Written by Jillian Salaway
Popular media discourse surrounding the issue of homelessness and the individuals that find themselves in this position often depict the classic stereotype of people who beg for money on the streets, addicts, and people who just refuse to work. At Homeless Entrepreneur, we want to not only move away from these harmful and inaccurate stereotypes, but to also provide a gateway of opportunities to those facing housing insecurity, who are motivated to become active citizens again through various employment programs and housing initiatives.
Within our four locations in Spain, the United States, Nigeria, and England, we have created 36 success stories and approximately four hundred homeless lives improved. Homeless Entrepreneur founder Andrew Funk has presented our social policy proposals to the EU Parliament’s PETI commission in 2020, and introduced a 16.9 million euro investment to end homelessness for 10% of Spain’s homeless population to the Spanish senate board in 2021.
The EU cannot let homeless people fall through the cracks of the COVID crisis
By the end of 2022, our organization has even bigger goals of reaching one hundred success stories of our Homeless Entrepreneurs achieving security and stability in their housing and employment status. The impact our organization has had on the members involved within our community speaks for itself, but I decided to ask some of our team and members how their involvement with Homeless Entrepreneur has impacted their life and their community.
I first reached out to one of our most involved members in charge of professional development, Mayte Miro. As an MBA graduate, psychologist, and with 20 years of experience in international project management and business development, she has been a valued member of Homeless Entrepreneur since the beginning. When I asked Mayte how Homeless Entrepreneur has affected her and the community, she believes our organization is changing the conversation about how we talk about and address homelessness.
“We are in a world which tends to hide homelessness and the habitual actions make this issue endemic. . . our volunteers and team understand that people experiencing homelessness are valid people and they can and want to fight for a better and independent life.”
During my conversation with Mayte, she acknowledged societies’ misinterpretation of the houseless community, but has hope that our mission and other organizations alike can shift our perceptions and create systemic change.
I wanted to speak to other members of our team about their experience with Homeless Entrepreneur, so I reached out to one of our interns, Anna Mayer, and a volunteer, Regis Badia. In my conversation with Regis he acknowledged his own misconceptions about the homeless community before his involvement with Homeless Entrepreneur, and how his direct experience with our Homeless Entrepreneurs has changed his belief system about homelessness.
“Thanks to knowing several Homeless Entrepreneurs, we have understood that it can happen to any person to find themselves in a situation of homelessness.”
Additionally, I spoke to a newer member of our team, Finance Intern Anna Mayer. In my conversation with her, Anna emphasized the contrast of language in standard discourse about homelessness opposed to how our organization approaches language of the homeless community.
“Homeless Entrepreneur emphasizes that people without homes are people. . . They are deserving of empowerment and a second chance. I think this narrative is missing in the popular discussion.”
In order to address the issue of homelessness in society, we must first change the discourse involving this community, which was an important concept mentioned by our interviewees.
Lastly and most importantly, I spoke to a previous Homeless Entrepreneur involved with our year long HELP employment program in which he successfully graduated. Before entering our program, Vincent was without a job or anywhere to live. Vincent desperately wanted to become an active member of society again, but needed the resources to find that motivation. When he discovered Homeless Entrepreneur, he states that he regained a newfound sense of motivation, confidence, and courage to pursue his goals.
“At a very challenging time of great uncertainty and doubt in my life’s journey, Homeless Entrepreneur made an important impact on my life by providing support and rising certainty that moving from where I was in my homeless and jobless state living on the streets could be seen as a new beginning instead of a definite end.”
Vincent Helvig during his TedX Talk at ESADE Business School.
Vincent goes on to say that our organizations’ support and guidance has allowed him to take control of his life in a secure and positive way, and now works remotely while traveling the world. His experience reflects not only how our organization can permanently change the lives of its members, but also showcases how houseless individuals can become positive members of society if provided the right resources and tools to do so.
At Homeless Entrepreneur, we believe that everyone is deserving of the right resources and opportunities to be successful. Security and stability is an essential element to be an active citizen, and we strongly believe that every individual is worthy of that stability no matter their employment or housing status.
