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Episode Summary:

Homelessness is often viewed only through the lens of what we see on the surface—tents on sidewalks, individuals holding signs, or people who seem lost in the crowd. Yet behind every face is a story marked by trauma, loss, survival, and a longing for dignity. Today we are pulling back the curtain to look deeper into the emotional, psychological, and spiritual factors that contribute to homelessness, and more importantly, the pathways that lead toward healing, restoration, and lasting hope.

Our guest, Baron King, serves on the front lines, offering trauma-informed care, emotional support, and compassionate advocacy to individuals fighting their way out of crisis. You’ll hear what truly makes a difference, how healing begins, and how we can each play a role in restoring hope to those who feel forgotten. Whether you’ve experienced instability yourself or want to better understand how to support those who do, this conversation will open your heart and strengthen your faith in the God who sees, knows, and redeems every story.

Quotables from the episode:

• Too often, homelessness is reduced to statistics, stereotypes, or oversimplified assumptions about personal choices. But for many individuals, homelessness is the culmination of unhealed trauma, mental health challenges, broken systems, and overwhelming life circumstances. Today’s episode invites you into a deeper, more compassionate understanding of the complex realities people experiencing homelessness face—and the emotional and spiritual tools that can help guide them back toward stability and purpose.
• Our guest, Baron King, brings the unique blend of clinical expertise, lived experience, and heart-centered compassion needed to walk individuals through some of their darkest moments. You’ll hear about the role of trauma-informed counseling, the power of community support, and the importance of restoring dignity as part of the healing journey. Wherever you are today, I believe this conversation will remind you that no one is beyond hope and that God is still in the business of restoring lives, one intentional act of love at a time.Homelessness is often viewed only through the lens of what we see on the surface, sometimes tents on sidewalks or individuals holding signs or people who seem lost in a crowd. Yet, every face is a story, sometimes marked by trauma, loss, survival, even a longing for dignity.
• Today, I want to pull back the curtain to look deeper into the emotional, psychological and spiritual factors that contribute to homelessness, but more importantly, the pathways that can lead towards healing, restoration and lasting hope. I want to uncover and dispel some of the myths that surround this topic and bring light so that we all have a greater understanding and how we can be part of the solution.
• Whether you’ve experienced instability yourself or you just want to better understand how to support those who do, this conversation will open your heart and strengthen your faith in the God who sees, knows and redeems each story.
• To every complex problem, there’s a simple answer and it’s always wrong. So housing, by and large, is the single biggest systemic contributor to our housing crisis. It’s rare that somebody presents themselves to our agency and the only reason that they are unsheltered or homeless is because of lack of housing. There’s usually some other component, such as their income levels just don’t match what the market can provide.
• Perhaps they have physical or psychological disabilities or challenges. Perhaps they’re a caregiver of somebody that’s dependent and they lack some of these social safety nets that other people have and they don’t have. So, it’s usually very multifactorial.
• It’s important for us to make an accurate assessment of their strengths, their obstacles, their needs, and then try and customize a number of interventions that can get them secure, safe, housed, and then the opportunity to thrive.
• A lot of people think that either substance use, or mental illness is a significant driver of homelessness. Statistically, it’s not so. The state of Tennessee estimates that about 20 to 25% of the homeless population in the state of Tennessee, where we’re located, is struggling with mental illness.
• But if you look at mental illness rates in our general population, our housed population, we’re talking 15 to 17%. While there is a slightly higher prevalence, it’s not statistically significant enough to be a driver of that. We do come in contact with people with mental illness. But I think there’s also a chicken and the egg element to it. And here’s what I would say. Do we see people that have lost their job, lost their income, and eventually lost their housing due to chronic mental illness? Absolutely. But I would propose that if any of us were unsheltered for 6, 8, 12 months, that we would be demonstrating signs and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and despondency.
• I think that it’s reasonable to assume that, yes, mental illness is something that has to be taken into consideration when providing services. But correlation doesn’t prove causation, right? You know, 70% of the people that drove to work this morning and got in a car accident had breakfast before they left home. 70% is a pretty big number. But does that mean breakfast is causing these car accidents? No. That’s what’s important.
• The other part of the drug or the mental illness component is, especially in certain states like Tennessee, where individuals with limited or no income have virtually no services for psychological or psychiatric treatment. So they’re not going to be able to get in and see a doctor. If they need psychotropic medicines, they’re probably going to be way more than they can afford because they’re uninsured. And so that forces them into other choices of how to handle their symptoms. And oftentimes that becomes self-medication.
