December 21, 2021 • 44 mins
In the season 2 finale, Leo interviews his NoHo Home Alliance colleagues Antoinette Scully, Jolly Hollamon and Lex Roman. They discuss their work with NHHA, debunk common myths about homelessness, and explain how to get involved in your own community.
Support NoHo Home Alliance!
Donate - https://www.nohohome.org/noplacelikenoho
Volunteer - https://www.nohohome.org/volunteer
Instagram;
Twitter
Follow Leo!
website; tiktok; instagram; twitter
By: Leo Yockey
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:13):
Hello, and welcome to the seasontwo finale of the Leo Yockey
Show, the show where I LeoYockey interview guests about
the universal truths and theirunique life path. And honestly,
nothing can be more universalthan collective liberation.
That's a lot of what we talkabout today with my three. You
(00:34):
heard me right, three gueststoday. Now, throughout the
majority of 2021, especiallyafter I quit my job back in
February, there were two thingsthat provided me a lot of
consistency and stability. Onewas this very podcast, the Leo
Yockey show. And the other wasthe work that I did with Noho
(00:55):
home Alliance, a housing programin my neighborhood unlike any
other, we are truly communitydriven. And I think that's one
of the reasons why it's so greatthat I have three guests today,
because each one of themAntonette, Jolly Lex, they all
bring something different tothis conversation. And they all
bring something different to thework that they do. And together,
(01:15):
I think we have a reallyimportant conversation about the
housing crisis and things thatwe can do about it. This work
has been incredibly important tome. If you feel so compelled,
there is a link in the shownotes to donate to know her home
Alliance. Also, if you're in theSan Fernando Valley, we would
love to have you as a volunteer.
All of that information is inthe show notes. And without
(01:37):
further ado, here is LexAntonette. Jolly and Hi, my
colleagues over at Noho homeAlliance
Alright, it is bound to be themost chaotic episode of the Leo
(02:00):
Yockey show ever because I wedidn't prepare anything hardly
at all. And I have not one nottwo but three guests with me.
Jolly Anjanette Lex. Hello, howare you all doing?
Hey, great to see you. Yeah,thanks for having us.
Thank you all for coming. I'm, Iam really excited to be doing
this. I've talked on the show alittle bit about, you know, some
(02:22):
of the work that I do I knowhome Alliance I've had like
Murphy and Trish on the showpreviously, although they were
both mostly talking about liketheir music and stuff. So you
know, the listeners are awarethat I do something with helping
the unhoused in my community andthat I'm really into it, but
they don't. I haven't reallyexplained what that means. And I
(02:43):
figured why not bring three ofmy friends onto the show to
explain what it means instead ofjust talking about it myself.
That makes a lot more sense tome. So before before we get too
far into it, can you all justkind of explain. Like Introduce
yourselves for listeners andjust say like what you do for no
(03:05):
ho hum Alliance? Start with Lex.
Hey, I'm Lex. I'm primarily aweb designer. I make websites
for a living and an AppDesigner. But I've been a
lifelong volunteer butcoordinating volunteers and
running projects volunteerproject since I was 15 years
old. And I actually started thedrop in program over at seila in
(03:26):
Silverlake and then moved overto Noho home where I now co lead
the volunteer outreach team.
Nice Antonette Hi, I'mAntonette. My pronouns are she
Bay, and I am the housingcoordinator and a field outreach
worker and a site manager forone of the sites at the Studio
(03:47):
City sites specifically at Noho.
Home Alliance, so I wearmultiple hats throughout the
week. And mostly I spend a lotof time engaging with guests and
their needs around housing andall of the resources to get them
there.
(04:08):
Hi, I'm jolly, I use they he EOpronouns. I, I also worked with
Nova home Alliance as theassistant to the site manager at
the studio location. You knowhanding out resources also an
outreach specialists where wework with a couple of different
targeted encampments along theborders between CD two and CD
(04:30):
four. I do a lot of the drop inprogram like helping people
navigate paperwork. Because youknow, living outside it can be
really tough to get theresources that you need, like
applications are just a hugehurdle for people. And I also
help our house neighbors toapply for the rental assistance
(04:52):
that's going on right now withthe pandemic.
Nice. Thanks again. Thank youall for coming on and for I
guess for the So just for thecontext of what I do at Noho
HomeAway. And that is shifting alot right now, as I'm going back
into tech, but I, for a fewmonths, there was also a site
manager at the North Hollywoodlocation. And now I'm just kind
(05:16):
of a volunteer bopping arounddoing whatever. But okay, so
far, so I don't, I don't know ifany of y'all really know how I
got involved with no hope. Butfor me, I think it kind of
echoes a lot of, you know, justpeople who are trying to get
involved in general right now. Ihad heard about, you know, like
(05:37):
mutual aid groups and peoplethat are out there helping
people in the streets throughlike podcasts and stuff I had
actually heard specificallyabout, what's it called
solidarity and snacks, which isa group that works, I think,
mostly in Skid Row. And I wantedto get involved somehow I wanted
to do something I wasn't workingat the time. You know, I
(05:58):
obviously been like, reallyaffected by like, stuff that I
was seeing in the news over thelast year. So. So back in April
of this year, 2021. Solidaritysnacks, again, was the only
group that I knew, but I live inthe valley like y'all do. So I
was like, Hey, guys, I DM themon Instagram, hey, do you know
of anything that's in NorthHollywood? I mean, I'll go to
(06:18):
downtown if I have to, but Ireally don't want to. And they
told me they sent me the IG pagefor no home Alliance. And so
have there just happened to belike one of those volunteer info
session is like the next day orsomething like that. And the
rest is the rest is history. ButI think that I think that
there's a lot of people outthere that kind of have similar
(06:40):
sentiments of like, I want to dosomething, and I don't know what
to do. And it feels like just inthe little bit of time that I've
been involved in the home lionsthat like, it just it seems like
it's almost like the longer thatI get involved, I simultaneously
feel like, wow, we're doing alot. And like also, wow, this is
(07:05):
barely like the tip of theiceberg what we're handling. So
how it, what am I even trying toask, I guess like, what, what,
what is something that y'allusually say to people? Because
you're a lot more involved inlike community stuff than I am
like, what do you say to peoplewho are like, I was like, back
(07:27):
in April, like I want to beinvolved? But I'm so
overwhelmed. I don't even knowlike what to do?
I mean, I can go with that.
Before I started it, no, whoa, Idid. Well, I do a lot of racial
justice work, that was the thingthat I do. And outside of doing
housing, I'm a big advocate ofcommunity building and plugging
(07:49):
in exactly where you're at. Solike the way that you did it to
be, this is the neighborhood I'min and I want to help the very
specific people in myneighborhood, is a great example
of plugging in exactly whereyou're at. I think that I don't
want to talk too much for Lex.
But Lex doing graphic design forNoho. Home lions, right like is
(08:12):
one of those things where shealready knows how to do the
thing. And this is using hertalent that she already has to
help progress a cause that shecares about. And so I am always
of the mindset that, find thelane you're already in. And then
do more of that in like ajustice capacity. 100%.
(08:34):
Yeah, I like to quote Bob Akili,from Black Lives Matter who
always says join anorganization. I think getting
involved in an organizationthat's doing something that
you're passionate about, or thatyou're wondering about like
homelessness is the best way toget involved because all those
folks can sort of guide youthrough it. And you can do
everything from pack a bag lunchon your first day to sort of
(08:57):
leveling up and being involvedin advocacy, and leadership
capacities as you have Leo.
Yeah, I'm walking testimony andlooking at me now. And no, it is
really interesting how I thinkthat's a really good point. It's
like once you get involved withpeople who are already doing the
work, that's the most importantlike, don't, don't try to start
from scratch, like join peoplealready doing the work. And it
(09:20):
is interesting, like just howyour skills even sometimes
skills you didn't even know thatyou had or skills that maybe in
the past you hadn't had quitethe opportunity to utilize. It's
like well, there's a need andand if they can sense that you
might be able to fill this need,they're going to you know,
they're they're going to makesure that that you're available
(09:41):
and that you're able to do it.
You know,it's true. If anyone knows any
videographers we always need.
Yes, absolutely. So yeah, ifyou're a videographer listening
to this, and you've been wantingto get more involved and you
would like to help the unhousedpeople of North Hollywood hit us
up So I think the the the bigthing that we do at no hohem.
