Today more than 85% of the homeless shelters in the United States are mixed-gender. While these shelters are considered safe havens for women, women experience violence at startling levels within them. Women are vulnerable and marginalized. They do not have access to the resources they need, forcing the vast majority to ‘rough sleep’ on the streets.
In fact, more than 93% of women on the streets’ rough sleep’ and have experienced some form of violence. They also have shorter life spans, and a majority of women on the streets are known to be battling mental illness. Heavy gender-based discrimination makes it hard for them to break this cycle.
These facts were simply statistics to me before I started Project Her Home.
Then, I joined the California Youth Crisis Line. The experience helped me better understand the housing epidemic and its nuances. I also met teens from a myriad of backgrounds and experiences. Some were just like me – battling typical teenage challenges. And then others were grappling with issues beyond what I could comprehend.
I recall a specific call with a runaway teen. “I sleep on the streets – it’s safer this way,” the caller had told me. It didn’t make sense to me, though. Shelters were supposed to be safe places for the homeless: a place where they could be connected to resources and seek a way out of this cycle. But, after some research, I found out that wasn’t the case.
And so, in late 2019, I decided that I would help the best I could; I set out to tackle the circumstances and ask difficult questions about privilege, access, and inequality in society.
I started Project Her Home with the help of Radhika Shandilya, a transitional housing worker, and Dr. Ruschelle Leone, a professor of psychology and gender studies. Together, we developed the PHH App to connect women to safe women-only shelters, violence prevention resources, menstruation hygiene, health care services, and much more. The application also helps women take care of their mental health while on the streets and seek options out of homelessness, a feature unique to my application.
The application is entirely free and available on the Google Play Store and the MIT App Gallery. I hope women across the U.S utilize this application; I request you to share our resources, especially with those who are battling homelessness.
Ultimately, I implore teenagers and other youth to become active changemakers. Together we can find solutions to social problems; age isn’t an impediment, and together, through innovation and creativity, we can foster sustainable solutions to benefit humanity.
- United States