Dana Daughtry talks to Roman Raies of Philosophisnt about what made it possible for him to overcome the extreme adversities of homelessness, a criminal record, being kidnapped, and addiction to hard drugs in Greensboro North Carolina. While his story is a testament to his personal willpower, it is also a testament to the importance of meeting those on the outskirts of society with genuine faith, patience, compassion, and humility. 

  As someone who has been in their situation, Daughtry is now the founder of Gate City 180, a nonprofit organization that serves the city’s homeless through an approach that seems nonbureaucratic. Government officials can fall into a trap of predicting what programs will work to help the homeless based on theories that do not take into account what the homeless themselves know they immediately need. Blanket-approach interventions and reform may fail to consider meeting homeless individuals to find ways to provide them with the specific need that helps find stability. For example, a person who needs to pay for a licensing and training fee to gain a job could have someone consider their unique case so that the payment is made. Programs relying on preset criteria cannot always do this.