As our name suggests, we at RentFoodBroke are very aware of the precariousness of our current situation. There are many in our city who, for a myriad of reasons, do not have homes. Recently, we were lucky enough to spend some time with Tina Hovsepian, inventor and founder of Cardborigami. An architect, Tina developed a temporary, portable shelter to try and provide some respite for those without permanent structures. She generously agreed to share some of her thoughts and experiences in downtown's Skid Row. The following is what she shared:
Saturday, August 14. It is 11:00am as we approach the area of downtown Los Angeles called Skid Row. The closer we get to this quarantine-like district, the more lost souls we see roaming the streets. This takes my mind back to memories of our last trip here. The surveys taken and the harsh numbers and statistics all rush into my head. Conversations with people we met begin to flow into my stream of consciousness. As I watch an old man limp across the street with a cane, all I can focus on is the regret I feel from taking surveys without even asking these people their names. Initially I did not know how to interact with them, how they would re-act to me, and most importantly what they would think of the shelter I had created for them. Most of my memories from my first time being in the heart of Skid Row are a blur of emotion. We started giving out fruit, bread, and bottled water. The line of needing hands extended down Gladys and wrapped around the corner of the park at 6th. We ran out of food. My heart dropped to my stomach. No matter how much we gave it was not enough, it would never be enough.
Initially a colleague and I heard of this particular outreach program that traveled to Skid Row each week. We joined them for the first time on Saturday, May 29th. The Dream Center is a non-profit outreach dedicated to helping inner-cities by providing food, clothing, shelter, life rehabilitation, education and job training, Biblical training and much more through 273 ministries and outreaches. I chose to work with this organization because of their intensive homeless outreach. I do not necessarily agree with their religious views but I appreciate and commend them for the thousands of people they have helped to get off of the streets and into their centers. Today we would realize that most of these people just wanted a space in which to reside without having to convert to some faith or conform to homeless shelter rules.
Thinking back to my first outreach that Saturday morning in May, I recall being praised with positive feedback about the my invention. I felt the hope and cheer and desire as I looked into the previously dead eyes of those who tested Cardborigami. One woman in particular had named it Gods green home. When we asked our typical survey question to gauge fear of being robbed, she said she wouldn’t worry because God would give her another one. With an overwhelmingly positive response to our initial outreach, we were certain that Cardborigami was a plausible solution. Now I can’t help but think we may have been naïve. Had we overlooked the fact that everyone we spoke with was simply excited that someone cared to offer them a space of their own (whatever shape, form, or qualities it may possess)? We prepared surveys for that day in order to guide the discussions we had with the homeless community. We encountered some mentally instable people, some who refused to go to shelters, and others who had been homeless but now have a place of their own. The dialogues we had gave us more insight into what our mission would become. We weren’t providing a more comfortable place to live on the streets. The mission is to help people move into permanent housing and eventually regain their dignity as a human being.
I snapped out of my daydream as we parked the big yellow school bus in front of Gladys Park and unloaded food and 2 new Cardborigami prototypes.This time I would shake hands; this time I would ask names. They are people after all, like you and me; their paths just happened to take them in a different direction. This time I had a team. With nine new volunteers accompanying me on my research investigation, we would conduct our own Cardborigami outreach separate from the religious outreach of the Dream Center. As we stepped out of the bus my team wasted no time in setting up the 2 new prototypes in order to begin research. Our results would not be as positive as before.
One particular survey participant, Jerome Applewhite, was very intelligent and gave us useful feedback. He had been homeless for 38 years in cities outside of Los Angeles such as San Francisco. He had a bad leg and walked with a cane, complaining that he did not agree with the portable shelter because it created more comfort to live on the streets. He wished he could work and have a place of his own but no one would hire him because of his leg. He told us he hated going to shelters because they smelled. He compared the shelter to being in the army: “Everyone is treated horribly and if one person messes up, everyone suffers.” The only difference, he said, “is that no one has each others back”. In the army the soldiers have to watch out for each other in battle no matter what, but in shelters you get reprimanded by authorities and bullied by other guests. I felt his pain, and gave him some change for the bus.