(10:06):
Alliance that I don't want tosay is fully unique, but it's
definitely something that I'venever seen firsthand is the way
that our I don't know what I'mtrying to say. We're basically
it's weird, because we're kindof filling in gaps that like, I
think a lot of people assume ifyou're not doing the work, you
(10:29):
assume that a lot of what we dois kind of already handled by
the government and socialservices. And it's like, it is,
but it isn't like, because a lotof what we're doing is we're
helping navigate people tothings that are set up by the
government and by socialservices. But there are a lot of
holes or a lot of cracks in thesystem in which without kind of
(10:51):
having someone who has, youknow, a little bit more access
to resources and things likethat advocating for you. You
might, things might not workout, you know what I mean? Like
people are like, Oh, well,there's already welfare, oh,
well, there's already, you know,Obama phones, oh, well, there's
already you know, getting yoursocial security card is free.
(11:11):
But like, Can any of y'all speakto some of the experiences
you've seen firsthand, of like,how those things like just
getting those things isn'talways as simple as it seems.
And some of the things thatwe've done to kind of help
bridge that gap.
I think jelly does a lot withthat very specifically at the
(11:32):
dolphins. And so I want to hearhim talk about how he navigates
these, these holes, thesebarriers is really what we call
Yeah, yeah. So let's talk abouthearing hurdles. Right. living
outside is tough. Getting EBT orgetting a, an Obama phone or
getting general relief, or, orSSDI. Like any of these things,
(11:56):
it's a long and complicatedprocess. And it, it's not easy
to get it even if you havestable housing. Right. And so if
you don't have a laptop that youcan keep charged, or an internet
connection, like, it's reallytough to log on, and like, you
know, submit an application.
And, you know, if you if youdon't have an ID, then you can't
(12:19):
get one of these phones, or youcan't get your EBT right. And
then if Yeah, I don't knowthere's there's many things
where it feels like, all thehurdles, like, line each other
up. And so many people are justlike one domino push away from
all these dominoes falling. Solike, if someone's living
(12:43):
outside, and they're like, justbarely scraping by, and things
are looking better. And youknow, maybe they just got a job
or something. And then, youknow, a sweep comes and they
take away someone's backpack, orthey get mugged, you know,
people live outside, they, theyare more likely to be victims of
crime and violence than they areto be the perpetrators. Yeah.
(13:04):
And so if someone takes yourbackpack, and it had your ID,
and maybe had your phone, youknow, it's going to be really
tough for you to replace thosethings. So I don't know. It's
it's nice to have some alliesthat are on the other side of
this, like privileged divide, tobe able to just say, Look, don't
worry, you know, you're you'vegot this, I've done this for
(13:27):
like three dozen other people sofar. Here's like, easy step by
step instructions, like, youknow, check in with you. If Oh,
if you don't have a mailingaddress, I'm rambling too much.
And it's no, you're doing great.
I don't know where to go withit.
I think that I really do thinkthat it's important to note that
(13:49):
that part of our job, right isjust to reassure our guests that
they are worth fighting for.
Right? Like it is okay, that youdon't know the best next step.
Here's an example of the bestnext step, you don't have
housing, we'll start with an ID,right. And we can accomplish
part of that today. And thentomorrow, if I see you again, we
(14:11):
can accomplish another step. AndI think that those hurdles feel
so much higher, when a person isunhoused. And they feel like
they have nowhere to go, theyhave no one to help them. And
part of what our process at Nohois, is to say that we want to
build a relationship with you sowe can help, whatever kind of
help you think you need. We wantto build that relationship.
(14:36):
Thank you for refocusing that,because Because yeah, if you
don't have a mailing address,then you can't get an ID. And if
you don't have an ID, thenyou're never going to get into
any of the shelters that'savailable offered anywhere.
Right? You don't have an IDyou're never going to get a
phone and if you can't becontacted on a cell phone. Then
(14:56):
how is someone going to let youknow if you have a match to get
into a show? Shelter. Right. Andso I think I think that the
government's kind of view ofhelping unhoused people is that
there needs to be like aprogression. Like, they're like
you have to completely certainsteps on like a linear path to
housing. And that if you don'tmeet all the criteria, then
(15:19):
you're not worth it. Yeah,speaking about the government, I
think about this a lot in termsof like, I think it's really
important for people to rememberthat, that everyone is coming
from a different background, adifferent like, on a different
footing, right, none of us are,are raised the same way. None of
us come from the samebackground. And people are
dealing with all kinds ofdifferent conditions in their
(15:41):
life. And if you think aboutkids in school, we know that
kids in school who have a fullfamily support network do
substantially better than a kidwho is on their own in the
foster care system, right. Andthe same would be true from
anywhere outside. Without thatsupport network, which often if
you are unhoused, you have lostor become disconnected from your
support network. It's reallychallenging to navigate what is
(16:04):
basically the baseline ofgovernment services, right? It's
not meant to be this, like,fully personalized, like Uber
like experience, it is abaseline of services that they
are offering.
Yeah, and I think all three ofyou, I think, in your own way,
kind of touched on somethingthat is a big cornerstone, you
know, Pat, Pastor Stephanie, theexecutive director of Noho,
(16:26):
Homeline, she talks about thisin a lot. You know, the, the
real true, like, number onecause of homelessness is a a
breakdown in the relationshipsof support for an individual do,
would any of you feelcomfortable kind of speaking
more to like, what what thatmeans? Because I think that's a
(16:48):
big a big piece that I thinkunless you're in the work, it's
hard to see that reality.
I mean, maybeeveryone's looking at onto that.
Or why are you looking at me,um,
I say it's a, all of these, likeswirling ideas are happening. So
(17:10):
when I think about the breakdownof our relationship, or or
community, or you know, howpeople feel like they are, or
really alone in all of this, weall survive better. When we have
people who care about us, andpeople who we know we can depend
on. Like, that's just the bottomline, whether your house or
(17:33):
unhoused, right, like you feelmore love and compassion in your
own self when you know, somebodyloves you, or is compassionate
towards you. And so peoplebecome houseless, for all kinds
of reasons. We've seen anuptick, just you know, in the
(17:53):
past year with COVID, right isone example of people losing
work and then being unable topay for rent, right? Like,
that's just one of the manyreasons that people become
houseless. And I think that whatwe're doing, you kind of alluded
to this, Leo, because we do doit a little differently than
other services. But what we'redoing is instead of asking a
(18:14):
person to completely grapplewith the reason why their house
lists and like, blame them inthat space, right, we're really
just asking them, to trust us tobuild a relationship with them.
And then in that relationship,we can help navigate people into
housing, or shelters, or socialsecurity or general relief, any
(18:37):
of those places, becausenavigating someone who doesn't
trust you, right, is, is almostimpossible. And so when we talk
about the breakdown ofrelationships, we want to be
there in a trauma informed way.
And in harm reduction way to saythat we are willing to build a
relationship regardless ofwhat's been going on before
(18:59):
this, right because whatever wasgoing on before this led you to
us, and so we want to jumpstart,and, you know, start over in
that process as best we can. Wecan't erase people's past we
can't erase their trauma, but wecan at least hear what that is
and say, Okay, this is mystarting point with you. This is
no hos boundaries. These are theways in which we can treat a
(19:24):
person that makes you feel likeyou're worth living and being
helped. And, I mean, Ipersonally have only been at
mnoho since April or May of2020, right? I'm a COVID person
with this organization. I don'tknow how they were before that.
It's been around five years.
(19:46):
I've got a very small amount oftime here. And for me, I'm
changed. I was just a personthat was pulled into hey, let's
i We need volunteers. How aboutyou come and volunteer and I've
been able to Say I have changeddrastically about how I feel
about this I am changed, myrelationships are changed
(20:10):
because of how no hope doeswork. And so yeah, I think I
hope I answered your question.
Yeah, no, I think I think that'sgreat. And you're absolutely
right. I mean, the way I thinkabout it too, is, you know, the
value and importance ofrelationships is universal,
(20:30):
regardless of your socioeconomic status, you know, you
will listen to, you know,millionaires giving advice on
how to make a ton of money. Andthey'll even talk about the
importance of relationships. Andthey'll say that if it wasn't
for making connections with soand so and so and so that they
wouldn't have been able to makeXYZ deal. You know, what I mean?
