- This is so awesome!
Host homes.
Come on, get in there.
They're no longer homeless because strangers took 'em in.
Wow.
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Doing?
- I'm making an awesome tie-dye shirt. (laughs)
- This is Safe Place for Youth, affectionately known as?
- SPY.
- And Alison is gonna give us a tour.
- We are.
So we have this amazing kind of secret back entrance,
and we're in Venice Beach and we're gonna go into the space
and I'm gonna show you around.
- Come on.
- Alright, let's go.
So we're waking into our, have you got it on?
- [Mark] You're such a producer.
- I am.
So we're passing where all of our counseling happens,
counseling happens in this bungalow.
We have a health and wellness program
so young people can access therapy sessions, group therapy,
and we have lots of partners who come on site.
This is Rob who does all of our outreach.
- [Mark] Hey Rob.
- Hello there.
- So Rob is out on the streets up to five days a week.
- Yep.
- In Venice, in Santa Monica,
and wherever our neighbors call us to go.
If you find a group of young people that need to be engaged,
Rob's out there engaging with them.
- We'll go and engage 'em, absolutely.
- Two of our amazing volunteers are here today,
helping us man our clothing closet
and one special guest who's here today as well.
- [Mark] Hi, special guest!
- Hello!
- [Mark] And who are you?
- I'm Sarah.
- I'm Missy.
- [Mark] And?
- Erika.
- [Mark] Hey.
- So, this is our clothing closet.
We have another guest down there.
Do you wanna say hi to our other guest?
- [Mark] And you are?
- Jeff.
- And then we have a young person
in here looking for clothes,
so every time a young person comes to our drop-in center
they can come in and get a whole outfit of clothing.
We have amazing clothing, and actually Erika
is a member of our team that helps us make sure
that this room is full of beautiful clothing
and in good shape.
And then this is our drop-in space
where young people can come in and get access
to computers, they can eat, they can chill,
and then let's go to a really special room back here.
So this is our healing arts space.
Would you like to, Lisa, tell Mark, our guest
what happens in this space?
And introduce yourself. - Painting.
Oh, I'm Lisa, I'm the star member of SPY.
One of them.
A lot happens in this space.
We have musical instruments in there,
drums up there, art supplies.
Usually on Thursdays there's somebody
that comes in and we do musical production programs.
It's really dope.
This space just gives a lot of the youth
an opportunity to express theirselves
and you know, have fun and peace,
just have a peaceful time in here.
- [Mark] And what's your connection?
- My connection?
I was on the streets for a while,
and I didn't have myself together so I started coming here
and I got my life together.
I started going to school, I started making art,
putting myself out there as an artist
and you know, it really helped me get out there
and now I'm doing better off.
- [Mark] Great.
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- One of the things it's really important to note
is that we rely heavily on donations, so gift in kind.
You can imagine with almost 100 youth
coming through here a day
how many pairs of socks we go through,
how many pairs of underwear, and scarves and hats,
so we have some donors here today who are donating the food.
Tom's gave us a whole load of blankets
which almost look like they're actually all out.
And then this space is our outside space which is awesome,
'cause people can come and hang and create community
and bring their dogs and their cats and their ferrets
and whatever else they need to bring
so that they can connect to each other and to us
and feel part of something.
- I totally adore Alison and she is wonderful
at introducing me and Invisible People,
and it's different every time!
So, what is it that I do?
- So, I think that what you really do
is you give folks that are living on the street a voice.
You provide in a really humanistic way,
because you have your own lived experience,
so they trust you, you build their trust,
and then you ask them their story.
And I love that you always end
with this empowering, if you had three wishes.
I just think it's so special
and so empowering that you do that.
And your interviews inspire me every time I see them.
We work with youth,
but you work with all of the unhoused population,
so it's just super empowering.
- [Mark] Well thank you.
Tell me, how many youth do you see everyday?
- So we can see over 100 youth a day.
Last year we served almost 1400 individual youth.
200 of them were moved to safety off the streets
and 90 were provided access to jobs or school,
so we have really high numbers.
- And Erika, right, is a peer support worker.
Can you tell me about that?
- So my role here is based on listening
to feedback that is provided by members
and taking that to program managers
and going over with them
how we can make projects or programs out of that,
and hopefully be able to make members feel more comfortable
such as the animal therapy for intakes
and next step tools would be really good.
- [Mark] What do kids face out there?
- I think there's a perception that it's really easy
'cause it's hot and it's warm
and Venice is really laid back.
The truth of it is, it's really dangerous out there,
and it's really difficult for young people
just trying to get through the day,
to even find food or basic supplies,
so it's really, really, really tough out there,
and there are hundreds of young people
out on the streets of the West Side,
and congregating around Venice.
So it's just really, really tough.
I think there's a perception that people believe
that people are just hanging out and having fun.
It could not be further from the truth.
- Right now you're a day shelter,
so one of the things that breaks my heart
when I've been here before
is at night, seeing the kids leave,
knowing that many of them are gonna be couch surfing
or in situations that aren't safe or sleeping on the beach.
But there's a shelter coming in with 50 beds, hopefully.
- 54.
- 54 beds specifically for youth.
- Yeah.
- Can you tell me about that?
And what I really like is how Mike Bonin,
who is a council member here, came in
and had a meeting with the kids and listened to them.
- For all the years that I've been doing this work,
the biggest challenge we have
is when we shut the door at five o'clock.
We have nowhere to refer the young people to.