Another disturbed homeless person we spoke with is stuck in my head. His name was Earl and he had major psychological issues with a long history of drugs and violence. We could tell he was high and Jerome mentioned that he needed his psych medication. Earl had been on the street for 22 years and carried a guitar. Even though he couldn’t carry on a coherent conversation, he was able to answer some of our questions. He felt comfortable in the shelter, played his guitar, became very joyous, and immediately moved all of his belongings from his shopping cart into the shelter. Earl also did not like shelters; he mentioned that you can only stay for 30 days and that there were too many rules. He was very delusional, he kept talking about guns and violence and how he has been shot many times. He said we were crazy to want to go around Skid Row and show people Cardborigami and that he would rather “kill them all”, referring to the homeless as he motioned to shoot a gun with his finger. What was very interesting to me was that one of the members of our outreach team convinced him to help us demonstrate the shelter. We folded it up and Earl put in on his cart and transported Cardborigami 2 blocks down 5th street.
We ran after him because he was moving so fast. At our new location, we got more negative feedback. I was told that Cardborigami was a like a slap in the face to homeless people. I tried explaining that this was only a part of a program that would eventually place him into permanent housing. He asked how long that would take. I had no answer. This is when I realized I need to re-think the entire concept behind my invention if it were to really help these people.
After this experience I was numb. It was a lot to swallow, all the efforts I had put into this idea seemed to be in vain. I know Cardborigami can help people but not by encouraging life on the streets. After spending so many years trying to figure out how to alleviate the homeless situation, I realized the only way was to speak to the people living that lifestyle. The few hours I spent on Skid Row taught me more than years of research and speculation. I also couldn’t help but feel depressed and hopeless about the situation. How can the society of a first world country allow people to suffer miles away for multi-million dollar mansions. We have pushed these people out-of-sight and out-of-mind, but they are there and they are a part of humanity. These people do not want to live like this but they have no other choice. The general misconception is that they chose this life or they let themselves go, in a sense it is their fault and they should deal with it. I never understood that mentality, and I am saddened when people who actually seek help are left help-less.
After some reflection, I have thought of a new way to implement Cardborigami as a path towards a solution to homelessness. There would be an outreach program where people would commit to a job-placement and housing-placement program. This would be an integral part of Cardborigami. Those who would receive a shelter would first have to be trained how to help build and use one. They would have access to a designated space with bathing facilities every evening in the Skid Row area where they could set up their shelter with others who have one as well. This would force them to use basic cognitive skills that are essential to better psychological health. Building their own shelter would give them a sense of ownership and responsibility. It would also exercise their patience, ability to follow directions, and physical abilities. They would also be interacting with a teacher/ volunteer at the outreach center, re-instilling trust into these people who trust nobody at this stage of their life. We hope to be able to fund and launch this program by the end of 2012.
Tina Hovsepian, a designer and philanthropist, graduated from the University of Southern California with her Bachelor of Architecture in 2009. She currently designs contemporary, sustainable, LEED rated, homes in Santa Monica for Duvivier Architects. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Tina always had a consuming interest in humanitarian causes, especially the plight of the homeless on Downtown's infamous Skid Row. During her time at USC she had the opportunity to synthesize this interest with her architectural studies. In 2007 she designed and built a prototype of a temporary shelter made of folded cardboard, Cardborigami. Tina received Second Prize for Most Innovative at the 2009 USC Undergraduate Symposium for Creative Work. That was the first time an Architecture student had won an award in this school-wide category.
Currently, Tina has undertaken the ambitious task of starting a non-profit while pursuing her career in Architecture. This has proven to be a challenging yet educational effort. Despite the lengthy journey to fruition, Cardborigami continues to receive overwhelmingly positive feedback for its ingenuity. Within months of public exposure, Hovsepian's shelter had aroused interested in 88 different countries, is featured on CNN.com, and appears in articles on many prestigious design blogs.
Tina believes that design fundamentally impacts the daily life of our society. Architects are armed with aggressively creative ideas and new approaches to old problems. With more designers focusing their talent on socially responsible design, the world would be a better place.
To learn more about Tina, read her blog at Cardborigami.com.