November is here, and that means the holiday season is approaching; our thoughts naturally turn to the concept of home, as in home for the holidays. For many in our community, however, “home” remains a dream rather than their reality. This month, we’ll be sharing a series that explores one of the most crucial factors in homelessness: housing itself. Not just the lack of it, but the complex web of barriers that prevent our unhoused neighbors from securing and maintaining stable housing in our community and beyond.
The Reality We Face
Every day at Nest, we meet individuals whose stories challenge common misconceptions about homelessness. They’re veterans who served our country. They’re workers whose paychecks don’t stretch far enough. They’re families who lost everything to a single unexpected expense. They’re seniors on fixed incomes. They’re people who, through circumstances often beyond their control, found themselves on the outside of an increasingly unforgiving housing market.
The truth is this: the pathway to homelessness is often paved with housing costs that don’t align with economic reality. And the path back to stable housing? That can be even more challenging to navigate.
When the Math Simply Doesn’t Work
Throughout this month, we’ll be examining the stark mathematics of housing affordability. The traditional guideline suggests that housing costs should not exceed 30% of a household’s income. However, for many in our community, even finding housing at 50% or 60% of their income is a significant challenge.
When the math doesn’t work, families are forced into impossible choices: pay rent or buy groceries? Keep the lights on or keep a roof over their heads?
We’ll explore the actual cost of housing, including all those hidden expenses that make “affordable” housing anything but. Utilities, application fees, and pet deposits for those whose emotional support animals are lifelines; these costs add up quickly, creating a financial situation that can feel impossible to overcome.
The Barriers Before the Door
Even when someone experiencing homelessness manages to save enough money for rent, additional obstacles await. Credit scores, often damaged by the very circumstances that led to homelessness, become gatekeepers to housing opportunities. Security deposits, which require first and last month’s rent plus a security deposit, can total thousands of dollars. Background checks that don’t account for the context of survival. These aren’t just hurdles; they’re walls that keep people out. And many times, many of these obstacles, such as applications, credit scores, and background checks, are never reviewed by a human, simply an automated system that rejects applicants that do not fit the parameters for renting. What is challenging for our guests is that in many cases, meeting with the individual and learning their story can bring understanding and accommodations for these historic barriers.
Those Who Served, Left Behind
As we approach Veterans Day, we’ll dedicate special attention to our veterans and their unique housing challenges. Men and women who wore our nation’s uniform shouldn’t be unhoused, yet veteran homelessness remains a persistent crisis. We’ll explore the specific barriers veterans face and highlight the resources available to help them find stable housing.
The Changing Face of Our Neighborhoods
Gentrification and the rise of short-term rentals have significantly altered housing availability in communities nationwide. Apartments that once housed families are now vacation rentals. Once affordable neighborhoods have become exclusive. We’ll examine how these trends directly contribute to homelessness and explore what communities can do to strike a balance between development and housing accessibility.
We’ll also examine the darker side of the rental market: slumlords who exploit vulnerable populations, knowing that people experiencing homelessness often have few options. Substandard housing that threatens health and safety becomes the only “choice” available.
The Eviction Pipeline
Evictions don’t just end housing; they create cascading consequences that make securing future housing even more complicated. We’ll explore how quickly someone can move from housed to unhoused, and how the eviction process itself becomes a barrier to future housing stability. Did you know that in the state of Indiana, an eviction can take place in as little as five days? This truth and understanding of this pipeline are crucial to preventing homelessness before it starts.
The Waiting Game
For those who qualify for subsidized housing, hope often comes with a years-long waiting list. We’ll examine the reality of public housing waiting lists and other housing assistance programs, exploring both their critical importance and their limitations. When the wait for stable housing stretches into years, what can happen in the meantime?
The Cost of Living Crisis
Housing doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Rising costs for food, healthcare, transportation, and other necessities compound the housing crisis. When wages remain stagnant while the cost of living soars, housing becomes the breaking point. We’ll examine how this crisis is interconnected and why addressing housing alone is insufficient; we need comprehensive solutions.
Finally Housed, Now What?
Securing housing is a victory, but it’s not the end of the journey. Newly housed individuals face unique challenges in maintaining their housing. From navigating lease agreements to managing utility accounts to adjusting after trauma, the transition from homelessness to housed life requires support. We’ll explore what “housing stability” really means and how our community can better support this critical transition period.
A Season of Homeward Thoughts
As we begin this series in November, with the holidays approaching, we want to acknowledge the weight of these challenges.
Every person experiencing homelessness in our community deserves safe, stable, affordable housing. Housing is a human need and a human right. This series aims to educate our community about the real barriers to housing, foster empathy and understanding, and ultimately inspire action on behalf of our unhoused population.
How You Can Help
As we explore these issues together, we invite you to engage with this series, share these posts, and consider how you might be part of the solution. Whether through advocacy, volunteering, donations, or simply changing the conversation about homelessness in your own circles, every action matters.
Stay tuned as we unpack each of these critical issues. Together, we can work toward a community where everyone has a place to call home, not just during the holidays, but every day of the year.
