The Night of the Unsheltered Homeless
by Robert Bennett, ASCAP
Premiered Dec. 9, 2021
Welcome to “The Night of the Unsheltered Homeless,” the 7th full-length documentary in the My Road Leads Home series of documentaries on homelessness in Spokane. This 83-minute film explores the lack of available and appropriate shelter beds for roughly half of the known and counted homeless population.
Dr. Samuel Murray, a Community Psychiatrist who works among the homeless, discusses the role of trauma in the homeless community. The film examines the current City policy of using law enforcement sweeps as a homeless policy tool, including interviews with 6 individuals caught up in law enforcement sweeps, and an interview with Civil Rights Attorney, Andrew Biviano.
In its final segment, “Shalom: A Better Path Forward” the film offers a series of homeless policy questions answered by knowledgeable experts and political figures including Breean Beggs (Spokane City Council President), Shawn Vestal (Columnist at The Spokesman-Review), Rob Bryceson (Pastor at The Gathering House), and Marchauna Rodgers (International Development Practitioner).
The film concludes with a call to build the Shalom of both the homeless community and our larger community, beginning with a larger vision of what that might look like by featuring a very successful homeless community project in Austin, Texas, operated by the non-profit, Mobile Loaves And Fishes.
Our personal and professional thanks to our friend Ken Fay for serving as a behind-the-scene Consulting Producer on this project. Much appreciated.