There are nowhere near enough shelters,
nowhere near enough bridge housing,
or of course nowhere near enough permanent housing.
So we could not be more excited about the 54 beds
that hopefully will be open by the end of spring
in Venice Beach, and it was amazing.
Mike's team came in, and Mike himself came in
and actually sat with Erika
and a bunch of young people
and asked questions about, how would it need to look?
What services would need to be there?
Down to, how many beds per room?
What are the things that would stop people coming?
Do we need to be able to have pets in there?
And it was just really amazing,
and they've actually taken all of that feedback
and built it into the design
of what they're proposing to do, so we are thrilled.
- And just to clarify, Invisible People was not brought in
specifically to support bridge housing.
We are here to humanize homelessness.
I, personally, and Invisible People
are behind the bridge housing,
and that's why we're creating content like this.
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- I'm 24 years old and I moved to California two years ago
on and off, and I'm a musician.
Came here to chase my dreams, all my music and clothing.
Yeah, basically, had to sleep on the beach and everything.
I'm progressing, but being on and off homeless
it's not easy.
I don't know.
That's all I really have to say about that one.
- [Mark] Well, people think that sleeping on the beach,
Venice, it's just all fun.
- Yeah, no, it's not all fun, it's really scary,
and it's nothing you should do just willingly.
- [Mark] And SPY is helping you?
- Yes.
Coming here, I got a lot of resources.
I don't know, a lot of stuff got better
as soon as I started getting more resources
'cause I came here not knowing what to do or anything
and I didn't know anyone.
(upbeat instrumental music)
- Do you want to go inside?
Our employment and education spaces,
so we can go and have a look what's going on in there.
(upbeat instrumental music)
- This is the education and employment office.
So, they help you write your resume, cover letters.
There's also school here called Five Keys.
They help you get your GED or diploma, either one.
They have a lot of cool tours and job fairs
for SMC and stuff.
It's a really good opportunity to get your life on track
and get a job and everything.
- We launched a new program, a pilot program,
called the host home program, and I just wanted
to introduce you to a couple of young people
that have been housed in the host home program
and are now potentially going to be moving in
to your own permanent housing!
You know, it's super unique.
We're the first agency in Los Angeles to launch a program
where we're literally asking people to take young people in
to a spare room in their home, and bridge the gap
between the street and the housing.
We know that's the biggest challenge is finding housing
and it takes a long time, so the host home program
is really exciting and sweetly aligned
with our organizational culture and how we build on
having community members be part of the solution.
- My name is Bryan
and I work at LAX.
Your turn.
- [Mark] So what, are you guys now homeless?
- You've gotta say your name, right?
- My name's Helen and I currently assist a very intensive
coding and web development course at St Joseph's.
- [Mark] Awesome.
- And SPY helped me with getting into that program,
as well as the host homes program.
We were homeless for about four months.
We were living in our car, showering at the beach.
You know, had to live sometimes not eating,
other days eating tuna cans et cetera
until we got introduced to the host homes program
which has been a gateway for us
to keep moving on with life and fulfilling our dreams
that we thought were gonna be crushed by life.
Now thanks to the host homes program we were able
to get back up on our feet and soon move into our own place
and I can say that now I have a chance
to live to my full potential again.
And yes, host homes...
It's kind of like a stranger thing,
but we were young homeless people
and our strangers were dreams
so if you guys just get to know homeless youth,
just meet them, you know, what are their goals
and help them out, just like our host helped us out.
- [Mark] Strangers took you in?
- Yeah, strangers took me in.
- [Mark] And it's working, obviously,
and you're ending homelessness?
I mean, they're ending homelessness,
you're no longer homeless.
- No.
- [Mark] Why don't more people do this?
- Exactly!
Everybody should be doing it.
We know that.
We have tons and tons and tons
of single family homes all across the county
with empty bedrooms, and people need to step up
and be part of the solution.
- This is so awesome!
Host homes.
Come on, get in there.
They're no longer homeless because strangers took them in!
Wow!
What would you say to other strangers
who are thinking about maybe letting homeless people
into their spare bedroom?
- A lot of the people in the county complain so much
about homelessness, yet they don't want to find a solution,
and the solution is helping us out.
- I got linked up with this organization SPY,
and man, they basically raised me, nurtured me,
helped me grow up, you know?
Helped me learn skill traits to really benefit my life
and help me get off the streets
and it was an amazing blessing
and I would not trade that for the world.
- [Mark] Any last words?
- (sighs) You know.
It's time we did something about this.
It's been going on way too long
that we allow thousands and thousands of young people
to languish on the streets without any basic shelter.
It's gotta be done, and I'm so delighted
that we'll have a shelter in Venice
where we can place young people, so they can get stabilized
and connected to available resources.
Yeah, just get involved, volunteer.
Be part of the solution.
Don't just moan about the situation on the streets.
Get involved and be part of it.
These kids are amazing.
- Alison is one of my favorite people.
I love this organization.
How do people find you?
- They can go to safeplaceforyouth.org.
We've got a whole volunteer page, information page
on how to get involved, so yeah.
And you can go on our website or you can give us a call,
you can come and do an orientation,
and you can just get involved. - Yeah.
So everybody, if you're a Venice resident
and you're out there and you want to take action,
this is the place to really affect change,
helping what I believe is tomorrow's future
and that's today's youth.
So thank you everybody for watching.
Please click like, please subscribe,
please support us on Patreon
so we can do more of these videos,
and please advocate for affordable housing
and ending homelessness,
all the different types of homelessness in your community.
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