ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
It's been 35 years since Sister Mary Scullion cofounded Project HOME. Back in 1989, it was just an emergency winter shelter in South Philadelphia. Today, Project HOME has a thousand housing units across the city, and two businesses that offer jobs to formerly homeless people. As the organization grew, so did Sister Mary's profile. Time Magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world back in 2009. And now, Sister Mary Scullion is stepping down from the organization that she helped build. She's here to look back on her decades with Project HOME. Welcome to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.
MARY SCULLION: Thank you, Ari. It's great to be with you today.
SHAPIRO: There are lots of homeless service organizations all over the country. What do you think made Project HOME different?
SCULLION: I think what made Project HOME different is that we were able to understand that housing or shelter is not enough. People needed health care, the jobs, the education that enable people not only to survive, but to thrive.
SHAPIRO: It's so much more than just a roof.
SCULLION: It has to be. And a community in which to belong, I think is also critically important. Dr. Martin Luther King talked about the beloved community, and at Project HOME that's something we continue to strive to be - a beloved community where everyone is welcomed and valued.
SHAPIRO: You've become famous for the organization's motto - none of us are home until all of us are home. Where did that sentence come from?
SCULLION: That sentence came when we first started, and we were building 48 units of affordable housing. And we had a lot of opposition, including, you know, the city leadership that was trying to stop us. So we looked upon this effort as something that was a political movement. We needed to engage everyone in our community to recognize that homelessness affects all of us, and that if anyone is homeless, all of us are impacted by that. So again, none of us are free until all of us are free. And another example of that was with the Eucharistic Congress - Father Arrupe said, if anyone is hungry anywhere in the world, the eucharist is incomplete everywhere in the world.
SHAPIRO: So this line is an adaptation. Yeah.
SCULLION: Of many historical movements and efforts to help us all recognize that we're part of one human family.
SHAPIRO: You did street outreach even before you cofounded Project HOME in 1989. What was it about this cause specifically that spoke to you so much?
SCULLION: What spoke to me was when I would talk with women, many of whom had been deinstitutionalized and were living on the street.
SHAPIRO: Meaning they had been in mental health facilities and were no longer.
SCULLION: Yeah. Deinstitutionalization happened all across the United States in the late '60s and '70s, where people who had been forced to live in these mental hospitals - state mental hospitals - were supposed to be welcomed back into the community. But the communities and neighborhoods were not set up to be able to provide supportive housing, so it was just a drastic change, and many people fell through the cracks and ended up living on the street. As I engaged the women who were living on the street, and got to know them as people, and I asked them what would they like, everybody pretty much said the same thing - a job and a home. And to, you know, be able to return to my home at night, and they were still out there, it just was so unacceptable to me. I mean, the marginalization, and having people live out on a bitter cold night - how could they possibly do that and survive?
So once I got to know people as people, there was just no turning back. I mean, they were my friends. They were - they're part of our community. We had to respond in a way that welcomed them home.
SHAPIRO: If I could bring you up to the present day. The Supreme Court decided a case in June, allowing cities to ban people from sleeping and camping in public places, and you spoke out against that ruling. Both presidential candidates talked during the campaign about the lack of affordable housing in the U.S. Which direction do you think the country is moving on this issue that you've devoted your life to?
SCULLION: I do believe that most people today are aware of the lack of affordable housing, and how that impacts not only people who are unsheltered. People who are unsheltered are the tip of the iceberg - the prophetic sign that says something's radically wrong. And I do believe that it is now on the political agenda that people understand something should be done. I mean...
SHAPIRO: I just wonder - I agree with you that there's a growing awareness of the problem of a lack of affordable housing, but as homeless populations continue to grow, and as the Supreme Court decides a major case that limits the options for people who don't have housing, and we don't see a dramatic, aggressive move to build affordable housing stock, I just wonder whether you think the needle is moving in the wrong direction in this country right now.
SCULLION: Absolutely. It's totally moving in the wrong direction, and it's really unacceptable. And I think that we have to figure out ways of appropriately responding and standing with men and women that are - and children - that are unsheltered in our community, because it's just simply wrong.
SHAPIRO: Is there something that you would encourage ordinary people to do in their daily lives to address homelessness?
SCULLION: Sure. All of us can see and acknowledge and affirm another human being as simply that - a human being. At a minimum. But I think the social policy is the most impactful way to end and prevent homelessness. And it's not just about building new units, it's about preserving units. It's about helping existing renters and homeowners to afford and keep their homes, you know, safe and upgraded. It's about each one of us deciding what kind of country do we want to live in, and holding our elected officials accountable for how our resources are spent, and to further a country where everybody can afford a place to live. And that means voting. It means getting involved in the civic life of our neighborhoods and our communities. And it means not putting on our blinders. We have to see our brothers and sisters.
We have to see our brothers and sisters who are not only living on our streets, but in doubled-up and unsafe housing conditions. We have to see the kids that are going to movies in all-night theaters so that people don't know that they're unsheltered or that they're homeless. We have to see the elderly who's on our street. People who have mental health issues. People who are using substances. We have the capacity, the talent, the resources to provide health care and affordable housing to everyone in our community if we truly believe that none of us are home until all of us are home.
SHAPIRO: Well, Sister Mary Scullion, cofounder of Project HOME in Philadelphia, thank you so much for talking with us.
SCULLION: Thank you, Ari. Take good care.
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