Ending Homelessness Part 2

“When you’re sick of people talking about it, that means people are just starting to get it.”

– Mike Carmen, Director of Workforce Development at OC United

As we alluded to in Part 1 of this blog series, we know homelessness is an ongoing issue. Our goal is to continue the conversation regarding this situation and find out more about the great work being done within our community. By promoting the success stories from various organizations, we can encourage connections between these bigger movements and learn of ways to partner with them ourselves in order to create more impactful and lasting change.

I had the chance to talk with the Director of Workforce Development, Mike Carmen, from OC United, a faith-based non-profit organization that seeks to bring restorative relationships and empower the most vulnerable in our community. Every day, he works directly with individuals experiencing homelessness to provide job/life skills training.  This is done through an 8-week training course that partners individuals with volunteers or champions to assist throughout the process and follow-up once the course is completed. OC United employees and volunteers are one example of the boots on the ground that our community members need in order to gain confidence to re-enter the workforce.  This work has radically changed both the individuals coming out of homelessness as well as the volunteers who aid in the process. When asked why OC United takes such a relational approach, Mike Carmen says,

“People in homelessness have almost all suffered a breakdown in relationships. In fact, I have come to understand that true poverty is not about a lack of possession, but a lack of meaningful relationships… The constancy of friendship, accountability, encouragement, direction and simply just being there is what often makes the difference between people succeeding or failing. Students are surprised that volunteers choose to walk with them for such an extended period of time (6-12 months, ideally), and such commitments help our graduates reestablish personal dignity and hope, as they discover that there are those who actually believe in them.”

Mike and his team are helping to fill this need, reminiscent of the by-name approach Kern County used to eradicate homelessness (see in Part 1). 

During our conversation, Mike expressed how finding permanent housing for the individuals he works with is difficult. This is where the work being done by organizations like HomeAid and United to End Homelessness have become major players in the solution. According to the HomeAid OC chapter website,“[HomeAid] has successfully developed 59 building and renovating housing projects which have added 1,451 shelter beds across the entire homeless Continuum of Care spectrum. Additionally, just last May, United to End Homelessness advocated for $10 million in successful funding for seven projects to develop 467 units of affordable and permanent supportive housing. This is exciting news for Mike and other organization leaders like him.

Like me, you may be thinking what can I do right now? Timing has it that California will be completing a Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) plan for 2021-2029, and each city will develop and adopt their Housing Element showing how it will meet the RHNA allocations, by October 15 of this year. That means now is the perfect time to get involved with local jurisdictions and advocate for affordable and permanent supportive housing. Anyone can sign up to be a housing champion in your community through United to End Homelessness. If relational work is more for you, volunteer with OC United or similar organizations in your area.  If filling in financially is what you can offer, HomeAid Orange County is hosting an Essentials Diaper Drive on May 9th along with many fundraising events this year. Big or small, everyone can play a part in these success stories.