Student-Run Emergency Housing Unit of Philadelphia: CNN Headline News Interview

The Student-Run Emergency Housing Unit of Philadelphia will bring students from Philadelphia universities together with the most marginalized members of society- people experiencing homelessness- so that each group will have a profoundly and mutually beneficial impact on the other. The same 30 guests will stay and keep their belongings in the emergency housing unit for the entire winter. This will allow the guests and volunteers to build a sense of community with each other. There will be a wide variety of holistic opportunities available to the guests. These range from art and yoga programs, to medical care, computer literacy and money-management classes, job training and house hunting. The fact that the unit is only open in the winter will instill in the staff a sense of urgency to place these individuals in permanent housing once the unit closes. Students will work quickly to access each individual's needs and link them to the available resources in Philadelphia that are necessary for transitioning out of homelessness. The experience of running an emergency housing unit will allow these students to break out of their comfortable environment. They will put names and faces to the problem of homelessness and develop relationships with the guests that will compel them to reconsider some of their ideas about poverty and homelessness. They will also start to comprehend the structural barriers that are in place which make it difficult to climb out of homelessness. Student volunteers will be given a myriad of opportunities to advocate legislatively on behalf of people experiencing homelessness. SREHUP will send students to D.C., Philadelphia, and Harrisburg to work with local and national representatives on issues of education reform, job creation, and fair housing initiatives. During and after graduation these students will work for the systematic changes that are needed to fix the problem of homelessness, so that emergency housing units are no longer needed in the future.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• SREHUP
• Stephanie Sena
• Student-Run Shelter
• Homeless Shelter
• Social Justice
• Nonprofit
• community
• Philadelphia
• homelessness

[f4foodforfriends]

Great organization!