We the Unhoused
We the Unhoused is a podcast created by Theo Henderson with the goal of uplifting voiceless citizens. Begun while Theo was living on the streets of LA for over eight years, the show provides an intimate look at the unhoused experience.
Episodes
Theo takes a closer look at how the recent fires in Los Angeles affected the city's unhoused community, who the mainstream media and the city continued to ignore. He speaks with returning guest Roof Lesser about her experience being unhoused close to the fires, and with restaurateur and activist Philip Hirose, co-owner of Azay in Little Tokyo.
Follow Roof Lesser here: https://www.instagram.com/rooflessr/
Welcome to 2025 at We the Unhoused! Theo is starting the year on a high note, interviewing former Black Panthers, Lorenzo Ervin and JoNina Abron-Ervin. They share their experiences and insights on what a more just world can still look like. In Unhoused News, Theo takes a look at the persistent struggles faced by people transitioning from temporary to permanent housing, and the real dangers of hypothermia in Los Angeles among the un...
In our last episode of 2024, Theo reflects on how 2024 has affected the unhoused community, and how to look forward to 2025. Then, he speaks with two returning guests -- Peoples City Council cofounder Albert Corrado about his journey toward mutual aid and building a better world in the wake of his sister Mely's murder at the hands of the LAPD, and Azoy, who speaks to the struggle to remain housed with the prejudice that exists in e...
Theo returns to the field to continue exploring SELAH, the Los Angeles mutual aid organization working to educate their participants and volunteers on Grants Pass and provide necessary services. He speaks with volunteer coordinator Rachel Sanoff, participant Cindy, and longtime outreach volunteer Suzy to learn more. Also: Theo reflects on the horrific Daniel Penny decision, memorializes Jordan Neely, and looks at how the media cove...
This week Theo provides updates on the Jordan Neely murder trial before exploring how one Los Angeles mutual aid organization is working to educate their participants and volunteers on the Grants Pass decision, and how they plan to continue providing services during a second Trump administration. We speak with new volunteer Max, current volunteer site lead Raquel, operations manager/local advocate Maebe A. Girl, and frequent partic...
This week, Theo gives insight into what the election means for the unhoused population, and speaks with activists on how to move forward. Rooflesser returns to the show to discuss their work on the ground in LA, and we check in with home reclaimer and advocate Martha Escuerdo to talk about her continued fight for safe and sustainable housing.
Follow Rooflesser here:
This week, Theo checks in with two candidates for judge we spoke with earlier this year -- George Turner and Erika Wiley. We discuss what's changed with the Grants Pass decision, the journey to the ballot box, and the pressing need for local politicians that are advocating for the unhoused.
Learn more about George here:
https://georgeaturner4judge.com/
Learn more about Erika here:
https://www.wileyforjudge.com/
See omnystud...
Ahead of the election, Theo dives deep into why the unhoused vote is so crucial with Dr. Caitlin Krenn. Also, Theo speaks with Oregon-based activist Jetty about how Grants Pass legislation is already affecting the intensity of sweeps across the country.
Follow Jetty here:
https://www.instagram.com/junkartlady/ https://www.instagram.com/barefootdefenders/
Follow Dr. Krenn here:
See omnystudio.c...
Theo continues his exploration of the wreckage of the Grants Pass ruling with a focus on the effects of youth houselessness, and goes in depth with Dr. Robin Petering and Tonny St. James to discuss the Young People to the Front initiative. But first, Theo speaks with Emptea about the uptick of evictions in Los Angeles in district one, and how they're taking City Councillor Hernandez to task for failing to protect residents like the...
This week, Theo is on the ground for a brutal Grant's Pass motivated sweep of a long term, vulnerable unhoused community in El Monte, CA this month. He speaks with people affected, and asks sheriffs and Army CORPS members on how one can justify sweeping and threatening to arrest allies assisting the unhoused in the middle of a triple-digit heat wave. How are sweeps changing now that the Supreme Court has empowered them? The reality...
It's a busy week on We the Unhoused -- Theo travels between California and Michigan to take a closer look at the intersecting struggles of the unhoused and the housing-insecure.
First, we speak with journalist Phoenix Tso of LA Public Press and Alejandro Gutierrez of the Hillside Villa Tenant Association on the current struggle to keep longtime residents housed in the face of brutal landlord rent hikes and complicity within th...
Theo concludes the We the Unhoused trip to the National Alliance to End Homelessness Conference in July, and reflects on the conference's urgency on the heels of the Grant's Pass Supreme Court decision.
He speaks with three interviewees, who share how they've turned their lived experience with being unhoused into advocacy for others -- Curtis Howard, Rachel Parker, and Tawanna Simpson share the state of advocacy from across th...
Theo's adventures in Washington continue this week, with two more interviews from the National Alliance to End Homelessness Conference in July. First, Albert Townsend, the Director of Lived Experience at the Alliance, shares his story; then, Theo attends the "Lessons Learned from the Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program" talk and speaks with Tatiana Reis and Lenn Dittmeier.
Learn more about YHDP here:
Today we're sharing our first episode from Theo's summer trip to Washington, D.C., for the National Alliance for Ending Homelessness Conference. Theo attends a thought provoking presentation featuring Melissa Chinchilla and Deyanira Nevárez Martínez: Latinx Houselessness, Understanding and Addressing Double Up Houselessness.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Description: Theo heads over to Painted Brain LA to meet with artist-in-residence Amanda Nicholson, whose work explores the diversity and uniqueness of the unhoused experience. Plus, Theo checks in for Unhoused News all the way from Washington DC, where he just finished covering the National Alliance to End Homelessness conference.
Follow Painted Brain LA: https://paintedbrain.org/
This week, Theo takes you inside the Care, Not Cages press conference from this past spring in LA, organized by the Reimagine LA coalition. How do we get our cities to invest in their people as promised? Gather, and demand it. Also: Theo gives his take on the horrifying Supreme Court decision that further criminalizes being unhoused in the U.S.
Follow Reimagine LA here: https://reimagine.la/
Follow Trans Latina Coalition here: ...
Theo speaks with Ralph Silverman and Fred Waitzkin. Waitzkin is the author of the upcoming book "Anything is Good," an account of his friendship with Ralph ranging from their high school best friendship, through Ralph's experiences being unhoused in Florida, and Waitzkin's learning that his assumptions about the unhoused experience were far from the truth.
Pre-order the book here:
This week, Theo explores how struggles of the unhoused are intersected with Palestinians fighting for freedom while being ethnically cleansed. He catches up with reclaimer and past guest Martha Escuerdo with @reclaiminghomes, then speaks with student organizers in protest encampments at USC, demanding divestment from Israel and acknowledging the displacement universities do locally.
Also, a memorial for Jessica ‘Queen’ Mendez.
This week, Theo learns about the origins of a successful, ever growing mutual aid group — the Echo Park Trash Club, and what they offer to the unhoused community.
Follow EPTC here: https://linktr.ee/EchoParkTrashClub
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
To conclude our Blow the Whistle series, Theo conducts a round table discussion with three whistleblowers on Inside Starving.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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