Affordable Housing

Two Worlds Collide: Inequality in America

A “Sleep Out” in Washington, D.C.’s Freedom Plaza during Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week in mid-November. Photo Credit: Laura Tarnosky, <a href="http://streetsense.org/article/covenant-house-advocates-freedom-plaza-sleep-out-previews-vigil/#.VlzIkmSrRz9" target="_blank"><span class="s1">Street Sense.</span></a>
A “Sleep Out” in Washington, D.C.’s Freedom Plaza during Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week in mid-November. Photo Credit: Laura Tarnosky, Street Sense.
Seattle University student Lindsey Habenicht recently interned as a reporter with the Street Sense street newspaper in Washington, D.C. Because the internship was unpaid and housing costs were outrageously high (even for a shared bedroom), Lindsey also worked at Nordstrom in an affluent part of Virginia. She found it "eye-opening, jarring, and heart-wrenching" to go back and forth between settings of poverty and abundance, and also to watch her department store co-workers display a lack of empathy for a woman who was experiencing homelessness and spent time in the store. Lindsey reflects on her experience, takes a look at the national War on Poverty, and shares how we can all take action to address an economy that is out of balance.

“This Is Our Place”: A Journey From Illness and Homelessness to Stability and Community

Nick Hodges and Charlotte Wheelock experienced homelessness with their two young sons after Nick became ill with spinal stenosis. They talk about their journey from homelessness to stability in a <a href="http://kuow.org/post/homeless-and-sick-i-would-just-go-restroom-and-cry" target="_blank">StoryCorps conversation</a> that airs on KUOW today. Image by StoryCorps.
Nick Hodges and Charlotte Wheelock experienced homelessness with their two young sons after Nick became ill with spinal stenosis. They talk about their journey from homelessness to stability in a StoryCorps conversation that airs on KUOW today. Image by StoryCorps.
One year ago, our advocacy manager interviewed Charlotte Wheelock for the StoryCorps "Finding Our Way" project. At the time, Charlotte's family was homeless, and her husband Nick was in the hospital with a paralyzing spinal illness. Just six months later, everything had changed. Charlotte and Nick share their story in a moving StoryCorps conversation.

“I Had Nothing”: Mother Forced to Choose Between Abuse and Homelessness

In the newest StoryCorps "Finding Our Way" story, Jordan Hedgecock (left) tells Tanya Mettlen from Catholic Community Services about facing homelessness after leaving an abusive relationship. Image credit: StoryCorps.
In the newest StoryCorps "Finding Our Way" story, Jordan Hedgecock (left) tells Tanya Mettlen from Catholic Community Services about facing homelessness after leaving an abusive relationship. Image credit: StoryCorps.
With only $4 cash and no access to her bank account or credit cards, Jordan Hedgecock strapped her children in their carseats and fled an abusive partner. Hear about their experience with homelessness, read how their story fits into the larger context of domestic violence and homelessness in our state, and learn what you can do today to help ensure that all families have the opportunity to live in safe, healthy, affordable homes.
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