Last October, my dear friend and colleague, Dorothy Edwards, passed away at 66 years old.
She had been living in her little bungalow off of Los Robles Avenue for 12 years, safely and comfortably for about as long as she had been forced to live outside.
I say forced, because for decades, homes were not offered as part of the solution. Pause at that for a moment. The reasons are many, but that’s a story for another time. This one is about Dorothy and the transformative nature of the Housing First model.
The National Alliance to End Homelessness defines “Housing First” as a homeless assistance approach that prioritizes providing permanent housing to end homelessness and serve as a platform for personal goals and quality-of-life improvements. It’s based on the belief that people need basic necessities like food and shelter before addressing other issues like employment or substance use.
Shawn Morrissey, VP of Advocacy, Union Station Homeless Services
As with most things worth having, transformations take time and require more than housing. A home is the foundation — none of what ended up becoming Dorothy’s life, could have happened without it. But this transformation also needed supportive, evidence-based services, authentic relationships, and community. This work is intentional, thoughtful, heartbreaking, and joyous, centering around the fullness of the person. That is Housing First.
As expected, Dorothy’s first couple of years in her own home were not what I would call the smoothest. As my colleague Mario Galeano says, “trauma doesn’t instantly heal.” As with any wound (especially the ones you can’t see), it takes time, patience, love, and a village. It always comes back to that. We don’t heal and move forward in a vacuum. A house has four walls and a roof. But a HOME is so much more, isn’t it? We all know that.
Old habits die hard and none more than the ones that also soothe. Substance use is like that. Physician Gabor Mate says this, “Addiction is a response to pain; we need to stop asking why so much addiction and start asking…why so much pain?”
Dorothy brought her addiction and her pain into her housing with her. This can be delicate work. It often involves allowing people to have their experience. To fail and to have consequences connected to those decisions. What I have seen time and time again is that when a human being is given the dignity and autonomy of HOME, they become invested. Safety and comfort is its own addiction. Community and authentic relationships are addicting. And it is these that often supplant the addiction to substances. The opposite of addiction is connection. That is Housing First.
So it was with Dorothy. After so many years outside, she became invested in being inside. Having purpose and meaning in her life became the forces that drove her. As her caseworker, I was clear that there wasn’t anything I would do to help her continue to hurt herself, but there also wasn’t anything that I wouldn’t do to help her heal and move forward. Her home, relationships, resources and community began to transform her.
Dorothy Edwards was once homeless, living under an overpass with her dog Gunner. She became a nationally known advocate for the Housing First approach model to dealing with homelessness. Pictured here, Edwards, who died last year, speaks during the Everyone In: Stories from the Frontline event where stories were shared from people who experienced housing instability or who transitioned from living on the streets at Polytechnic School on Thursday, June 27, 2019 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
I’ve watched this play out in people’s lives over and over again. It is the rule, not the exception. That is Housing First.
Dorothy began giving back to others what she had received. She got sober. She became involved. When my dear friend finally passed on, she had been gainfully employed for nine years as a caseworker, doing the work of walking alongside others as they transformed their own lives.
She was nationally known, held a position on the Board of Directors with the Corporation for Supportive Housing and had been named Woman of the Year by Congresswoman Judy Chu.
Dorothy became a stunning example of what Housing First can accomplish. If Dorothy was here still, she’d tell you that. She’d tell you that Housing First saved her life. She’d say that everyone can heal, but it takes love … and it takes time.
That is Housing First.
Shawn Morrissey is vice president of Advocacy for Union Station Homeless Services. Headquartered in Pasadena, Union Station works to provide permanent solutions to end homelessness and rebuild lives.