Like this is, this is somethingthat no matter where you're at,
(20:52):
in that ladder, it is the coreis the cornerstone of being a
human. And in our society, youknow, a lot of our society runs
around socio economic status,but that need for relationship
doesn't, it doesn't change, it'sjust, I think that at least for
me, this is something where I'velearned just being involved with
(21:13):
no Whoa, how, really how howmuch relationships play, play a
factor into everything, youknow, if you're, you know,
there, if there's so many peoplethat if they were to lose their
job, they have family, they havefriends that either can lend
them the money, give them aplace to stay, if they lose
(21:34):
their house, or, you know, givethem whatever support that they
need, or maybe they know someonethat can find them another job
before they lose their part, youknow, there's, there's all these
different connections, where ifyou don't have that, if, if all
your family is is dead, or inprison, or whatever the case may
be, where they're just straightup not available, if you have
trauma, that makes it almostimpossible to form relationships
(21:56):
with people, then that verycentral requirement for just
having a both productive andlike satisfactory life, like,
it's missing, you know, andit's, um, I don't know, it's,
it's, that's probably been thebiggest paradigm shift, I think,
for me, specifically, you know,and it's like, you really start
(22:19):
to see, you know, we hear a lotin the news and online or
whatever about, you know, likethese systems of oppression, and
how they can play into people'slives. And when you see, the
people who are, you know, likethe most vulnerable, you really
see those systems in a big way.
Because, without the the accessto privileges that I've had,
(22:41):
it's very easy for me to see howthe tables could be turned and
how I could be the one needingservices and how it's just
these, honestly, these thingsare privileged, like I am
privileged to have had parentsthat didn't go to prison, I am
privileged to, you know, to, youknow, there's all these
different privileges that we allhave and take that away. You
(23:01):
know, I guess, I guess what I'mtrying to say is it I get very
frustrated, I think, as all ofus do, by people who think that
like, Oh, if you're homeless,like just get a job like is as
if it's that I harder, don't befor exactly Don't be a lazy
freeloader as as if it's thatsimple. of an issue, as if it
(23:22):
you know, it's, it's really,really reactive, and also
inaccurate, you know, I knowthat's a that's a big accident
for all of us. I know, Trish hasmade some good Instagram reels
around that, like, it's, it's,yeah, I don't know, I think
relationships are reallyimportant. And we talk about it,
(23:45):
you know, in all aspects oflife, you know, no matter what
our backgrounds are like, thatis one thing that is universally
true. So like, what do we dothat's different is we help
create relationships in thelives of some people. Yeah,
people who in some cases justdon't have any relationships of
support at all.
(24:06):
And not just not just for onHouse folks. But as Antoinette
said, like for all of us wholive in the neighborhood, like
the neighborhood relationshipsare key, regardless of housing
status. I was watching thisvideo about Assata Shakur was
talking about how communityorganizing relies on community
relationships. And if you don'thave any relationships with your
neighbors, you can't organizeyour community. Yeah. And that's
(24:28):
what we're doing right? We'retrying to come together to
address problems that are beingleft by centuries of leadership
and political decisions. And weare trying to address them
that's what mutual aid is tryingto do. And that's, that's for
all of us. Right? That's a bigshift that I'm trying to get
(24:51):
folks to make is not thinkingabout this as like, Oh, I'm just
like helping the needy, butlike, No, this is a collective
liberation thing that we'redoing together. This is for All
of us.
Yeah, and we see some of that.
We've seen some of that in thedrop ins, I think, at least at
the Studio City location, whereit's really easy to, to possibly
think, Oh, well, I'm, I'msetting this up for you, right,
(25:16):
like I'm putting these chairsout for you to sit in, and
we're, we're cooking this foodfor you to have and, you know,
this is coffee just for you. Andthen, you know, our volunteers
and our staff, spend the timethere and have coffee and have
breakfast, and then we're all inthis together, having a
community meal, right, or wehave all our guests that will
(25:40):
say, Oh, I'll take this trashout for you, or I'll wipe these
chairs down and help you putthem away. Right. And, and it is
such that the relationships arenot, oh, I'm setting this
program up just to help you. Butlike, together this program runs
for all of us to spend timetogether. And that's what we've
(26:01):
tried to do it Studio City is tobuild this model of spending
time with our community in a waythat makes people want to come
back. And, you know, the, thefact of getting services is why
they show up, right? But onceyou've done that, once you've
gotten CalFresh, once you set upyour gr or you know, taking the
(26:23):
time, the months that it took toget Social Security straightened
out, right? Why are they stillshowing up, because they care
about the relationships they'vebuilt with us with the other
guests with the model of Nohothat says, Well, I'm still
wanted here. Even if theresources aren't for me
(26:44):
immediately, there are peoplethat come back who've become
how's that come and still gettheir mail there or still have
food with the drop in centerpeople. And I think that it's
not just, oh, this is a programthat gets people off the street,
but like, this is a communityorganizing organization that
(27:04):
builds relationships, and is,you know, working for liberation
in the best ways that we can. Ithink that's really different
than a lot of the models thatare in the city right now.
I want to say that, I think thatcapitalism specifically tells us
(27:25):
that we can be self reliant,right, that if you don't know,
work hard enough, have enough ofyour own wealth stashed away,
then you'll never need to relyon anyone else for help. But
before I did a lot of thishousing justice, I was doing
(27:45):
climate justice. And it's thesame idea, like very suddenly,
somebody can lose everything,right? Like we saw with the
paradise fires in California,for instance, you know, one day,
you're you live in a house thenext day, you've lost
everything. And then the onlything that you have left is your
community. And so there issomeone I was talking to just
(28:07):
within this last week, who Imean, I've known him for a
couple of months, but he's justtelling me his story for the
first time this past week. Andhe's like, you know, I was fine.
I had, you know, I had a girl, Ihad my own place, I was a
mechanic. And then I had to goto the hospital. And I was in
the hospital for like, 10 days.
And when I got out, you know,I'd lost my job because of that,
(28:30):
because they didn't, I was a nocall no show. And I went there.
And you know, they pawned offall my tools. And so like, now I
lost my livelihood to and like,you know, and I was still too
sick or infirm to work for awhile and then like, and then
you lose everything. And so ifyou lose all of your wealth,
then the only thing left is yourcommunity. And so you you know,
(28:51):
you look around, and hopefullyyou've got a friend whose couch
you can crash on for a bit. Andhopefully, there's a church down
the street where you can atleast get you know, I don't
know, something clean and warmto put on, like, like, these are
the kinds of backstops that weneed to have. Because we know
like how precariously all of usare balanced. Yeah.
(29:17):
And I mean that, that on top ofright, the additional systems of
oppression, like whether youhave a car or not, whether
you're in a neighborhood that'shighly policed or not whether
you are I mean, this has beenreally the thing that's happened
in the past couple of weeks thatwe've noticed, doing outreach is
(29:41):
like is so heartbreaking to me.
And it's not surprising, butthis what's been happening right
is due to racism. People ofcolor, black people very
specifically have been gettingless access to outreach
services. And so then they saythat they're not there. And then
it takes them longer to get intohousing, or, you know, fear six,
(30:01):
five and black, you'reintimidating. And so maybe
you're service averse, whichjust means I was too afraid to
talk to you. And the thing thatI'm learning is that just simply
being black, as an outreachworker in the spaces gives
people a little bit more freedoma little bit, that they're not
(30:27):
even freedom, they are willingto talk to me in a way that they
haven't been with other people.
And so if the, if the responseis just go get a job, or, you
know, the city's taking care ofit, and just go into housing,
they're not even talking to alarge portion of the houses
population to get them intohousing. And so then what do you
(30:51):
do? Right?
Then the only the only peoplewho contact who, who make
contact with black people wholive on the street, or the
police, and it's not good to beblack on the street when the
police are around? Right. And sothey're, they're understandably,
you know, avoidant of governmentworkers, like, of course.
(31:14):
Yeah, absolutely. And thank youfor bringing that up. Because
that's, that's my experience,too, in the drop in centers
that, you know, I am able to, tocommunicate with our black
guests in a way that our whitevolunteers are not because of
that trauma that they experienceout on the streets, or the
discrimination that theyexperienced in, in receiving
(31:34):
services. And so it's, it'sreally, I think, and I think
that can be taken out a broaderlens to you know, if you're part
of any kind of marginalizedidentity, and you're not, and
you're in, you're interested inhelping out your community, it's
amazing how sometimes just yourphysical presence there can make
(31:55):
a big difference. If you're aperson of color, if you're, you
know, a woman and you if you'rethe gender opposite of the
people that are mostly therehelping if the opposite gender,
that's a loaded, whatever, youknow what I mean, but if you're
if you're a visible member ofthe LGBT community, you know,
like, these are things that justyour presence there can make a
(32:20):
big difference. And we've seenfirsthand that it that it does
make a big difference, you know,if you speak a language other
than English, and someone comesin and speaks that language more
comfortably than English, youknow, like, these are all things
that literally just being therecan can make a big difference
and can start, you know,building that trust and building
that relationship.
