Michelle: “Advocate for People Who Need It”

Michelle Dunn has accomplished many things in life: She’s an entrepreneur, mother, wife, professional stylist, and active community member.

More than anything, though, she’s a fighter. For years, she has successfully fought for a better life for herself and her children, including a son whose health was chronically frail due to birth defects. Even more, she has battled against homelessness and a complex bureaucratic system that often makes it difficult to raise oneself out of poverty.

But Dunn, indeed, has overcome adversity and thrived, working to create her own fashion stylist business while continuing to help her family. And now she wants to help others.

“My experience taught me that you have to undersand the ins and outs of the system, because there are so many of them,” she said. “I want to be an advocate for people who have gone through what I went through.”

Dunn’s journey and yearning to help others help explain why she so ably serves as a member of Abode Services’ Lived Experience Advisory Board (LEAB). We recently formed LEAB to hear feedback and perspectives from those who have experienced homelessness, in order to improve the quality of our work.

As a founding LEAB member, Dunn said she has enjoyed working to create the group’s rules and bylaws.

“I like giving my input and ideas, so that we can create a firm foundation and successive LEAB members have a framework from which they can work,” she said.

Dunn said it’s important to remember that not every person’s experience with homelessness is the same. Her personal journey included a long-and-winding road that required perseverance.  

Dunn always sought to work full-time and frequently held steady jobs, even while raising three children. But expensive costs for child care and her son’s health care, including hospital stays and surgeries — coupled with soaring rents tied to the housing shortage — frequently left Dunn and her family on rocky fiscal footing.

She also faced a run of misfortune. Several times, she had gained stable housing only to find that the landlord was selling their home, forcing her to move once again.

The result was years of housing uncertainty that included stays in shelters and couch surfing with family and friends.

At times, Dunn and her family slept in a vehicle, leaving her with many sleepless nights after which she had to work at her full-time job.

“It was horrible and so stressful,” she said. “Your mind is racing and you ask yourself: ‘What do you do?’”

What Dunn did was stay persisent and keep advocating for herself and her family, often in the face of long odds. People experiencing homelessness often must prove that they qualify for certain programs, ranging from housing vouchers to child care to home assistance. Sometimes applicants are victimized by bureaucratic errors and are unfairly denied, Dunn said.

“It can be a lot of paperwork and you have to learn how to navigate the system,” she said. “I had to figure out these things by trial and error.”

Dunn’s positive attitude and hard work has paid off. Today, she has a home and has started her own stylist business, and splits time between Florida and California with her husband.  

“I just want to advocate for people who need it,” she said.

Her work on Abode’s Lived Experience Advisory Board is another positive step in that  direction.

“I look forward to helping people wherever I can,” Dunn said. “I just want to be a part of something that’s special.”