sometimes: “Some people don’t...
We never lose. Sometimes it just takes us a while to win. It’s the same tired refrain I often use when a long week has thoroughly kicked my ass, leaving me contemplating my career ambitions and wondering if full-time bartender would be a more fulfilling vocation. ...
Today’s blog is by UNITY outreach worker Demetra Phoenix. The day started as any other work day would. I went to an outreach meeting first thing in the morning. On the agenda was the weekly discussion of how to get into housing those homeless people we...
The answer is 232. At least it is for Coleman. It’s the question I get every time I present at conferences about outreach: “How do you get people into housing who have been on the street for years, even decades, who just don’t want to...
His sleepy eyes said he didn’t believe me. It was almost 1 a.m. and Lamar was lying on a piece of cardboard, with late night traffic speeding 20 feet above the light blanket that was covering his slight frame. The traffic noise, Lamar’s soft voice and...
“What we got next?” Travers asks. It had been a long day and night as we scratched off a rather substantial list of abandoned buildings, musty underpasses and urine soaked doorways on our clipboard. We’re rubbing our tired eyes and cautiously monitoring the digital clock on...