(32:41):
I can talk a little bit to herwhy this tends to happen. I
don't think that we think aboutit this way. But our housing
system is based onvulnerability. And so we try and
house those who are mostvulnerable, first, right, like,
so even though we have this sortof housing first mentality, it
(33:01):
would be someone who is, youknow, possibly physically ill or
older, or, you know, needs a lotmore care than someone else,
like the vulnerability of youtying on the street, is what we
try to do is to get people intohousing sooner. And what I've
(33:22):
learned, and what I've beenseeing is that oppression,
racism, you know, people who areon or within the LGBTQIA
community, they are physicallyless vulnerable, because it
takes very little for a personof color, marginalized identity
(33:44):
to fall into homelessness,right? Like, if you're in these
marginalized populations, youare living on the edge of
homelessness, sometimes yourentire life. And then when you
fall into that you're stillphysically healthy. You just now
you live on the street. Right?
Yeah. And what we're seeing isthat there are a lot of white
(34:05):
people who get resource afterresource, and they become more
and more vulnerable, right? Bythe time they are physically
living on the street, they areolder, they are sicker they are
in the I know this is verygeneral. So I don't mean to say
that people who are sicker whohappen to be white shouldn't be
(34:27):
housed before a black person is,you know, that's not my stance
on this. But what I am saying isthat your likelihood to be more
vulnerable in our whitesupremacists world is that we
are housing more white people.
And that more people of colorand marginalized identities are
(34:48):
staying on the street and notgetting the resources that they
need.
Yeah, that's I've never eventhought about it that way. But
that's that's absolutely true.
Thank you for bringing that upand bringing light to that. I
appreciate that. Do I have afree trial of like super zoom or
(35:09):
something? I don't even know whywhy we haven't gotten the
warning yet. But I think we'rerunning low on time. Does. Does
anybody else have anything thatthey would like to add before,
before we wrap up?
I would just say if folks feeloverwhelmed by by anything,
whether you're called to work inhomelessness, or another issue,
(35:29):
that it really helps to do withother people. So I would just
say to get involved withsomething that's happening in
your community.
There's always something right.
Yeah. Lexus Lexus advice was,you know, join up with with who
is around you already doing thework, don't reinvent things.
(35:51):
Right. Heard Antonette earliersaying something to the effect
of, you know, do the thing thatyou're already good at, right?
Do the thing you already knowhow to do? Yeah. And I think
what I want to add to it is showup, like, the first step to, you
know, helping is literally justbe there. Like, that is so much
(36:12):
more than not that. I mean,like, it can, it can be like a
really simple way to help, like,just show up and like, I don't
know, set up chairs, or like,wipe down a table. Like there's
a thing you can do, I'm sure.
Yeah.
Yeah, I wonder people think thatthey have to be doing the big
(36:32):
thing. And, and you can, youknow, work up to the big thing.
But when I started I was I washanding out clothing, I was I
was helping people choose a tshirt. Right. And like, for me,
that was not a big thing forsome of our guests. That's a
huge thing. Because getting newclothes and being able to feel
(36:53):
good in what you're wearing isamazing. But yeah, wipe down a
table or stacks and chairs, oryou know, donating a meal to an
organization doing it already,right? If you're in a vulnerable
population, and you still don'tfeel safe enough or comfortable
enough to volunteer on outreach,or at a drop in program,
something like volunteering yourtime at home, and then donating
(37:17):
those clothing or donating ameal. or talking to other people
at advocacy meetings or Housemeetings where you can say this
is a thing I believe in and youknow, get your get your friends
involved. Like you. Youpersonally all of us on this
call anybody who's listening tothis, like personally have
permission to do the thing.
Yeah. And,and bring a friend. Yeah.
(37:43):
Everything's more fun with thefriend. Right? Well, thank you
so much for doing this. I thinkit went well. The first
multicast episode of this show.
I am you know, this thisorganization, being involved
with this has been a reallyimpactful part of my year, this
year. Again, speaking of howthis is, you know, mutual, it's
(38:06):
not just, I am helping youbecause you are less fortunate,
whatever, like I really needed abigger sense of community, I
needed community, I needed tofeel useful, basically. I mean,
I was really spiraling and lostwhen I started here, you know,
I'd like just quit my job and mypersonal issues are going on. So
(38:26):
I mean, it is this, this hasbeen a really important thing
for me, too. And it's been, youknow, just such a pleasure
getting to know all of you thisyear. I mean, I wouldn't know
any of the three of you if itwasn't for this. And I think
that you're all delightful. Soyeah, thank you for being a part
of this. Thank you, Leo. Yeah.
(38:48):
Thanks. All right. I'll talk toy'all later.
Thanks again to Antonette jollyand lax for having this
conversation with me. Iabsolutely love being a part of
this community. Things have kindof been up in the air with me
(39:08):
lately. So I haven't been ableto be around as often and
listening to this interview justmade me miss everybody and just
remind me of why this is soimportant to me. So I can't wait
to be back again in the newyear. There's a couple of things
from the conversation that Iwanted to point out. One I kind
of blundered a little bit and Irefer to opposite genders in
(39:31):
kind of a binary way. And I justwant to kind of correct myself
and say that a better way tohave said that would have just
been different gender. You know,there are many different gender
expressions in gender identitiesas opposed to the binary two
genders structure that we'vebeen conditioned to understand.
(39:51):
And, you know, shout out toformer guests of the show Criss
Angel Murphy for you know, kindof normalizing making those
mistakes. and correcting them inreal time. The second thing I
want to point out is somethingthat Antonette said at the end,
you know, kind of breaking downthe ways in which systemic
racism can play a role in thehousing crisis. I think I
(40:14):
mentioned in the interview, butthis was kind of, you know, the
first time that that informationhad been presented to me in that
way. And I was kind of takenaback, you know, it is, it is
hard sometimes to hear the truthof our society. We don't always
know what to say in thosemoments, or at least, I don't
always know what to say. And allI can say now is, everything is
(40:39):
interconnected. And no matterwhat cause speaks out to you,
whether it's the housing crisis,whether it's immigration, access
to health care, anything thatworks to challenge and dismantle
the systems of white supremacy,there's always work to be done.
(41:00):
So on that note, like I said, inthe intro, there are links in
the show notes to donate to knowhow home Alliance, we're
actually in the middle of a bigfundraiser to help us fund 2022
It's called there's no placelike no Hoh. The link is in the
show notes. If you want tovolunteer if you want to get
involved, the link is in theshow notes for that. If you're
(41:23):
in the LA area, we can alwaysuse some help, whether it be
with social media, or in personat our drop in centers, or out
on the streets doing outreach.
I've always loved NorthHollywood, but I feel so much
more connected to theneighborhood. Now that I know my
neighbors on a much deeperlevel. And now that I'm
accountable to my neighbors on amuch deeper level, I highly
(41:44):
encourage you like Lex said,find something that's already
happening and get involved.
You'll be happy that she did. Iwas happy that I did I should
say I can't speak for you. Butit definitely changed my 2021
for the better.
Thank you again, for being partof this journey with me. I know
(42:06):
I say that every single episode.
But I really truly mean it fromthe bottom of my heart. This
podcast honestly kind of savedmy life, I was spiraling in a
really bad way. When I startedthis, I had no idea what I was
going to do with my life. Imean, those of you who have been
listening for the verybeginning, saw me kind of go
from from from never wanting tobe in tech again to wanting to
(42:29):
do comedy to like almost likequasi life coaching and then
getting back in attack andgetting involved in Noho. Home
Alliance. And, you know, 2021was a year of trial and error
and the conversations that I hadwith my guests being able to
listen to them three times firstwhen I participate in the
(42:52):
interview. Second when I editedthe interview, and third,
listening back to the episode,after I got released, really
instilled a lot of importantlessons in me. And I really,
really enjoyed hearing hearingfrom you listeners. I'm so glad
that these episodes haveresonated with you as well
especially, it seems like a lotof the LGBTQ episodes really,
(43:13):
really resonated with a lot ofyou. That means a lot to me. I'm
so glad that we've been on thisjourney together. I don't know
when the show is coming back, orHonestly, even if the show is
coming back. What I can promiseyou is that if it does come
back, it'll have a muchdifferent format. In the same
way that you know my involvementwith no home alliance is
(43:35):
probably going to look a littlebit different next year. You
know, everything is alwaysconstantly evolving. When I say
stay evolving at the end of theepisode, those aren't empty
words, that that's a mantra thatI really try to live by. So just
go with the flow of change andto keep pushing to live a life
that's more and more and morealigned with my values. So
(43:56):
anyway, I wish you all a happyholiday season Happy New Year. I
know everyone is afraid ofjinxing it, but I'm not I really
believe that 2022 is going to bea good year. I wish that for all
of you. Thank you again forbeing on this journey with me.
Find me on social media. Thelinks are in the show notes.
