When Stories Shift Perspectives

Most everyone supports affordable housing. 𝐔𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤.

Someone just shared how my TEDx Talk impacted her.
A 14-story building was going up in her backyard. The developer was zoning a portion of it for affordable housing.

Trouble is, her neighborhood had been zoned for Brooklyn brownstone homes, only FOUR stories high. That aesthetic is why she and neighbors purchased homes there. That aesthetic was now being disrupted.

“We showed up. We spoke out at council meetings. This loophole rule about the zoning goes back to the 1970s. But the developer is putting up the building anyway.”

𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭.
“What if it’s someone like you moves into that building? Someone who needed that one ‘yes’ to change their lives?”

When I stepped onto the TEDx stage, I left the audience with a challenge:
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘢 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘯𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘥, 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘺 “𝘯𝘰.”

AND to realize homelessness is a point in time.
It’s not a person’s entire identity.
I was homeless as a kid. Today I’m a CEO.

That one person who gave us a home when I was a twelve was the stabilizing point. The pivot point for my entire life.

My takeaway: 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬.
You never know who you are impacting.
And sometimes a simple yes … can help bring stability to someone’s life.

𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠.