Homelessness 101 trainings are a series of best practices agreed upon by a coalition of voices within the housing and homelessness communities. History of Homelessness is one of these in the series along with Boundaries & Ethics | Client Engagement | Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging | Harm Reduction | Housing First | Trauma Informed Care.
People are often surprised to hear that, although there have always been Americans who lack housing, in our several hundred year history as a country, the numbers have widely fluctuated. Homelessness has cycled between high rates of people without housing and relatively low rates. The trend has always been for America to somehow correct the problem and return to a small number of people who lack stable and safe housing…that is until now. The current trend of non-stop, increasing homelessness began between 40 and 50 years ago, and right now it shows little sign of stopping.
In this training, we will be exploring the five major periods of increased homelessness. We will pay particular attention to what appear to be the unique underlying causes from each period. You will be asked to reflect on your observations of the underlying causes associated with each period, and determine to what extent these causes are still factors that lead to or sustain homelessness in the current Contemporary Period.
Why learn about this topic? George Santayana, the Spanish born, America educated, philosopher, poet, and essayist, once observed, “If we do not learn from history, we are condemned to repeat it.” Our task in this training, then, is to learn from history in order to not repeat mistakes of the past or learn what worked to reduce the numbers of people who were without housing. Our overarching goal is to create a society where access to housing is viewed less as a privilege but considered a human right.
If you are unsure if you or your organization are a MESH member or a Hearth Connection Partner, please email Michele at events@mesh-mn.org Hearth Connection partners should register as a member and use the promo code to complete registration. If you are not a MESH member but would like to join, please click HERE.
101: History of Homelessness Non-Member
Non-Member registration: $50 with 1 month access. CEUs available following course completion. Individual and organizational members of MESH enjoy discounted trainings while partnering with MESH to help end homelessness in MN. If you’d like to join by check or have a question about membership, please email Michele at events@mesh-mn.org or to become a member, click HERE
101: History of Homelessness Member
Member registration: $25 with 1 month access. CEUs available following course completion. If you are unsure if you are a member, please email Michele at events@mesh-mn.org. If you would like to become a member and enjoy the member rate, click HERE
