Session Description

In recent years, the United States has begun to place greater emphasis on racial equity as a key component to ending homelessness. For decades, racial and ethnic minorities, especially Black and Indigenous persons, have experienced homelessness at much higher rates than their white counterparts. This disproportionate burden has a long history rooted in racialized policies that continue to affect people experiencing homelessness today. In this training, we will explore this history while examining the structural and individual factors driving the racialization of homelessness. Presenters will identify ways that our current service delivery system reinforces racial disparities, placing an emphasis on the need to move toward equity, rather than equality, in the homeless services system.

Learn

• Summarize the current state of homelessness through the lens of race and ethnicity at a national and local level

• Explain key structural and individual factors that disproportionately impact racial minorities experiencing homelessness

• Identify at least one way that current service delivery systems reproduce and reinforce racial disparities

• Identify the ways that current service delivery systems reproduce and reinforce racial disparities

Presenters

Andrew Spiers, MSS, LSW (he/him), is the Director of Training and Technical Assistance for Pathways to Housing PA’s Housing First University. Andrew joined Pathways in early 2018 and served as an Assistant Team Leader and Team Leader before launching Housing First University in October 2019. Andrew holds a Master of Social Service from Bryn Mawr College’s Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research, where he concentrated in Community Practice, Policy, & Advocacy. He has taught Human Services and Sociology courses as an adjunct professor at Harcum College and conducted trainings and workshops all over the country on Housing First, harm reduction, and affirming care for LGBTQ+ communities.

Ryan Villagran, MSW, LSW (they/them), joined Housing First University in June 2021 as a Training Specialist. Ryan holds a Master of Social Work from Temple University with a concentration in Communities & Policy. Their clinical background includes delivering psychiatric rehabilitation services in the mental health recovery model at a Community Integrated Recovery Center. Ryan also developed and coordinated a training program in a university setting for social workers serving transitional-aged youth and later taught a Human Behavior in the Social Environment course for graduate social work students. Ryan believes in the power of our collective imagination to dream of a better future centered around those on the margins.