In this interview, Dallas Bragg talks with a formerly housed individual who became unhoused in Los Angeles after a night‑shift job and substance use. The guest explains why they launched the Instagram account "How to Be Homeless in LA" six months ago, at the suggestion of Malik Henry and a worker from SHARP, a homeless‑prevention organization. The page aims to chronicle the guest’s experience and serve as a practical guide for other unhoused people, listing locations for laundry, food banks, public restrooms, showers, and other essential services. The conversation also covers the Los Angeles housing intake system: an interview‑based scoring matrix (referred to as CLMX) that determines a person’s priority for permanent housing, distinguishing shelter stays from permanent placement. Throughout, the guest emphasizes the difficulty of qualifying for housing and the importance of clear, accessible resource information.
Chapters
So you, you became homeless and unhoused and you're in a shelter. So— We should talk about that. Yeah, let's talk about that.
So, uh, I was, I was working and getting high at my workplace. I was working graveyard shift in an office building.
Okay.
And, um, yeah, I, I had to stop that. Um, yeah, before they caught me.
So then what, what, why did you, and when did you start your Instagram page being homeless in LA?
Um, I started, uh, How to Be Homeless in LA about 6 months ago, uh, because of Malik Henry, um, and, uh, one of my workers from, um, SHARP. It's a homeless prevention organization.
Okay.
Um, they both recommended that I chronicle my journey, that maybe my journey might be able to help others.
Nice.
So what about your journey is a model for others? I think it's The outlook. I think it's the perspective. I think it's the resources that I provide on the page for housing.
Okay.
For housing, for laundry, for restrooms, for showers. Nice. Things that people really need.
Okay.
There's not enough public restrooms, as you can imagine.
Yeah.
So I think that's what people take from my page is more or less where things are, where the resources are, and how to get access to them.
Wow. I love it. So if I'm, I mean, if I'm home, if I'm unhoused in LA, I need to know where, where can I do my laundry? Where's the next food bank? Yep. How do you qualify? Oh yeah. How do I qualify?
You gotta have your qualifications. Gosh, nothing easy. What do you do to qualify? Um, well, you have, you have to be, um, interviewed. There has to be an intake done on you, uh, to see, um, what, what your score is under a system. There's a matrix software that they have that everybody uses here in Los Angeles. I think it's called the CLMX, something like that. I'll have to find out for you.
It's okay.
But yeah, they'll give you an intake, they'll interview you, and they'll ask you so many questions. And based on your answers is how you're scored and then how you're categorized and how soon you'll be able to get housing.
Wow. Priority list. Yeah. So housing does not include the shelter then, or does it?
You know what they say, home sweet home, home is where the heart is. Um, even if you're housed in a shelter, you can still be homeless because it's not your home.
