What is 

allyship?

Who is fighting for the Los Angeles

unhoused community?

How can I help?

An ally is defined as being someone "that is associated with another as a helper : a person or group that provides assistance and support in an ongoing effort, activity, or struggle." Allyship is the culimination of many different actions that privileged people must do in order to fight for social justice. 

Allyship is a long, continuous, difficult process as an individual and for a community. To be an ally, you have to reflect on your internalized beliefs and reflect on your past mistakes in order to move forward to be helpful to marginalized people and only be of help, never a burden or a problem. 

Allyship can start by acknowledging your past mistakes and recognizing why they're wrong, offering apologies to communities or people you have harmed, educating yourself, and showing up for your community.

Allyship can take many forms, such as signing petitions, marching, striking, protesting, sharing on social media, starting dialogues with friends and family, and more.

For a city as large and diverse as Los Angeles, there are many different organizations and groups fighting to end homelessness and provide mutual aid to the unhoused community. On a city level, there are divisions and organizations that are dedicated to helping the unhoused community find transitional to permanent housing. However, because of little funds --decided by the Mayor of LA--these organizations cannot help many people, thus making the application process difficult.

On the ground, there are grassroots organizations run and maintained by LA neighbors. Members fundraise, connect with unhoused people, and advocate on their behalf in confrontations with sanitation workers, police, and dangerous citizens. These organizations work tirelessly to humanize the people behind the "homeless" idea and provide them the basic needs they can to aid in their survival.

There are many ways to help the unhoused community as well as work toward finding long-term solutions to the housing crisis in Los Angeles. As an individual, you can begin the process of being a proper ally. This means facing the prejudice you may have of unhoused people. It is also about educating yourself (you're here!) Afterward, it is about doing what you can with your abilities to make a positive impact and make a positive contribution to the movement.

Allyship and social justice work takes many forms. In organizations like the ones listed, everyone plays an important part as a team to create something impactful. With the community in mind, they work toward fruitful solutions and continuous action.

Allyship is uncomfortable conversations with people that know more than you or less. It is about learning others' perspectives when they are unlike your own. It is about tending to someone's needs with compassion and expecting nothing in return.

It is about being human.

In the age of social media and mass outreach, allyship has evolved and social justice has become more than one type of action or line of work. 

Allyship is not a performance or a hobby. You are not expected to be at every protest or donate all your income, but when you're passionate about a certain cause, you must be committed to its solutions.

At its core, allyship is loving each other. In spite of our differences, because we are human and deserve that much. And when our neighbors' rights are infringed upon, it means stepping up and trying to do something about it.

It is especially important to note that to understand why and how there is homelessness in one of the most prosperous cities in one of the most prosperous countries in the world, we have to understand what is happening socially, politically, and economically. As previously stated, the Mayor of LA has access to unlimited funds to house people during the global pandemic. [He] also decides the yearly budget. Despite persistent advocacy by grassroots movements on both sides of the aisle, he continues to invest more and more in the LAPD than all other social programs combined. This makes the process in escaping homelessness difficult because there are little funds to help so many people, making the process extra selective and difficult.

Grassroots movements do extensive work through research, advocacy, and mutual aid. They get to know the unhoused personally and provide what they can. This is an everyday commitment that volunteers have made to ensure the humanity of this community in the face of gentrification, the police, and our government.

As an architecture student, you are learning many skills that could be incredibly beneficial to helping our neighbors in LA struggling with homelessness. 

For example, you are networking with people from all backgrounds-classmates, family, friends, co-workers, etc.-that may not understand the complexities of the housing crisis in Los Angeles. Start them on the process to discovering the complexities of this issue.

You have graphic design skills that can reach and intrigue different audiences to learning more about this issue.

You have drafting and design skills that can inspire new approaches to creating sustainable, thoughtful, efficient long-term housing solutions for our LA neighbors that gives them the foundation they need to succeed.

You have rendering skills to bring these ideas to life.

You have the tools you need to make homelessness obsolete and possible for our city.

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