The Expertise of Lived Experience
Article originally published Dec.6th, 2019 by Community Change as part of its Housing Narrative Project's 'Welcome Home' series on Changewire.com
My understanding of housing policy and the challenges facing millions of Americans in finding safe affordable places to live is firmly rooted in my own often traumatic lived experience.
It began, not from think tank researched policy papers or closed-door speeches from economics experts, but from watching my mother stoically fight back tears when, after my parent’s divorce, we lost our house to foreclosure and were forced to sleep on relatives’ couches.
It continued as an adult when, during my late wife’s breast cancer diagnosis, treatment, and resulting medical bills. We were forced to move into a cramped apartment with black mold, faulty electricity, and bad plumbing. We had to deal with an unscrupulous landlord who preyed on our economic insecurity and refused to improve our living conditions.
Even as I write this, my challenges finding good housing has continued. Last year, just months after my wife’s…