• I get to speak a lot in like chamber of commerce meetings, business clubs, things like this on the topic of homelessness. And usually before or after my presentation, somebody comes up and asks a question. And it usually starts with, why don’t these people just? I don’t mind the questions. I think, they’re trying to understand the problem better. I appreciate the questions. But it’s this idea that if they just did one thing differently, everything would work out.
• Maslow’s hierarchy of needs has been around for nearly 100 years now. And it’s this premise that we have layers of needs basically usually shown in a pyramid where the bottom layer, the most basic layer is physical and psychological safety. That if we don’t have that, we can’t reach our higher needs, which lead up to well-being and self-actualization. A good example of this is if I get it in my head that I want to go to medical school and become a doctor, I’m going to be pushing myself. I’m going to be digging deep, trying to earn this goal, this really big, important thing in my life. But if I don’t have some of my basic needs met, such as physical safety, psychological safety, my nutrition and my health, I’m not sure that I’m going to be able to climb that mountain effectively.
• Most of the people that we work with that are unsheltered have tremendous difficulty getting a restful night’s sleep. They’re outside under a tarp in a tent. People are trying to steal their things. They’ve been assaulted. They are just naturally anxious and scared. And so when I first started working at my facility, I was surprised how many people would come into our community center and come into the beginning of the day, lay down on the floor and just sleep on the floor for maybe four, six, eight hours. And I was like, wow, are they hung over? Are they nodding off on opiates? Are they just lazy? What I’ve realized is they can’t sleep at night, and they come into our facility because they won’t get assaulted and they can get sleep.
• Now, I don’t know about you, but when I last night, I went to bed at my normal time at 1030. I got up. I had a good restful sleep. I had my cup of coffee, showered, got dressed, hit the garage door button, closed up my garage and left knowing that my belongings were safe. That’s what I do every day. And it helps put me in a good space to focus on what I have to do professionally, what I have to do as a father, as a husband.
• But if I’m just trying to survive, if I’m just trying to stay alive all night, all of a sudden, my ability to do that simple thing of going to work is exponentially harder than it is for most people. The other thing, too, is, you know, people that are living on the streets, they’ll have some clothes, they’ll have some effects. They probably push around in a cart or a piece of luggage. But going to work means leaving what little things you have unprotected. And when you have nothing, what you do have is everything. And so that’s another challenge.
• What are some of the everyday challenges people experiencing homelessness face that those in the general public may not realize? So that we can have more empathy and compassion. I think we need to recognize some of the things we don’t know.
• So definitely cleanliness and food insecurity is top of the list. If you’re unsheltered, likely that you have no income stream or very little. You’re maybe dumpster diving for food and exposing yourself to foodborne illnesses. But cleanliness and hygiene is a big problem. We operate a pretty large community center. We have 16 showers. And throughout the day, people are just coming in, lining up to get a towel, getting a small piece of soap just to keep clean.
• *I think one of the things that people really struggle with, and I think that most people probably wouldn’t realize this, is a loss of identity.
• When people are homeless and they start to look a certain way, it’s pretty typical that everybody else walking down the sidewalk gives them a wide berth, won’t look them in their eyes. We’re not interested in knowing their name. And they lose a bit of their humanity in the process.
• *We have our community centers where people come for services, come to get their mail, come to make phone calls, things like that. And a lot of the people that are in that facility are chronically unsheltered. So there’s been a lot of sadness. It’s a pretty somber part of our facility. But we’ve partnered with Chattanooga State’s Barber School, and they come in on Wednesday mornings and give free haircuts. And on Wednesday mornings, the place is a place of joy. And why? Because they’re getting groomed by another human being that’s looking in their eyes, that’s getting to know their name, that wants to hear their story. And they’re smiling for, for maybe 20 minutes, they, they feel human again, they feel worthy again.
• I think probably people understand the physical difficulties of homelessness, especially when the weather turns cold, or when it’s brutally hot, or storms, things of that nature. But I think the psychological pain that individuals go through is, is pretty damaging. There’s a word out there that I think is a killer to those experiencing homelessness. And that word is no. That the more often people apply for a housing voucher, assistance, disability, a handout, a job. And the answer is always no. You know, we are wired. God made us in such a way that we have longings. We have desires. It’s the way we’re created.
• Scripture says, hope deferred makes the heart sick. And so the longer we go without things we want, or more importantly, the things that we need, it creates a psychic pain.
• What I’ve learned in my clinical years is human beings are really, really creative in finding ways to kill pain. And so individuals will start engaging in a process that essentially is trying to kill desire. Let that sink in. That if, if we want shelter so bad, and we’ve tried for a couple of years to get shelter, and it doesn’t happen. I’m going to try and convince myself that I don’t want it anymore. Because the longing is, is too painful.
