Homelessness: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

To all of the team at Last Week Tonight THANK YOU! This is the first time a national show has addressed how public perceptions influence policy change. The show also hit every talking point those of us working in the sector try to communicate. We are grateful. YOU ARE AWESOME!

Playing "it's raining tacos" to annoy and harass sleeping homeless people is an especially cruel song to play to people who very probably do not have access to daily food sources.

Fun fact: raccoon turds can look like they came from a human. When a tent city springs up, the amount of animal-accessible food goes up, making a trash panda population boom possible. People don't generally poop on your lawn, homeless or not, but I swear raccoons do it just to screw with you.

My wife and I were homeless and addicted to meth and heroin for 5+ years. Then we finally got a housing voucher through Boulder Housing Partners in Colorado in jan 2019 with this same exact housing first model. Now on Christmas of 2021 we have had our apartment for almost 3 whole years! I'm working. We have 2 vehicles and our drivers licenses (something I had never had until now). We have been sober for 2+ years and my wife's 2 daughters (my step daughters) just moved in on the 6th permanently and we just had our first Christmas as a real family.

The housing first model absolutely works! Especially if you want to better your situation. I do understand from being on the streets for so long that some people just aren't ready to start healing yet but one of the main reasons for that is because your still experiencing hardship on a daily basis. Once that is eliminated (as much as it can be) it can give people the motivation and hope and resources they need to want to get better.

"Homelessness by choice" is a plea we also hear a lot in Europe. That's often a dangerous weapon to handle, pitting people against each other (typically, the middle/lower classes against the lower/poorest ones).

I just left an abusive marriage and am now living in my parents' basement. I never even considered that I am homeless due to domestic abuse. What an eye-opening moment for me. Thank you, John Oliver. And I know that I am lucky enough to have a soft place to lay my head being with my parents, but it is not where I want to be, and I am not in a position to afford my own home at this time.

My mom and I were homeless when I was a child. It was genuinely one of the most traumatic things that ever happened to me, she had to fight tooth and nail to get housing, and I almost ended up in foster care. We’re all closer to being homeless than we are to being millionaires.

The concept of "homeless veterans" really tells a thing. If they do not respect enough their so-called heroes to grant them decent living conditions, I can't even imagine how rthey think of the rest of people that, for one reason or another, find themselves in a situation of indebtedness or just not making enough money to pay rent

As a homeless person working almost 40 hours a week for almost 2 and a half years and who is still homeless because i cant find an apartment that will accept my income this is such a good segment John! Every conservative on facebook usually just says the same ignorant shit to me like, "Oh yeah, if you're homeless how are you posting from an alleyway" or "Maybe you should move somewhere more affordable" I hate my life and I hate living the same day over and over and over and over again, never making any actual progress in life or doing anything fun or exciting.

an important distinction is that it’s not usually a matter of a lack of housing, but a lack of AFFORDABLE housing. for example, there are more empty apartments in London than there are homeless people. landlords would rather hold out to make more “passive income” than help stop people from dying in the streets, and govt bodies are more than happy to facilitate that

I’ve worked in homeless services for 7 years and this is the only news segment that I’ve seen that’s gotten in right. I really appreciate the time and research that went into this piece.

“Far too often stories focusing on homelessness only talk about how it affect people with homes when it is the people without the homes who need help”


That absolutely blew my mind, spot on with the accuracy

As someone who was homeless its absolutely the most dehumanizing I've ever experienced. I was beat multiple times while sleeping, sometimes from police sometimes just random people, had food and drinks thrown on me, had the police cut my sleeping bag into pieces, and even now that I own my own company work every day and support my family and in fact own a house I've been mocked or shamed by people who found out. I am just as human now as I was then and yet stray dogs are treated with more kindness than I ever was

I work for homelessness charity in London, UK. One of my clients told me yesterday that since he is with us, for the first time in years he feels again like human being as we are talking to him and smiling and treating him as NORMAL person. This was so heart-breaking and rewarding in this same time.

When I visited the US a few years ago, and traveled the west coast, it just blew my mind how many homeless people are living like this, and frankly, made me rethink of the US as a first world country. Something about the economical structure is wrong when you let the sick and the weak rot to death on the side of your street every morning as if it is nothing. I say this not coming from a perfect place, every country has it's own crap going on, but man, the US has a deep problem.

I'm a 16 year old when I was 11 me and my family lost our home because we were renting and it was sold out from under us with little warning we slept in a motel and it was one of the worst experiences of my life but we still had enough food and had a warm place to sleep at night these people who don't have either of those deserve much better

living here in portland oregon, i’ve had my fair share of experiences with the houseless, and i can say without a doubt the overwhelming majority of them have been positive. i’ve bought them dinner, i’ve talked and laughed with them, hell i even helped one move by shoving their stuff into my car. it’s been an incredibly humbling experience for me and done nothing but motivate me further to fight for equity in this disgusting system of oppression we call the US. i myself am fortunate enough to have housing with great roommates, a full time job, and a family that would take me in in a heartbeat if that was ever to happen to me, but even still i live very much paycheck to paycheck and it’s not any less stressful

"You wear your bias like a badge of honor when you see my history. You judge me for having children, for needing assistance. You hate me for wanting the stability you take for granted and why, because you didn't like looking the other way when you saw me on the street or is it simply because I make you uncomfortable and your discomfort is enough to disqualify a person from the American dream."

-kiana Scott

Powerful words.
Excuse my terrible grammar i was just disappointed I didn't see anyone else mention her.

One thing John didn't get into, but could have mentioned: How we treat those of us without homes also affects domestic violence in a big way. If you don't have a way to leave a situation without risking freezing to death on the streets, you'll stay, even if that involves getting beaten regularly.

My fiancé and I currently have two roommates who would be homeless if it wasn’t for us moving heaven and earth to give them a home. Both suffer from mental health problems, but we do everything we can to make sure they are taken care of. It bothers me when people don’t want housing for homeless in their area. They are the kindest people and they sometimes have break downs think they are unworthy of our kindness. They are far more worthy in my eyes then most people.