Lena, The National Coalition for the Homeless
Written Reflection: During our field trip to DC, we visited the National Coalition for the Homeless. This organization advocates for the homeless and believes that people with “lived experience” need to be in the room when laws are made about the housing crisis. Lived experience is when someone has personally experienced homelessness. At the national Coalition we heard from three speakers who have all in some way experienced homelessness. The first speaker we heard from, Abena, became homeless when her apartment caught fire and burnt down. Since she did not have renters insurance she had nothing to fall back on. Her daughter was able to sleep at some people's houses who could not take in the mother herself. She instead had to live in her car until that too was ruined in a car crash. From there she slept on couches for a time and was able to live in some Air B&B’s that the community around her had bought her. Her community saw how she was a kind woman who often worked in the g...
