Image of the Week: Meeting Practical Needs

Published February 14, 2009 @ 03:30AM PT

If you've never been homeless, it's tough to describe how day-to-day, seemingly mundane routines can be enormously challenging. As the LA Times reported yesterday, one of the greatest ordeals for those living on the streets or in shelter is what to do with their personal belongings:

After a point, they can't carry it with them, but if they leave it on the street, it'll be lost or stolen. Even if, like Marage's family, they are staying at one of the area's missions, most facilities limit the belongings that can be brought in and offer no storage space.

As a common-sense yet critical service to the homeless in LA, one organization has filled a warehouse with trash cans ("bins") for homeless people to store their personal belongings while they are unhoused. Just last week, staffers reconfigured the space to squeeze in more bins to accommodate the rising demand.

If nothing else, such a services eases one of the many concerns homeless people have as they face the significant challenges of living without a roofPractical.

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Comments (1)

Around here, some people are also stashing their stuff in bins a lot like that. Except they are actual trash and recycling bins. On sidewalks and curbs. They must exercise care to be sure NOT to have them out there during collection times.But it's good to see such a pragmatic example of one of the oft overlooked or neglected basic needs. Take a few minutes to try to image - out of all you own - just what you might select to keep... that would all fit in one of those bins.

Posted by SlumJack Homeless on 06/06/2009 @ 10:03PM PT
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Author

Shannon has worked in homeless shelters and service organizations in San Francisco, the Triangle region of North Carolina, and currently in the greater Boston area. She is a graduate student studying housing and urban policy at Tufts University.