A Story of Movement and Rebuilding Opportunity

We hear of opportunity all around us, whether locally or abroad, in the United States or in other countries. And if we are capable of helping those that don’t have a way to seize those opportunities, we have a responsibility to ensure their success in one way or another. But sometimes, we fail at this effort, especially with young adults who are in the process of seeking better opportunity for themselves, but do not have a firmly-rooted home to return to with a fixed income — after a day of work, or school, or both. Or neither.

ShelterTech spoke with Emmy*, an incoming college student who experienced homelessness and transitional housing, at the most recent datathon with Global Shapers on April 6. Emmy’s story is one of movement and rebuilding opportunity.

Emmy, who is originally from the United Kingdom, won a hackathon over there and got a ticket to visit the US. After deciding to stay in the US to seek opportunity, he faced great hardship along the way:

“I didn’t know anyone [in San Jose], and life became tough for me. I found myself on the street, and some of the people I met helped me navigate to resources to find food, take a shower, and have a night bed. I went through this for six months”.

While experiencing homelessness, Emmy was able to find his way to San Francisco and get into transitional housing. Emmy’s determination to live in the San Francisco Bay Area led to finding more opportunities in critical pathways in life, including education, work, and community.

Emmy was on the way to a better life. Emmy met with the GLIDE community in San Francisco and he was able to receive assistance for immediate needs through their services. In GLIDE, Emmy found a loving community that cared for all that are dealing with poverty and marginalization.

In order to help him find transitional housing, GLIDE referred Emmy to Larkin Youth Services, which is where Emmy found a two-year transitional housing program that provided affordable living and a reward system. As Emmy explained:

“It’s community housing. You don’t have your own room, but you get a roommate. Something good for transitional housing: they charge 30% of your earning income. They don’t charge too much. Charge based on what you can earn. Minimum amount to get for housing is $400 and above a month, which is affordable. Normally it’s $1,000/month and above.”

Larkin’s transitional housing program also provides a method to ensure success for individuals. If you have been paying $400 a month for rent, Larkin “gives the rent money back to the tenant so that they can then use it for survival. Paying them, to have and to use”, Emmy said.

After being in transitional housing, Emmy found his current job as a community rep and a place he now calls home.

When checking out ShelterTech’s AskDarcel database, Emmy shared some thoughts about homelessness:

“Being homeless is not a choice. It’s part of life, because in life everybody has their ups and downs. Being homeless — people have social stigma to those who are homeless. They think they are the ones who deal with drug activities and other crimes outside, but it’s actually another side of life when you experience things that are not working well in life. It’s not a choice. People have the drive to get out of homelessness. If enough funds and resources are provided to them.”

And how he feels ShelterTech is helping address this societal issue:

“Everything ShelterTech is doing, it’s a great job…The people I used to ask {about} resources, they didn’t have enough knowledge of all resources in the city. When you ask them, they sometimes use Google and would give that information. It was hard to get a website to get information together all in one space. ShelterTech came as a solution to that. Now I’m happy to recommend {it to} any homeless person, giving them all resources in one place.”

Today, Emmy continues moving onwards and upwards. He is on track to attend community college in the fall of this year, so that he can get an education that was previously unattainable in his home country, and to find a career in the tech industry. Emmy’s talents in programming were what originally led him to a journey in opportunity, and to rise above his circumstances to start a new life.

In our mission to meet the needs of San Franciscans experiencing homelessness, ShelterTech and AskDarcel thrive on the kindness and support of our volunteers. If you’re interested in volunteering or have your organization partner with us in an upcoming Datathon, send us an email at info@sheltertech.org.

Finally, it takes a village to keep the lights on at ShelterTech. If you might be able to help us raise $500 to cover the costs of our next public Datathon, please donate here. Anything helps. Thank you.

*Names omitted or changed to protect interviewees’ privacy.