Guest Commentary written by

P. W. Robinson

P. W. Robinson

P. W. Robinson is an advocate and is formerly homeless. He lives in Ventura.

Re: “7 takeaways from our investigation into California homeless shelters“

For those who take a dim view of homeless shelters, I can only suggest they spend a night or two sleeping in alleys, under bridges or on freezing beaches, shivering and starving, with no bathroom facilities and predators of all kinds circling.

In the desperate journey of a homeless person, these shelters provide safety and the basic necessities of life. Since attaining housing is rightfully regarded by most as a pipedream, these shelters can also provide a sliver of hope to the hopeless. 

In any decent shelter, a person is treated like a human being, often for the first time in many years. They suddenly have the dignity of running water, toilets, showers, food, mail, etc. If ever they might dare to hope again, that’s the time.

Depending on an individual’s personal history of trauma, sleeping near — very near — 100 suffering strangers can be a terrifying experience, but it’s better for some than freezing and starving and trying to sleep with one eye open. On the outside, some folks turn to drugs so that they can stay awake and vigilant throughout the entire night.

Sadly, some people cannot be convinced to try to sleep in a room full of strangers. They’ve been assaulted and lied to so many times that they have no belief in safety, even as a concept. Others simply can’t sleep through the night without screaming out, which disqualifies them from shelter living. 

Are these folks “service resistant” or are they just suffering?

In order to grade the quality of a shelter, we have to throw out stats like rate-of-housing, because shelters have no part in creating housing opportunities. Their housing estimates rely on the projections provided by housing authorities, developers and contractors. When new housing units fail to become available, no one can move out of a shelter. That is a system failure, not a shelter failure.

I was provided with a pipeline to housing, and eventually attained it. If I hadn’t had a place to sleep safely, send and receive mail, and eat and shower and advocate for myself, and get help from case managers, I might not be housed even today, a couple years later. That’s how shelters are supposed to work.