When Jexsi Grey left the military, he wasn’t sure what to do next.
“I was honorably discharged from the Air Force and almost immediately into the streets, with no conceptualization or plan for how to structure my life outside of the rigid guidance of the military,” he said.
Grey lived in hotel rooms and his car for two years in San Francisco. He said he got sober, moved to San Diego and found an apartment with the help of UPLIFT San Diego.
The nonprofit Humble Design fully furnished it. They asked him about his style preferences — modern, with some geometric patterns — then told him to leave his apartment for the day. When he came back, he found a space he could be proud of.
“That had been the biggest act of generosity I've ever received from a stranger,” he said. “Now I felt like I had something to protect and to work for even more. It wasn't just an apartment. This was a home. Like, this is where I can put down roots and continue going out to the community, continue working on my own future.”
Researchers with the UC San Diego Homelessness Hub surveyed 169 Humble Design recipients. Eight out of 10 people reported an increased sense of self-worth and security once they had a furnished home. Most also reported an increased sense of belonging.
“Their new beds led to improved sleep,” Stacey Livingstone, one of the researchers behind the study, said. “New dining room tables and living room couches led to more gatherings at their places, and a new sense of home led to a new goal-setting, goals that they hadn't thought of before.”
Those effects extended to clients’ children. Nearly 90% of the parents surveyed said their children had a greater sense of security, and nearly three in four people surveyed said their kids were having more friends over to visit.
Grey said his apartment became a place where he could reconnect with his son.
“This was the first time in my adult life I had a space that was clean enough and safe enough that he could come visit,” he said. “Our relationship has never been better, and it's because I've got that confidence. I've got that self-actualization.”
Grey is now a licensed real estate agent and sits on Humble Design’s advisory board. He’s still in the same apartment, with a lot of the same furniture and decorations.
Most survey participants moved into housing in 2021 and 2022, and nearly all of them have stayed in their homes. Countywide, one in four people who enter housing return to homelessness within two years.
On Thursday, the Lucky Duck Foundation announced a fundraising match campaign for Humble Design San Diego. They’ll match up to $100,000 in donations until the end of October. Humble Design also accepts donations of gently used furniture, and volunteers can help decorate homes and organize their warehouse.
