“People to be loved”: In conversation with Kevin Adler

Saranka Mahewswaran speaks to previous Cambridge student, CEO of Miracle Messages and now author of ‘When We Walk By’, Kevin Adler

In the US, as many as 1 in 3 people experiencing homelessness have lost their social support systems, according to lead author of ‘When We Walk By’ and CEO of ‘Miracle Messages’, Kevin Adler. Adler completed a Masters in sociology at Cambridge and is driven by his belief in the power of lasting connections and relationships to drive social action. Although this was not always reciprocated -  Kevin quips about his supervisor who was quite evidently affronted by the suggestion of dinner - Kevin has remained steadfast in his desire to foster meaningful human connection. This attitude would serve him well, when he returned to San Francisco, America and chose to reconnect with the isolated unhoused neighbours around him. Since returning to America he has “witnessed story after story in which patterns have emerged telling a bigger story of homelessness”. 

Committed to understanding not only how homelessness occurs, but the impact it has on the human emotional condition, Kevin first found effective potential, not in contacting organisations or writing to his state senator, but in the simple act of having conversations. Walking down a market street in December 2014, he came across Jeffrey - a man who had not seen his family in 33 years. Jeffrey recorded a message on his phone and within an hour local facebook groups had re-shared the video over 100 times.ithin the first 20 minutes, it had reached his sister and past classmates who were offering him jobs. Kevin recognised the power of a simple conversation and what it could do to alter lives.

Adler’s book is organised into two sections:humanity and systems. The first section, humanity, considers relational poverty, explaining that a lot of the time, people first feel that they are without homes when they lose the friends and family - the people who stabilise and bring meaning to their lives. Adler also encourages people to consider the vocabulary used when describing success. He uses  the term “self-made person” as an example; does this mean that when people fail, they “self-failed”;“are they deservedly poor”? Adler is very keen to highlight the fact that often those who are home challenged are spoken about in very narrow ways.

“When we dichotomise the “homeless” and the “housed”, we make them out to be something of a spectacle and a “monolith”

When we dichotomise the “homeless” and the “housed”, we make them out to be something of a spectacle and a “monolith” ; Kevin examples how it could be a mother and child who have faced domestic violence that find themselves without a home, but such attention to each story is not seen when we discuss being without a home. He is keen for people to see beyond homelessness as simply an issue of wider “society”, but consider also the small scale, recognising the unique individuals who find themselves without a home. The divisive vocabulary we may unknowingly use when talking about homelessness is one that relegates the houseless to the realm of the other and allows  us to distance ourselves from those who are facing issues. Kevin prefers to refer to those without homes as “unhoused neighbours”; this encourages the idea that we can form communities and friendship with those without a formal living space. The reality is “all roads lead to homelessness” and it is a situation that we can all easily find ourselves in. Whether it be discrimination, insecure employment or abuse, there are a plethora of issues that can easily lead to us being without homes. Othering therefore only makes it harder to effectively empathise and act on such empathy.

“Even if most of the public are sensitive to the urgent issues of homelessness and do genuinely feel empathetic, these feelings alone are not enough to help, and the systems themselves must be changed.”

“It would be incomplete to write about humanity without systems”, Kevin urged in reference to the second system of his book. “Hearts can be changed”, but they need to be accompanied by tangible systemic changes. Even if most of the public are sensitive to the urgent issues of homelessness and do genuinely feel empathetic, these feelings alone are not enough to help, and the systems themselves must be changed. This idea of humanity being accompanied and mutually reinforced by systematic change is emulated within the programme of Miracle Messages. Miracle Friends is a scheme which allows volunteers to speak to an unhoused neighbour for a couple of hours a week and through this a connection forms - one which encourages people to think, “how can we be equal as friends if we’re so unequal socioeconomically?” Empathy towards a situation is important, but it can only go so far. Being in such close proximity really awakens the volunteers' eyes to the extremities of inequality within society and provokes them to rally their senators or join organisations working towards policies that prevent homelessness.This tackles the issue of relational poverty which focuses on a lack of social capital and nurturing relationships which leaves people facing a “level of severe disconnection, isolation and loneliness”. These conversations lead volunteers to “take action by getting to know an unhoused neighbour”.

 ‘When we walk by’ is not only the title of Kevin's new book, but it is also the way we perpetuate the homelessness crisis. When you walk by an unhoused neighbour, make the effort to have a conversation with them and let your humanity guide you towards changing systems. We need one another and as a society we must begin to view those without homes “not as problems to be solved but people to be loved”.