That was the moment, she says, when she realized the irony of the fact that she, an outreach director for the homeless, herself was now on the edge of homelessness.
While Williams' going to college helped him escape homelessness, for Danae Vachata going to college meant becoming homeless.
Homelessness has been rising in BME communities since 2001, when 28% of homeless households were from a BME background.
All say they are homeless and occupied the building to raise awareness about the epidemic of homelessness in London especially amongst young people.
However, while we welcome pledges to tackle homelessness, there is not nearly enough policy that will make things better for homeless people, and plenty of initiatives that will only make things worse.
MARIA CAULFIELD, 40 TORY, LEWES A nurse at the Royal Marsden hospital in London, where she is a research sister leading a team in breast cancer research, Caulfield is also an owner and shareholder of Lewes football club and a non-executive director of the local housing charity BHT Sussex, which works to prevent homelessness.
"Congress and Senate need to see this face of homelessness … We must show evidence that the statistics can be overcome and that we are fighting and believing in them to reach that point," says Vachata.
According to the New York Times, Cyrus's campaign partners, the homelessness charity My Friend's Place, raised more than $200,000 £120,0000) in the hours after Helt's speech.
Occupy Our Homes, on the other hand, confronts the system with its failures – predatory lending, homelessness, and empty bank-owned houses.
Jani Leinonen, the Finnish artist behind the project, explains that Hungary's homeless population can now "be fined for being out on the streets, and sent to jail for not paying three fines: it's basically the criminalisation of homelessness".
However, charities working with rough sleepers, such as national homelessness charity Crisis, fear the move could drive vulnerable people away from services that might help them.