(44:16):
Stay evolving.
Hello, and welcome to the seasontwo finale of the Leo Yockey
Show, the show where I LeoYockey interview guests about
the universal truths and theirunique life path. And honestly,
nothing can be more universalthan collective liberation.
That's a lot of what we talkabout today with my three. You
(00:34):
heard me right, three gueststoday. Now, throughout the
majority of 2021, especiallyafter I quit my job back in
February, there were two thingsthat provided me a lot of
consistency and stability. Onewas this very podcast, the Leo
Yockey show. And the other wasthe work that I did with Noho
(00:55):
home Alliance, a housing programin my neighborhood unlike any
other, we are truly communitydriven. And I think that's one
of the reasons why it's so greatthat I have three guests today,
because each one of themAntonette, Jolly Lex, they all
bring something different tothis conversation. And they all
bring something different to thework that they do. And together,
(01:15):
I think we have a reallyimportant conversation about the
housing crisis and things thatwe can do about it. This work
has been incredibly important tome. If you feel so compelled,
there is a link in the shownotes to donate to know her home
Alliance. Also, if you're in theSan Fernando Valley, we would
love to have you as a volunteer.
All of that information is inthe show notes. And without
(01:37):
further ado, here is LexAntonette. Jolly and Hi, my
colleagues over at Noho homeAlliance
Alright, it is bound to be themost chaotic episode of the Leo
(02:00):
Yockey show ever because I wedidn't prepare anything hardly
at all. And I have not one nottwo but three guests with me.
Jolly Anjanette Lex. Hello, howare you all doing?
Hey, great to see you. Yeah,thanks for having us.
Thank you all for coming. I'm, Iam really excited to be doing
this. I've talked on the show alittle bit about, you know, some
(02:22):
of the work that I do I knowhome Alliance I've had like
Murphy and Trish on the showpreviously, although they were
both mostly talking about liketheir music and stuff. So you
know, the listeners are awarethat I do something with helping
the unhoused in my community andthat I'm really into it, but
they don't. I haven't reallyexplained what that means. And I
(02:43):
figured why not bring three ofmy friends onto the show to
explain what it means instead ofjust talking about it myself.
That makes a lot more sense tome. So before before we get too
far into it, can you all justkind of explain. Like Introduce
yourselves for listeners andjust say like what you do for no
(03:05):
ho hum Alliance? Start with Lex.
Hey, I'm Lex. I'm primarily aweb designer. I make websites
for a living and an AppDesigner. But I've been a
lifelong volunteer butcoordinating volunteers and
running projects volunteerproject since I was 15 years
old. And I actually started thedrop in program over at seila in
(03:26):
Silverlake and then moved overto Noho home where I now co lead
the volunteer outreach team.
Nice Antonette Hi, I'mAntonette. My pronouns are she
Bay, and I am the housingcoordinator and a field outreach
worker and a site manager forone of the sites at the Studio
(03:47):
City sites specifically at Noho.
Home Alliance, so I wearmultiple hats throughout the
week. And mostly I spend a lotof time engaging with guests and
their needs around housing andall of the resources to get them
there.
(04:08):
Hi, I'm jolly, I use they he EOpronouns. I, I also worked with
Nova home Alliance as theassistant to the site manager at
the studio location. You knowhanding out resources also an
outreach specialists where wework with a couple of different
targeted encampments along theborders between CD two and CD
(04:30):
four. I do a lot of the drop inprogram like helping people
navigate paperwork. Because youknow, living outside it can be
really tough to get theresources that you need, like
applications are just a hugehurdle for people. And I also
help our house neighbors toapply for the rental assistance
(04:52):
that's going on right now withthe pandemic.
Nice. Thanks again. Thank youall for coming on and for I
guess for the So just for thecontext of what I do at Noho
HomeAway. And that is shifting alot right now, as I'm going back
into tech, but I, for a fewmonths, there was also a site
manager at the North Hollywoodlocation. And now I'm just kind
(05:16):
of a volunteer bopping arounddoing whatever. But okay, so
far, so I don't, I don't know ifany of y'all really know how I
got involved with no hope. Butfor me, I think it kind of
echoes a lot of, you know, justpeople who are trying to get
involved in general right now. Ihad heard about, you know, like
(05:37):
mutual aid groups and peoplethat are out there helping
people in the streets throughlike podcasts and stuff I had
actually heard specificallyabout, what's it called
solidarity and snacks, which isa group that works, I think,
mostly in Skid Row. And I wantedto get involved somehow I wanted
to do something I wasn't workingat the time. You know, I
(05:58):
obviously been like, reallyaffected by like, stuff that I
was seeing in the news over thelast year. So. So back in April
of this year, 2021. Solidaritysnacks, again, was the only
group that I knew, but I live inthe valley like y'all do. So I
was like, Hey, guys, I DM themon Instagram, hey, do you know
of anything that's in NorthHollywood? I mean, I'll go to
(06:18):
downtown if I have to, but Ireally don't want to. And they
told me they sent me the IG pagefor no home Alliance. And so
have there just happened to belike one of those volunteer info
session is like the next day orsomething like that. And the
rest is the rest is history. ButI think that I think that
there's a lot of people outthere that kind of have similar
(06:40):
sentiments of like, I want to dosomething, and I don't know what
to do. And it feels like just inthe little bit of time that I've
been involved in the home lionsthat like, it just it seems like
it's almost like the longer thatI get involved, I simultaneously
feel like, wow, we're doing alot. And like also, wow, this is
(07:05):
barely like the tip of theiceberg what we're handling. So
how it, what am I even trying toask, I guess like, what, what,
what is something that y'allusually say to people? Because
you're a lot more involved inlike community stuff than I am
like, what do you say to peoplewho are like, I was like, back
(07:27):
in April, like I want to beinvolved? But I'm so
overwhelmed. I don't even knowlike what to do?
I mean, I can go with that.
Before I started it, no, whoa, Idid. Well, I do a lot of racial
justice work, that was the thingthat I do. And outside of doing
housing, I'm a big advocate ofcommunity building and plugging
(07:49):
in exactly where you're at. Solike the way that you did it to
be, this is the neighborhood I'min and I want to help the very
specific people in myneighborhood, is a great example
of plugging in exactly whereyou're at. I think that I don't
want to talk too much for Lex.
But Lex doing graphic design forNoho. Home lions, right like is
(08:12):
one of those things where shealready knows how to do the
thing. And this is using hertalent that she already has to
help progress a cause that shecares about. And so I am always
of the mindset that, find thelane you're already in. And then
do more of that in like ajustice capacity. 100%.
(08:34):
Yeah, I like to quote Bob Akili,from Black Lives Matter who
always says join anorganization. I think getting
involved in an organizationthat's doing something that
you're passionate about, or thatyou're wondering about like
homelessness is the best way toget involved because all those
folks can sort of guide youthrough it. And you can do
everything from pack a bag lunchon your first day to sort of
(08:57):
leveling up and being involvedin advocacy, and leadership
capacities as you have Leo.
Yeah, I'm walking testimony andlooking at me now. And no, it is
really interesting how I thinkthat's a really good point. It's
like once you get involved withpeople who are already doing the
work, that's the most importantlike, don't, don't try to start
from scratch, like join peoplealready doing the work. And it
(09:20):
is interesting, like just howyour skills even sometimes
skills you didn't even know thatyou had or skills that maybe in
the past you hadn't had quitethe opportunity to utilize. It's
like well, there's a need andand if they can sense that you
might be able to fill this need,they're going to you know,
they're they're going to makesure that that you're available
(09:41):
and that you're able to do it.
You know,it's true. If anyone knows any
videographers we always need.
Yes, absolutely. So yeah, ifyou're a videographer listening
to this, and you've been wantingto get more involved and you
would like to help the unhousedpeople of North Hollywood hit us
up So I think the the the bigthing that we do at no hohem.
(10:06):
Alliance that I don't want tosay is fully unique, but it's
definitely something that I'venever seen firsthand is the way
that our I don't know what I'mtrying to say. We're basically
it's weird, because we're kindof filling in gaps that like, I
think a lot of people assume ifyou're not doing the work, you
(10:29):
assume that a lot of what we dois kind of already handled by
the government and socialservices. And it's like, it is,
but it isn't like, because a lotof what we're doing is we're
helping navigate people tothings that are set up by the
government and by socialservices. But there are a lot of
holes or a lot of cracks in thesystem in which without kind of
(10:51):
having someone who has, youknow, a little bit more access
to resources and things likethat advocating for you. You
might, things might not workout, you know what I mean? Like
people are like, Oh, well,there's already welfare, oh,
well, there's already, you know,Obama phones, oh, well, there's
already you know, getting yoursocial security card is free.
