BIG HEARTS FOR TINY HOMES
On a chilly November night in 2019, Alan Graham slept on the streets of Austin, Texas. He has spent roughly 250 nights in the city’s parks and alleys over the past 15-plus years, easily identified by his black Mobile Loaves & Fishes cap and his white Hemingway beard. Graham founded Mobile Loaves & Fishes to empower the city’s homeless, and these street sessions have taught him a fundamental lesson: That housing is less important than community for solving chronic homelessness.
“The single greatest cause of homelessness is a profound catastrophic loss of family,” says Graham. “When you talk to people, that’s the common denominator. You say, ‘Tell me about your mom and dad, your brothers and sisters,’ and the train wrecks that spew out are