• One of the questions people ask is, “don’t people just choose homelessness?” And I think it’s more nuanced than that. No one, no one chooses to be unsheltered. No one chooses to be homeless. But maybe we choose to stop trying. That’s not the same thing. We choose to stop trying because it hurts so darn bad.
• I don’t have a former lived experience of homelessness. So that automatically puts me at a big disadvantage of somebody that’s trying to be an expert on a problem I’m trying to solve. I’ve learned a lot from people that have experienced this. About 40% of our staff has a former lived experience of homelessness. And I’m very proud of that. But we see ourselves as a vehicle to serve others, but also to help work with our staff and heal them in the ways that there’s still work to do.
• I tend to have a downward gaze. It starts affecting my ability to have hope. And, and I think we constantly need to challenge ourselves to look upward and outward, to hold on to the truths that we know, to know that today isn’t the end of the story. And that we serve a God that is in control of the universe and, and currently has me in this place. I think that is a key thing. I think community is really big. You know, God made us for community for numerous reasons. I know that isolation in the midst of suffering is one of the worst things that we can do.
• What Job needed, wasn’t people coming alongside him and telling him what to do. It was somebody to come along and sit and just say, I’m here. And I think that’s a big part of it in a sense, in whatever ways we can, surrounding those that are suffering and being the hands and feet of Jesus and being that listening ear, being that shoulder.
• We want people to thrive. And if they’re underemployed or if there’s a way that we can get, um, scholarships to attend the construction trade school in town. I know electricians and plumbers that are making really very good salaries. And I think sometimes our folks think that those doors are closed to them, that they don’t have those opportunities. We try and make as many of those happen. We partner with two local bike companies that repair damage discarded and donated bikes.
• And each year we give away about a hundred bicycles to people in the community. And they primarily use those for two things to get to a grocery store or to get to work.
• I think probably a lot of people feel that the problem has gotten so big. It’s a little overwhelming. Can anything make a difference? And I would say every drop of water in, in the sea makes, makes some bit of difference. I would Google what are your local homeless service support centers? Is there a shelter? If there’s a shelter, I guarantee they need volunteers. I guarantee they need donations of clothing and food and financial donations. There are so many ways to get involved. If you’re interested in how your state’s legislature is either creating progressive legislation, that helps solve the problem.
• Or if they’re criminalizing homelessness, you can pick up the phone and call your representative and say, “I hear that we’re charging people for public camping. But doesn’t that give them a criminal record and make it harder to get them housed?”
• There’s lots of things to do. I think what I’ve learned is we tend to keep our homeless neighbors beyond arm’s reach. We keep them at a distance. And I came across this quote by Mother Teresa I like to share because I think it’s necessary: We can’t help them because we don’t love them. We can’t love them because we don’t know them.”
• We have an army of volunteers that they come in on a regular basis, either to serve meals, to work in the community center, to work in our clothing department. And what I see is they come in on their first time and they’re scared. They’re out of their element. It feels a little threatening the environment, but they come with a couple of people and they find out it’s not so bad. Then they start seeing the look of appreciation and thankfulness on people’s faces that are just trying to make it one more day. And then they learn their name and then they realize, okay, there, I can make an impact. At the very least, I can look them in the eyes, smile at them, tell them I love them and provide some level of dignity. You know, dignity is the first thing people lose when they become homeless.
• It’s hard for me to imagine that there’s anybody in the United States that can’t do something, whether it’s a financial donation, donating food, donating clothing, getting involved as a volunteer, advocating for progressive, homeless legislation.
• With last year’s point in time count, we reached 771,000 people homeless on any given night in the United States. It’s the highest number ever recorded. It’s still only equates to one half of 1%. And so, it seems like a big number at the same time, it seems like a small number, but, we also have about 60% of the people who live in the United States, are living paycheck to paycheck. There’s a high percentage of people that are either living very close to homelessness or have that risk of falling in. If they have their car breaks down, if they get laid off, they don’t have the social supports, they don’t have the capital supports that are going to keep them afloat. If you are close to that place or, or have become homeless, the first thing I would say is, um, you’re not alone. There are organizations that are out there to help. I would start asking everybody and ask for help soon. Because the longer you’re homeless, life tends to fall apart. Usually, the people that we meet that got evicted yesterday, they still have a working automobile. They still have a job. Their health is still intact. They haven’t become depressed. But then one month, two months, three months later, the hits just keep on coming. And so early, quick intervention, is always the best response to anybody struggling with homelessness.