(11:11):
But like, Can any of y'all speakto some of the experiences
you've seen firsthand, of like,how those things like just
getting those things isn'talways as simple as it seems.
And some of the things thatwe've done to kind of help
bridge that gap.
I think jelly does a lot withthat very specifically at the
(11:32):
dolphins. And so I want to hearhim talk about how he navigates
these, these holes, thesebarriers is really what we call
Yeah, yeah. So let's talk abouthearing hurdles. Right. living
outside is tough. Getting EBT orgetting a, an Obama phone or
getting general relief, or, orSSDI. Like any of these things,
(11:56):
it's a long and complicatedprocess. And it, it's not easy
to get it even if you havestable housing. Right. And so if
you don't have a laptop that youcan keep charged, or an internet
connection, like, it's reallytough to log on, and like, you
know, submit an application.
And, you know, if you if youdon't have an ID, then you can't
(12:19):
get one of these phones, or youcan't get your EBT right. And
then if Yeah, I don't knowthere's there's many things
where it feels like, all thehurdles, like, line each other
up. And so many people are justlike one domino push away from
all these dominoes falling. Solike, if someone's living
(12:43):
outside, and they're like, justbarely scraping by, and things
are looking better. And youknow, maybe they just got a job
or something. And then, youknow, a sweep comes and they
take away someone's backpack, orthey get mugged, you know,
people live outside, they, theyare more likely to be victims of
crime and violence than they areto be the perpetrators. Yeah.
(13:04):
And so if someone takes yourbackpack, and it had your ID,
and maybe had your phone, youknow, it's going to be really
tough for you to replace thosethings. So I don't know. It's
it's nice to have some alliesthat are on the other side of
this, like privileged divide, tobe able to just say, Look, don't
worry, you know, you're you'vegot this, I've done this for
(13:27):
like three dozen other people sofar. Here's like, easy step by
step instructions, like, youknow, check in with you. If Oh,
if you don't have a mailingaddress, I'm rambling too much.
And it's no, you're doing great.
I don't know where to go withit.
I think that I really do thinkthat it's important to note that
(13:49):
that part of our job, right isjust to reassure our guests that
they are worth fighting for.
Right? Like it is okay, that youdon't know the best next step.
Here's an example of the bestnext step, you don't have
housing, we'll start with an ID,right. And we can accomplish
part of that today. And thentomorrow, if I see you again, we
(14:11):
can accomplish another step. AndI think that those hurdles feel
so much higher, when a person isunhoused. And they feel like
they have nowhere to go, theyhave no one to help them. And
part of what our process at Nohois, is to say that we want to
build a relationship with you sowe can help, whatever kind of
help you think you need. We wantto build that relationship.
(14:36):
Thank you for refocusing that,because Because yeah, if you
don't have a mailing address,then you can't get an ID. And if
you don't have an ID, thenyou're never going to get into
any of the shelters that'savailable offered anywhere.
Right? You don't have an IDyou're never going to get a
phone and if you can't becontacted on a cell phone. Then
(14:56):
how is someone going to let youknow if you have a match to get
into a show? Shelter. Right. Andso I think I think that the
government's kind of view ofhelping unhoused people is that
there needs to be like aprogression. Like, they're like
you have to completely certainsteps on like a linear path to
housing. And that if you don'tmeet all the criteria, then
(15:19):
you're not worth it. Yeah,speaking about the government, I
think about this a lot in termsof like, I think it's really
important for people to rememberthat, that everyone is coming
from a different background, adifferent like, on a different
footing, right, none of us are,are raised the same way. None of
us come from the samebackground. And people are
dealing with all kinds ofdifferent conditions in their
(15:41):
life. And if you think aboutkids in school, we know that
kids in school who have a fullfamily support network do
substantially better than a kidwho is on their own in the
foster care system, right. Andthe same would be true from
anywhere outside. Without thatsupport network, which often if
you are unhoused, you have lostor become disconnected from your
support network. It's reallychallenging to navigate what is
(16:04):
basically the baseline ofgovernment services, right? It's
not meant to be this, like,fully personalized, like Uber
like experience, it is abaseline of services that they
are offering.
Yeah, and I think all three ofyou, I think, in your own way,
kind of touched on somethingthat is a big cornerstone, you
know, Pat, Pastor Stephanie, theexecutive director of Noho,
(16:26):
Homeline, she talks about thisin a lot. You know, the, the
real true, like, number onecause of homelessness is a a
breakdown in the relationshipsof support for an individual do,
would any of you feelcomfortable kind of speaking
more to like, what what thatmeans? Because I think that's a
(16:48):
big a big piece that I thinkunless you're in the work, it's
hard to see that reality.
I mean, maybeeveryone's looking at onto that.
Or why are you looking at me,um,
I say it's a, all of these, likeswirling ideas are happening. So
(17:10):
when I think about the breakdownof our relationship, or or
community, or you know, howpeople feel like they are, or
really alone in all of this, weall survive better. When we have
people who care about us, andpeople who we know we can depend
on. Like, that's just the bottomline, whether your house or
(17:33):
unhoused, right, like you feelmore love and compassion in your
own self when you know, somebodyloves you, or is compassionate
towards you. And so peoplebecome houseless, for all kinds
of reasons. We've seen anuptick, just you know, in the
(17:53):
past year with COVID, right isone example of people losing
work and then being unable topay for rent, right? Like,
that's just one of the manyreasons that people become
houseless. And I think that whatwe're doing, you kind of alluded
to this, Leo, because we do doit a little differently than
other services. But what we'redoing is instead of asking a
(18:14):
person to completely grapplewith the reason why their house
lists and like, blame them inthat space, right, we're really
just asking them, to trust us tobuild a relationship with them.
And then in that relationship,we can help navigate people into
housing, or shelters, or socialsecurity or general relief, any
(18:37):
of those places, becausenavigating someone who doesn't
trust you, right, is, is almostimpossible. And so when we talk
about the breakdown ofrelationships, we want to be
there in a trauma informed way.
And in harm reduction way to saythat we are willing to build a
relationship regardless ofwhat's been going on before
(18:59):
this, right because whatever wasgoing on before this led you to
us, and so we want to jumpstart,and, you know, start over in
that process as best we can. Wecan't erase people's past we
can't erase their trauma, but wecan at least hear what that is
and say, Okay, this is mystarting point with you. This is
no hos boundaries. These are theways in which we can treat a
(19:24):
person that makes you feel likeyou're worth living and being
helped. And, I mean, Ipersonally have only been at
mnoho since April or May of2020, right? I'm a COVID person
with this organization. I don'tknow how they were before that.
It's been around five years.
(19:46):
I've got a very small amount oftime here. And for me, I'm
changed. I was just a personthat was pulled into hey, let's
i We need volunteers. How aboutyou come and volunteer and I've
been able to Say I have changeddrastically about how I feel
about this I am changed, myrelationships are changed
(20:10):
because of how no hope doeswork. And so yeah, I think I
hope I answered your question.
Yeah, no, I think I think that'sgreat. And you're absolutely
right. I mean, the way I thinkabout it too, is, you know, the
value and importance ofrelationships is universal,
(20:30):
regardless of your socioeconomic status, you know, you
will listen to, you know,millionaires giving advice on
how to make a ton of money. Andthey'll even talk about the
importance of relationships. Andthey'll say that if it wasn't
for making connections with soand so and so and so that they
wouldn't have been able to makeXYZ deal. You know, what I mean?
Like this is, this is somethingthat no matter where you're at,
(20:52):
in that ladder, it is the coreis the cornerstone of being a
human. And in our society, youknow, a lot of our society runs
around socio economic status,but that need for relationship
doesn't, it doesn't change, it'sjust, I think that at least for
me, this is something where I'velearned just being involved with
(21:13):
no Whoa, how, really how howmuch relationships play, play a
factor into everything, youknow, if you're, you know,
there, if there's so many peoplethat if they were to lose their
job, they have family, they havefriends that either can lend
them the money, give them aplace to stay, if they lose
(21:34):
their house, or, you know, givethem whatever support that they
need, or maybe they know someonethat can find them another job
before they lose their part, youknow, there's, there's all these
different connections, where ifyou don't have that, if, if all
your family is is dead, or inprison, or whatever the case may
be, where they're just straightup not available, if you have
trauma, that makes it almostimpossible to form relationships
(21:56):
with people, then that verycentral requirement for just
having a both productive andlike satisfactory life, like,
it's missing, you know, andit's, um, I don't know, it's,
it's, that's probably been thebiggest paradigm shift, I think,
for me, specifically, you know,and it's like, you really start
(22:19):
to see, you know, we hear a lotin the news and online or
whatever about, you know, likethese systems of oppression, and
how they can play into people'slives. And when you see, the
people who are, you know, likethe most vulnerable, you really
see those systems in a big way.
