Dr. Marisa Zapata, director of PSU’s Homelessness Research and Action Collaborative Interviews the executive director of Home Forward Michael Buonocore. Michael talks about his experience being at Sisters of the Road along with working at Home Forward and how Sisters of the Road’s impacted his work ethic of being mindful of how to systematically change homelessness by providing things such as jobs and affordable housing. Michael points out perceptions of houselessness he would change such as many people’s assumption they know everything about houselessness, and he wishes people would be more comfortable with learning about the complexities. He points out there are no simplistic solutions, and how he wishes people were more open to building relationships with the individuals experiencing homelessness. They also discuss the many reasons people “prefer” to live outside such as shelter settings, systematic failures of hospitals, and the justice system. Most importantly they point out that there are people who live outside where that is the safest experience they have had up until then. They still deserve the opportunity for housing but they have already been failed by the systems in place before. They also discuss Home Forward as an organization, how their Section 8/Housing Choice Voucher works, and what subsidized housing is. As well as the barriers and why it takes so long to create affordable housing such as funding coming from multiple sources. Lastly, they touch on the importance of having committed and local political leadership motivated to end houselessness, at a federal and local level.