Homelessness is solvable | Michelle Flynn | TEDxSaltLakeCity

In her 25+ years working to help the unsheltered community in Utah, Michelle Flynn has seen how complex the issues that lead to homelessness can be. But she’s also seen one simple solution we can all utilize right now, today, to help: letting go of our assumptions about homelessness. She shares insights on how to do this as an accessible step we can all take to help end the rising occurrence of homelessness. Michelle Flynn has served as Executive Director of The Road Home theroadhome.org/ since February 2020, having been with the agency for 25 years in various roles. Michelle is a fierce advocate for systemic changes to reduce and end homelessness. She is dedicated to the mission of The Road Home and her role of supporting the team members providing crisis shelter and housing programs. Her work focuses on program and system planning, using best practices and data to achieve key outcomes and lifting and embracing the voices of front-line workers and people experiencing homelessness into decision making roles. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx

[@markjackson4246]

I would certainly never say that we should ignore or give up on the homeless. But to purport that "wrong choices" is NOT a major factor in this crisis, is polyanna. Having personally dealt with family members who continually make poor choices (addiction, finances, food, etc.), these are the preeminent things that lead to homelessness. Along with rising rates of mental illness, which is, yes, everyone's fault. Society is making bad choices that lead to increased rates of mental illness. We have chosen as a society to ignore the plight of the mentally ill who have proven OVER AND OVER again that they are incapable of managing their lives. We decided we cannot declare that they are not competent and when families are worn out, frustrated and exhausted after giving these folks 4th and 5th and ad infinitum chances, they become homeless. And the mentally ill make poor choices about their medications. They get better on meds and then they feel like they don't need them, or they feel like they can't beat their addiction. Then they fall again. I'm not saying toss all these folks in the cuckoo's nest, but a step-wise plan needs to be instituted, or things will just get worse

[@ktgiang]

The real question isn't if these folks need the help. It's if they want the help...
Its hard to determine if a person just wants money or if they truly want help to get out of their situation. I work 55+ hours a week and have a baby at home to make sure we're not homeless