When I first heard about our trip to this homeless residence, I imagined something more similar to a shelter than an apartment building. Capitol Hall had medical offices, a cafeteria, and common area. Rooms were big and offered residents a good amount of privacy. From both the outside and inside, Capitol hall looked surprisingly normal, and much more like a dorm than a shelter.
While discussing homelessness in New York and types of housing to help alleviate this problem, we gained some helpful insight from Capitol Hall’s management and the people who lived there. It was great to hear about the outreach they do, and how they got this huge plan to buy back the building, to actually work. Seeing occupied rooms and talking to tenants also helped bring a human aspect to the tour as well, and showed how fimiliar this living situation is to many of us in the class. Many of us have lived in dorms or small one room apartments were some facilities are shared and everyone is fairly close together, so we can somewhat relate to this style of living.
Although, being a student is very different than being homeless, and we are are surrounded by different types of people in a dorm, the size and setup of the building creates a certain lifestyle that many of us can relate to. I’m grateful that we got to see this firsthand, and therefore grasp a more human understanding of the problems we discuss in class.