Because, without the the accessto privileges that I've had,
(22:41):
it's very easy for me to see howthe tables could be turned and
how I could be the one needingservices and how it's just
these, honestly, these thingsare privileged, like I am
privileged to have had parentsthat didn't go to prison, I am
privileged to, you know, to, youknow, there's all these
different privileges that we allhave and take that away. You
(23:01):
know, I guess, I guess what I'mtrying to say is it I get very
frustrated, I think, as all ofus do, by people who think that
like, Oh, if you're homeless,like just get a job like is as
if it's that I harder, don't befor exactly Don't be a lazy
freeloader as as if it's thatsimple. of an issue, as if it
(23:22):
you know, it's, it's really,really reactive, and also
inaccurate, you know, I knowthat's a that's a big accident
for all of us. I know, Trish hasmade some good Instagram reels
around that, like, it's, it's,yeah, I don't know, I think
relationships are reallyimportant. And we talk about it,
(23:45):
you know, in all aspects oflife, you know, no matter what
our backgrounds are like, thatis one thing that is universally
true. So like, what do we dothat's different is we help
create relationships in thelives of some people. Yeah,
people who in some cases justdon't have any relationships of
support at all.
(24:06):
And not just not just for onHouse folks. But as Antoinette
said, like for all of us wholive in the neighborhood, like
the neighborhood relationshipsare key, regardless of housing
status. I was watching thisvideo about Assata Shakur was
talking about how communityorganizing relies on community
relationships. And if you don'thave any relationships with your
neighbors, you can't organizeyour community. Yeah. And that's
(24:28):
what we're doing right? We'retrying to come together to
address problems that are beingleft by centuries of leadership
and political decisions. And weare trying to address them
that's what mutual aid is tryingto do. And that's, that's for
all of us. Right? That's a bigshift that I'm trying to get
(24:51):
folks to make is not thinkingabout this as like, Oh, I'm just
like helping the needy, butlike, No, this is a collective
liberation thing that we'redoing together. This is for All
of us.
Yeah, and we see some of that.
We've seen some of that in thedrop ins, I think, at least at
the Studio City location, whereit's really easy to, to possibly
think, Oh, well, I'm, I'msetting this up for you, right,
(25:16):
like I'm putting these chairsout for you to sit in, and
we're, we're cooking this foodfor you to have and, you know,
this is coffee just for you. Andthen, you know, our volunteers
and our staff, spend the timethere and have coffee and have
breakfast, and then we're all inthis together, having a
community meal, right, or wehave all our guests that will
(25:40):
say, Oh, I'll take this trashout for you, or I'll wipe these
chairs down and help you putthem away. Right. And, and it is
such that the relationships arenot, oh, I'm setting this
program up just to help you. Butlike, together this program runs
for all of us to spend timetogether. And that's what we've
(26:01):
tried to do it Studio City is tobuild this model of spending
time with our community in a waythat makes people want to come
back. And, you know, the, thefact of getting services is why
they show up, right? But onceyou've done that, once you've
gotten CalFresh, once you set upyour gr or you know, taking the
(26:23):
time, the months that it took toget Social Security straightened
out, right? Why are they stillshowing up, because they care
about the relationships they'vebuilt with us with the other
guests with the model of Nohothat says, Well, I'm still
wanted here. Even if theresources aren't for me
(26:44):
immediately, there are peoplethat come back who've become
how's that come and still gettheir mail there or still have
food with the drop in centerpeople. And I think that it's
not just, oh, this is a programthat gets people off the street,
but like, this is a communityorganizing organization that
(27:04):
builds relationships, and is,you know, working for liberation
in the best ways that we can. Ithink that's really different
than a lot of the models thatare in the city right now.
I want to say that, I think thatcapitalism specifically tells us
(27:25):
that we can be self reliant,right, that if you don't know,
work hard enough, have enough ofyour own wealth stashed away,
then you'll never need to relyon anyone else for help. But
before I did a lot of thishousing justice, I was doing
(27:45):
climate justice. And it's thesame idea, like very suddenly,
somebody can lose everything,right? Like we saw with the
paradise fires in California,for instance, you know, one day,
you're you live in a house thenext day, you've lost
everything. And then the onlything that you have left is your
community. And so there issomeone I was talking to just
(28:07):
within this last week, who Imean, I've known him for a
couple of months, but he's justtelling me his story for the
first time this past week. Andhe's like, you know, I was fine.
I had, you know, I had a girl, Ihad my own place, I was a
mechanic. And then I had to goto the hospital. And I was in
the hospital for like, 10 days.
And when I got out, you know,I'd lost my job because of that,
(28:30):
because they didn't, I was a nocall no show. And I went there.
And you know, they pawned offall my tools. And so like, now I
lost my livelihood to and like,you know, and I was still too
sick or infirm to work for awhile and then like, and then
you lose everything. And so ifyou lose all of your wealth,
then the only thing left is yourcommunity. And so you you know,
(28:51):
you look around, and hopefullyyou've got a friend whose couch
you can crash on for a bit. Andhopefully, there's a church down
the street where you can atleast get you know, I don't
know, something clean and warmto put on, like, like, these are
the kinds of backstops that weneed to have. Because we know
like how precariously all of usare balanced. Yeah.
(29:17):
And I mean that, that on top ofright, the additional systems of
oppression, like whether youhave a car or not, whether
you're in a neighborhood that'shighly policed or not whether
you are I mean, this has beenreally the thing that's happened
in the past couple of weeks thatwe've noticed, doing outreach is
(29:41):
like is so heartbreaking to me.
And it's not surprising, butthis what's been happening right
is due to racism. People ofcolor, black people very
specifically have been gettingless access to outreach
services. And so then they saythat they're not there. And then
it takes them longer to get intohousing, or, you know, fear six,
(30:01):
five and black, you'reintimidating. And so maybe
you're service averse, whichjust means I was too afraid to
talk to you. And the thing thatI'm learning is that just simply
being black, as an outreachworker in the spaces gives
people a little bit more freedoma little bit, that they're not
(30:27):
even freedom, they are willingto talk to me in a way that they
haven't been with other people.
And so if the, if the responseis just go get a job, or, you
know, the city's taking care ofit, and just go into housing,
they're not even talking to alarge portion of the houses
population to get them intohousing. And so then what do you
(30:51):
do? Right?
Then the only the only peoplewho contact who, who make
contact with black people wholive on the street, or the
police, and it's not good to beblack on the street when the
police are around? Right. And sothey're, they're understandably,
you know, avoidant of governmentworkers, like, of course.
(31:14):
Yeah, absolutely. And thank youfor bringing that up. Because
that's, that's my experience,too, in the drop in centers
that, you know, I am able to, tocommunicate with our black
guests in a way that our whitevolunteers are not because of
that trauma that they experienceout on the streets, or the
discrimination that theyexperienced in, in receiving
(31:34):
services. And so it's, it'sreally, I think, and I think
that can be taken out a broaderlens to you know, if you're part
of any kind of marginalizedidentity, and you're not, and
you're in, you're interested inhelping out your community, it's
amazing how sometimes just yourphysical presence there can make
(31:55):
a big difference. If you're aperson of color, if you're, you
know, a woman and you if you'rethe gender opposite of the
people that are mostly therehelping if the opposite gender,
that's a loaded, whatever, youknow what I mean, but if you're
if you're a visible member ofthe LGBT community, you know,
like, these are things that justyour presence there can make a
(32:20):
big difference. And we've seenfirsthand that it that it does
make a big difference, you know,if you speak a language other
than English, and someone comesin and speaks that language more
comfortably than English, youknow, like, these are all things
that literally just being therecan can make a big difference
and can start, you know,building that trust and building
that relationship.
(32:41):
I can talk a little bit to herwhy this tends to happen. I
don't think that we think aboutit this way. But our housing
system is based onvulnerability. And so we try and
house those who are mostvulnerable, first, right, like,
so even though we have this sortof housing first mentality, it
(33:01):
would be someone who is, youknow, possibly physically ill or
older, or, you know, needs a lotmore care than someone else,
like the vulnerability of youtying on the street, is what we
try to do is to get people intohousing sooner. And what I've
(33:22):
learned, and what I've beenseeing is that oppression,
racism, you know, people who areon or within the LGBTQIA
community, they are physicallyless vulnerable, because it
takes very little for a personof color, marginalized identity
(33:44):
to fall into homelessness,right? Like, if you're in these
marginalized populations, youare living on the edge of
homelessness, sometimes yourentire life. And then when you
fall into that you're stillphysically healthy. You just now
you live on the street. Right?
