Building Shelters From Scratch

Her graduate school thesis about homelessness has a hole in it, Epifania Amoo-Adare discovered Thursday.

When she set out with nine UCLA classmates to design and build homeless shelters as part of an urban planning course, the 32-year-old Santa Monica resident built hers a little too fancy for the comfort of former homeless people recruited to judge the structures.

Hers had windows and curtains made from plastic shopping bags. And a skylight.

Explained judge Mike Neely: “Since you live outside as a homeless person, seeing the sky isn’t one of your highest priorities.”

Tiny lean-tos made from cardboard, plastic and scrap wood lined a patio outside the university’s Public Policy Building as Neely and several other former street people evaluated them and offered an insiders’ view of skid row.

Students seeking advanced degrees in such fields as social work, city planning and architecture were required to scavenge materials and then construct shelters suitable for sleeping in. Camping out overnight was optional.

Urban planning professor Jackie Leavitt said the assignment was designed to acquaint students with housing issues they may face in future jobs.

“We want them to know how it feels walking in someone else’s shoes,” said Mary Brent Wehrli, a social welfare faculty member.

Students proved resourceful. Peter Aeschbacher, 29, of Hollywood, found a sturdy, wooden museum shipping crate and covered it with plastic.

Judge Floyd Fluellen warned that something that heavy would seem even heavier to a homeless person dragging it along downtown sidewalks.

Student Susan Davison, 40, of Vista, drew laughter from the judges when she explained that her cramped cardboard shanty was built to a small size because bigger materials “wouldn’t fit in the car.”

Kate Burgess, 24, of West Los Angeles, wrapped a plastic street banner left over from the Los Angeles Marathon around the sides of her cardboard-topped shelter. No problem, she said. “It’s not raining.”

Responded Neely, founder of the nonprofit Homeless Outreach Program and himself a two-year veteran of sidewalk living: “Remember, when you’re on the street, you don’t have the Weather Channel.”

Neely, 50, and the other judges gave high marks to 32-year-old Kristen Haggins’ coffin-like shelter design, which allowed her to sit up inside it. They were also impressed by Pablo LaRoche’s tent-like design. He used a computer to help design it and scrap sprinkler pipes to construct it.

After the judging, the students and the experts spent an hour discussing the issues and politics of homelessness.

Tapping on a cardboard roof, Neely said creative solutions seem a long way off.

“The problem is, we’re not ready to think out of the box yet,” he said.