Scripture References:

• Isaiah 58:10 “If you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.”
• Proverbs 19:17 “Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward them for what they have done.”

Recommended Resources: (If there are affiliate links in this post, meaning, if you click through and make a purchase, I may receive a commission (at no extra cost to you)).

• Sacred Scars: Resting in God’s Promise That Your Past Is Not Wasted by Dr. Michelle Bengtson
• The Hem of His Garment: Reaching Out To God When Pain Overwhelms by Dr. Michelle Bengtson, winner AWSA 2024 Golden Scroll Christian Living Book of the Year and the 2024 Christian Literary Awards Reader’s Choice Award in the Christian Living and Non-Fiction categories
• YouVersion 5-Day Devotional Reaching Out To God When Pain Overwhelms
• Today is Going to be a Good Day: 90 Promises from God to Start Your Day Off Right by Dr. Michelle Bengtson, AWSA Member of the Year, winner of the AWSA 2023 Inspirational Gift Book of the Year Award, the 2024 Christian Literary Awards Reader’s Choice Award in the Devotional category, the 2023 Christian Literary Awards Reader’s Choice Award in four categories, and the Christian Literary Awards Henri Award for Devotionals
• YouVersion Devotional, Today is Going to be a Good Day version 1
• YouVersion Devotional, Today is Going to be a Good Day version 2
• Revive & Thrive Women’s Online Conference
• Revive & Thrive Summit 2
• Breaking Anxiety’s Grip: How to Reclaim the Peace God Promises by Dr. Michelle Bengtson, winner of the AWSA 2020 Best Christian Living Book First Place, the first place winner for the Best Christian Living Book, the 2020 Carolina Christian Writer’s Conference Contest winner for nonfiction, and winner of the 2021 Christian Literary Award’s Reader’s Choice Award in all four categories for which it was nominated (Non-Fiction Victorious Living, Christian Living Day By Day, Inspirational Breaking Free and Testimonial Justified by Grace categories.)
• YouVersion Bible Reading Plan for Breaking Anxiety’s Grip
• Breaking Anxiety’s Grip Free Study Guide
• Free PDF Resource: How to Fight Fearful/Anxious Thoughts and Win
• Hope Prevails: Insights from a Doctor’s Personal Journey Through Depression by Dr. Michelle Bengtson, winner of the Christian Literary Award Henri and Reader’s Choice Award
• Hope Prevails Bible Study by Dr. Michelle Bengtson, winner of the Christian Literary Award Reader’s Choice Award

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About Baron King:

Baron S King, LPC, NCC, is the current President and Chief Executive Officer of The CHATT Foundation, formerly the Chattanooga Community Kitchen, a non-profit corporation serving the homeless community in the greater Chattanooga region. Prior to that Mr. King served as the CEO of Liberty Ministries, Inc., a large non-profit serving men and women inside state and county prisons of Pennsylvania and those upon release in residential transition programs.

Prior to that, Mr. King served as the Director of Health and Counseling services, Clinical Director, and Adjunct Professor of Psychology at Cairn University in southeastern PA. Mr. King holds a BS degree in Theology, a MS in Clinical Psychology, and has an extensive background in Organizational Leadership and Development. Mr. King is passionate about providing services and support to underserved people groups and providing pathways to self-sustainability.

Hosted By: Dr. Michelle Bengtson
Audio Technical Support: Ashton Bengtson