Yeah. And what we're seeing isthat there are a lot of white
(34:05):
people who get resource afterresource, and they become more
and more vulnerable, right? Bythe time they are physically
living on the street, they areolder, they are sicker they are
in the I know this is verygeneral. So I don't mean to say
that people who are sicker whohappen to be white shouldn't be
(34:27):
housed before a black person is,you know, that's not my stance
on this. But what I am saying isthat your likelihood to be more
vulnerable in our whitesupremacists world is that we
are housing more white people.
And that more people of colorand marginalized identities are
(34:48):
staying on the street and notgetting the resources that they
need.
Yeah, that's I've never eventhought about it that way. But
that's that's absolutely true.
Thank you for bringing that upand bringing light to that. I
appreciate that. Do I have afree trial of like super zoom or
(35:09):
something? I don't even know whywhy we haven't gotten the
warning yet. But I think we'rerunning low on time. Does. Does
anybody else have anything thatthey would like to add before,
before we wrap up?
I would just say if folks feeloverwhelmed by by anything,
whether you're called to work inhomelessness, or another issue,
(35:29):
that it really helps to do withother people. So I would just
say to get involved withsomething that's happening in
your community.
There's always something right.
Yeah. Lexus Lexus advice was,you know, join up with with who
is around you already doing thework, don't reinvent things.
(35:51):
Right. Heard Antonette earliersaying something to the effect
of, you know, do the thing thatyou're already good at, right?
Do the thing you already knowhow to do? Yeah. And I think
what I want to add to it is showup, like, the first step to, you
know, helping is literally justbe there. Like, that is so much
(36:12):
more than not that. I mean,like, it can, it can be like a
really simple way to help, like,just show up and like, I don't
know, set up chairs, or like,wipe down a table. Like there's
a thing you can do, I'm sure.
Yeah.
Yeah, I wonder people think thatthey have to be doing the big
(36:32):
thing. And, and you can, youknow, work up to the big thing.
But when I started I was I washanding out clothing, I was I
was helping people choose a tshirt. Right. And like, for me,
that was not a big thing forsome of our guests. That's a
huge thing. Because getting newclothes and being able to feel
(36:53):
good in what you're wearing isamazing. But yeah, wipe down a
table or stacks and chairs, oryou know, donating a meal to an
organization doing it already,right? If you're in a vulnerable
population, and you still don'tfeel safe enough or comfortable
enough to volunteer on outreach,or at a drop in program,
something like volunteering yourtime at home, and then donating
(37:17):
those clothing or donating ameal. or talking to other people
at advocacy meetings or Housemeetings where you can say this
is a thing I believe in and youknow, get your get your friends
involved. Like you. Youpersonally all of us on this
call anybody who's listening tothis, like personally have
permission to do the thing.
Yeah. And,and bring a friend. Yeah.
(37:43):
Everything's more fun with thefriend. Right? Well, thank you
so much for doing this. I thinkit went well. The first
multicast episode of this show.
I am you know, this thisorganization, being involved
with this has been a reallyimpactful part of my year, this
year. Again, speaking of howthis is, you know, mutual, it's
(38:06):
not just, I am helping youbecause you are less fortunate,
whatever, like I really needed abigger sense of community, I
needed community, I needed tofeel useful, basically. I mean,
I was really spiraling and lostwhen I started here, you know,
I'd like just quit my job and mypersonal issues are going on. So
(38:26):
I mean, it is this, this hasbeen a really important thing
for me, too. And it's been, youknow, just such a pleasure
getting to know all of you thisyear. I mean, I wouldn't know
any of the three of you if itwasn't for this. And I think
that you're all delightful. Soyeah, thank you for being a part
of this. Thank you, Leo. Yeah.
(38:48):
Thanks. All right. I'll talk toy'all later.
Thanks again to Antonette jollyand lax for having this
conversation with me. Iabsolutely love being a part of
this community. Things have kindof been up in the air with me
(39:08):
lately. So I haven't been ableto be around as often and
listening to this interview justmade me miss everybody and just
remind me of why this is soimportant to me. So I can't wait
to be back again in the newyear. There's a couple of things
from the conversation that Iwanted to point out. One I kind
of blundered a little bit and Irefer to opposite genders in
(39:31):
kind of a binary way. And I justwant to kind of correct myself
and say that a better way tohave said that would have just
been different gender. You know,there are many different gender
expressions in gender identitiesas opposed to the binary two
genders structure that we'vebeen conditioned to understand.
(39:51):
And, you know, shout out toformer guests of the show Criss
Angel Murphy for you know, kindof normalizing making those
mistakes. and correcting them inreal time. The second thing I
want to point out is somethingthat Antonette said at the end,
you know, kind of breaking downthe ways in which systemic
racism can play a role in thehousing crisis. I think I
(40:14):
mentioned in the interview, butthis was kind of, you know, the
first time that that informationhad been presented to me in that
way. And I was kind of takenaback, you know, it is, it is
hard sometimes to hear the truthof our society. We don't always
know what to say in thosemoments, or at least, I don't
always know what to say. And allI can say now is, everything is
(40:39):
interconnected. And no matterwhat cause speaks out to you,
whether it's the housing crisis,whether it's immigration, access
to health care, anything thatworks to challenge and dismantle
the systems of white supremacy,there's always work to be done.
(41:00):
So on that note, like I said, inthe intro, there are links in
the show notes to donate to knowhow home Alliance, we're
actually in the middle of a bigfundraiser to help us fund 2022
It's called there's no placelike no Hoh. The link is in the
show notes. If you want tovolunteer if you want to get
involved, the link is in theshow notes for that. If you're
(41:23):
in the LA area, we can alwaysuse some help, whether it be
with social media, or in personat our drop in centers, or out
on the streets doing outreach.
I've always loved NorthHollywood, but I feel so much
more connected to theneighborhood. Now that I know my
neighbors on a much deeperlevel. And now that I'm
accountable to my neighbors on amuch deeper level, I highly
(41:44):
encourage you like Lex said,find something that's already
happening and get involved.
You'll be happy that she did. Iwas happy that I did I should
say I can't speak for you. Butit definitely changed my 2021
for the better.
Thank you again, for being partof this journey with me. I know
(42:06):
I say that every single episode.
But I really truly mean it fromthe bottom of my heart. This
podcast honestly kind of savedmy life, I was spiraling in a
really bad way. When I startedthis, I had no idea what I was
going to do with my life. Imean, those of you who have been
listening for the verybeginning, saw me kind of go
from from from never wanting tobe in tech again to wanting to
(42:29):
do comedy to like almost likequasi life coaching and then
getting back in attack andgetting involved in Noho. Home
Alliance. And, you know, 2021was a year of trial and error
and the conversations that I hadwith my guests being able to
listen to them three times firstwhen I participate in the
(42:52):
interview. Second when I editedthe interview, and third,
listening back to the episode,after I got released, really
instilled a lot of importantlessons in me. And I really,
really enjoyed hearing hearingfrom you listeners. I'm so glad
that these episodes haveresonated with you as well
especially, it seems like a lotof the LGBTQ episodes really,
(43:13):
really resonated with a lot ofyou. That means a lot to me. I'm
so glad that we've been on thisjourney together. I don't know
when the show is coming back, orHonestly, even if the show is
coming back. What I can promiseyou is that if it does come
back, it'll have a muchdifferent format. In the same
way that you know my involvementwith no home alliance is
(43:35):
probably going to look a littlebit different next year. You
know, everything is alwaysconstantly evolving. When I say
stay evolving at the end of theepisode, those aren't empty
words, that that's a mantra thatI really try to live by. So just
go with the flow of change andto keep pushing to live a life
that's more and more and morealigned with my values. So
(43:56):
anyway, I wish you all a happyholiday season Happy New Year. I
know everyone is afraid ofjinxing it, but I'm not I really
believe that 2022 is going to bea good year. I wish that for all
of you. Thank you again forbeing on this journey with me.
Find me on social media. Thelinks are in the show notes.
(44:16):
Stay evolving.
Popular Podcasts
Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club
Welcome to Bookmarked by Reese’s Book Club — the podcast where great stories, bold women, and irresistible conversations collide! Hosted by award-winning journalist Danielle Robay, each week new episodes balance thoughtful literary insight with the fervor of buzzy book trends, pop culture and more. Bookmarked brings together celebrities, tastemakers, influencers and authors from Reese's Book Club and beyond to share stories that transcend the page. Pull up a chair. You’re not just listening — you’re part of the conversation.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com