An Invitation to Leadership. A Challenge to Conscience.
By Rebecca “Becky” Wolf | Special to the Vanguard
Abode’s mission statement speaks of ending homelessness, dignity, advocacy, stability and humanity.
Beautiful words.
Mission statements are easy to write.
Living them is much harder.
I often wonder what happens to those words after vulnerable people walk through the front door.
Do they remain promises?
Or do they become marketing?
I have spent the last year watching elderly residents become homeless.
I have watched disabled residents fight for accommodations they should never have had to beg for.
I have watched residents become afraid to speak publicly because they fear retaliation.
I have watched vulnerable people become extraordinarily resilient simply because ordinary humanity was withheld from them.
Somewhere along the way, we have become far too comfortable celebrating ribbon cuttings while forgetting the human beings who remain after the photographs have been taken.
Ribbon cuttings are meant to celebrate success. They are meant to celebrate promises fulfilled. They are not meant to become substitutes for accountability.
If elderly residents are homeless, if disabled residents are fighting for basic accommodations, if people are afraid to speak publicly for fear of retaliation, then we have not succeeded.
We have simply cut a ribbon.
Stop publicizing ribbon cuttings and start publicizing accountability.
Stop counting how many people walk through the front door and start asking how many feel safe enough to stay.
Stop measuring success by how many units were built and start measuring it by how many lives were rebuilt.
Housing should never come at the price of humanity.
Supportive housing should feel supportive.
Today, for far too many of us, it does not.
Supportive housing was never intended to become merely a roof over someone’s head. It was intended to become the foundation upon which human beings rebuild their lives.
Vivian Wan and Louis Chicoine, I respectfully invite you to respond publicly.
More importantly, I invite you to spend a weekend here.
Spend a week here.
Sleep where we sleep.
Hear what we hear.
Watch an elderly resident cry because they are afraid.
Watch a disabled resident fight for accommodations guaranteed to them by law.
Watch residents become afraid to speak because they fear retaliation.
Experience what we experience before deciding what supportive housing looks like.
I promise I will make you comfortable in my room.
What I cannot promise is that I will be able to make you comfortable with what you learn.
The invitation extends beyond leadership.
Mayor.
Councilmembers.
Reporters.
City staff.
Housing officials.
Members of our community.
You are all invited.
Come spend time with us.
Because vulnerable people should never have to become investigators, advocates, lawyers or public speakers simply to receive ordinary protections.
We are not asking for perfection.
We are asking for humanity.
We are not asking for special treatment.
We are asking for equal treatment.
We are not asking to become extraordinary.
We are asking to become ordinary once again.
The greatest tragedy in supportive housing is not homelessness.
It is invisibility.
Because homelessness should never mean becoming less human.
Finally, I leave you with one question.
If my experience is the exception, prove me wrong.
If my experience is the norm, then everything must change.
Humanity cannot be reserved for mission statements.
It must exist inside the walls built to honor them.
Fix what is broken first.
Then we will celebrate together.
Respect. Dignity. Safety. These are not optional.
#SilenceIsNotSurvivable
Rebecca “Becky” Wolf – Founder, The Opportunity Center Single-Site Tenant Union
Advocate, Whisper Litigation Services
To comment please go to one of these social media platforms:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DavisVanguard
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/peoples-vanguard-of-davis-inc/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davisvanguard/
X: https://x.com/davisvanguard
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/vanguardnewsgroup.bsky.social
Subscribe to the Vanguard News letters. To make a tax-deductible donation, please visit davisvanguard.org/donate or give directly through ActBlue. Your support will ensure that the vital work of the Vanguard continues.
