By Latricia Powell
Adversity is often isolating, but it is in coming together that we discover our true strength. Across the country, communities face systemic inequities in housing that ripple into health, safety, and opportunity. For tenants and residents, these challenges are their lived realities that shape every choice, every day. And yet within these shared struggles, a collective power emerges when people organize, share knowledge, and act in solidarity, change becomes possible.
In 2024, I had the privilege of presenting at Michigan’s Summit on Ending Homelessness with my session titled, “Home is Where the Heart Is, Not Where the House Is!” The Summit brought together government, service providers, funders, and people with lived experience to explore strategies to prevent and end homelessness. That day, I spoke not only about policy and statistics, but also about the human experience, including the daily resilience of families, women, and individuals navigating housing instability. What became clear through our conversations is that solutions are built collectively, with the voices of those most affected at the center.
The following year, I was a keynote speaker at the HIV Housing Summit, presenting “Mastering Healthy Ever After: Better Housing = Better Health.” This session highlighted a critical truth: health outcomes and housing stability are inseparable. Individuals living with HIV face not only medical challenges, but also systemic barriers that threaten their housing security and wellbeing. Across every story shared that day it was evident that a real solution requires collaboration, shared resources, and systems designed to support people, not punish them. In 2026, I presented at the State of Michigan HIV & STI Conference. My session, “Mastering Healthy Ever After: Building Equitable HIV & STI Care Systems Through Housing, Data, and Human Dignity,” reframed HIV and STI prevention as a system-level challenge. Participants explored how communities, public health professionals, and policymakers can work together to create coordinated, person-centered systems where equity and dignity drive measurable impact. The opportunities highlighted how housing and healthcare-related partnerships can improve access, engagement, and long-term wellness for those most affected.
This year, my work continues locally on the Mount Pleasant Zoning Board of Appeals, where I have seen how local policy, land use, and zoning decisions affect housing access, affordability, and opportunity. Each case is a reminder that structural barriers can be challenged, and that community voices must guide policy. At the same time, I’ve been writing op-eds centering abused women and housing, highlighting how systemic inequities compound personal crises and emphasizing that meaningful change requires both policy shifts and collective advocacy.
What connects all these experiences is the larger vision: housing, health, and justice are interconnected. Communities thrive when we bridge sectors, listen to lived experience, and create systems designed to support people. And while this work started locally and statewide, the challenges—and the solutions—are universal. My goal is to take these lessons internationally, working with communities and policymakers around the world to design housing systems that are equitable, resilient, and grounded in human dignity.
The message I bring is not mine alone. It belongs to every tenant organizing against eviction, every advocate fighting for policy reform, and every individual showing resilience in the face of systemic inequities. Adversity can feel insurmountable, but through collaboration, shared knowledge, and collective action, we can transform it into power.
As we reflect on the title of this publication, Collective Strength Through Adversity, it is clear that our strength is in our networks, in our communities, and in the connections we build across sectors, generations, and borders. Together, we can create housing systems, public health frameworks, and policies that ensure everyone thrives in their community.