There are likely many, many ways we can leverage our abilities and talents to contribute to a solution, but many are non-obvious until you're on the inside and start ascertaining the size, scope, and nature of the problems.
Go find local shelters, soup kitchens, and other humanitarian services. Take the most rank and file (but front-facing) opportunity you can get. Work. Talk to people - the hopelessly homeless, the temporarily homeless, the people who work with them. Learn about these problems up close instead of speculating from the comfort of an armchair like most of the world.
Don't expect to be welcomed with open arms. Expect some measure of hostility. The homeless are all too familiar with being paraded around like animals in a zoo. Many of the people you will be volunteering with are presumptuous people with savior complexes, who will be patronizing to the people they're trying to help. Many people you work with will initially assume you're one of them also.
You're not going to write a world-changing piece of code having never written code before. You're definitely not going to turn homelessness upside down with no inside experience.
There are likely many, many ways we can leverage our abilities and talents to contribute to a solution, but many are non-obvious until you're on the inside and start ascertaining the size, scope, and nature of the problems.
Go find local shelters, soup kitchens, and other humanitarian services. Take the most rank and file (but front-facing) opportunity you can get. Work. Talk to people - the hopelessly homeless, the temporarily homeless, the people who work with them. Learn about these problems up close instead of speculating from the comfort of an armchair like most of the world.
Don't expect to be welcomed with open arms. Expect some measure of hostility. The homeless are all too familiar with being paraded around like animals in a zoo. Many of the people you will be volunteering with are presumptuous people with savior complexes, who will be patronizing to the people they're trying to help. Many people you work with will initially assume you're one of them also.
You're not going to write a world-changing piece of code having never written code before. You're definitely not going to turn homelessness upside down with no inside experience.