Navigating America from the Bottom Up

This is my personal blog about navigating housing, employment, public assistance, community services, and everyday life in Butte County, California.

After spending many years navigating homelessness, housing, employment, and the systems that are supposed to help people move forward, I’ve accumulated a lot of experiences, observations, questions, and stories.

This isn’t intended to be a formal organization or an official source of information. It is simply my perspective, based on what I have experienced and what I continue to learn along the way.

Recent Posts

What Did Chico’s Housing Money Actually Produce?

September 19, 2026

The City of Chico’s 2025–2026 Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER) provides a look at how federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME funds were used during the year.

People First

September 19, 2026

One of the smallest things we can do for someone experiencing homelessness is also one of the biggest: acknowledge them.

What Does “Affordable” Mean in Chico?

September 16, 2026

HUD’s 2026 numbers for the Chico MSA tell an interesting story.

Taking the Shame Out of the Game

September 16, 2026

So you’re struggling with an addiction. Maybe it’s drugs. Maybe it’s alcohol. Maybe it’s something else entirely. Maybe you want to stop. Maybe you don’t. Maybe you’re ready for help. Maybe you’re not. Maybe you’ve tried to stop before and couldn’t. Either way, you are still a human being. And you still deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.

Before You Call Them Names

September 15, 2026

Before you call someone “vermin,” “a rodent,” “a dirtbag,” or whatever other degrading name you can think of, please stop for a moment and remember: you are talking about another human being.

Navigating America from the Bottom Up

September 13, 2026

My name is Scotty Franzyshen, and this is my new blog. For more than a decade, I have been navigating life from a place that most people don’t really get to see—the bottom. I’ve experienced homelessness, unemployment, trying to find affordable housing, working with social services, looking for work that actually fits my life, and trying to make sense of the many different systems that are supposed to help people get back on their feet. Along the way, I’ve learned a lot. I’ve also discovered that things can look very different from the bottom than they do from the top.

Homelessness: Are We Solving the Problem or Managing It?

September 13, 2026

I want to understand whether the way we fund and measure homelessness services creates incentives to manage homelessness rather than eliminate it. 🤔

I want to understand …

September 12, 2026

I want to understand whether the way we fund and measure homelessness services creates incentives to manage homelessness rather than eliminate it. 🤔

I am ecstatic!

September 11, 2026

I am ecstatic! I contacted the social services concerned about them cutting my medical assistance like they did my food assistance … they assured me that I will not lose my health insurance …

And just to be clear …

September 10, 2026

And just to be clear … this isn’t a plea for help. It’s just another chapter in my ongoing adventures in US America. 😁

🤔 In Chico … how do we know

September 8, 2026

🤔 In Chico … how do we know that the services we’re funding are actually moving people toward permanent housing rather than simply moving people from one service or facility to another?

Desperate people do desperate things to survive

August 28, 2026

Desperate people do desperate things to survive.

My homelessness is ending

August 19, 2026

My homelessness is ending. I will be taking rent on a room full-time in September, in a house here in Chico.

I’m coming to the realization that all of these charities are …

August 14, 2026

I’m coming to the realization that all of these charities are nothing more than fronts for middle aged white women to give themselves paychecks and pat each other on the backs telling each other what a great job they are doing …

If you don’t understand …

August 13, 2026

If you don’t understand … Spend a day in the shoes of a homeless person … well maybe not 😂

At the Facility there is a great room with two wings …

August 13, 2026

At the “Facility” there is a great room with two wings … and each wing has two halls … each hall has seven rooms … with two people per room … that works out to be fifty six people who are under the care of this place … I see it is very much a business around here … and the cracks of capitalism shines brightly even in the nonprofit sectors in the USA …

Finally a letter I agree with 💯

August 8, 2026

“Letter to the Editor: Chico still needs a plan for addressing homelessness By Letters to the Editor PUBLISHED: August 6, 2026 at 12:24 AM PDT Ongoing whack-a-mole, human rights violations, lack of concern for our unhoused neighbors, Chico needs a plan.

Being homeless is being in a constant state of panic …

July 30, 2026

Being homeless is being in a constant state of panic … Panic attacks becomes the norm…

Now for the reality of things … I am actually doing great!

July 22, 2026

Now for the reality of things … I am actually doing great!

… well the first night at the shelter was utterly awful …

July 21, 2026

… well the first night at the shelter was utterly awful … the entire place smells like dirty feet, even the cafeteria! I was only there for 5 minutes before the first lockdown happened.

Here is my intro letter … please provide constructive criticisms …

June 19, 2026

Here is my intro letter … please provide constructive criticisms … disclaimer I am using chatGPT to aid in writing this stuff …

There are more homeless people on the streets

April 23, 2021

There are more homeless people on the streets right now in chico ca than there are beds available at local shelters. The city’s argument for enforcing illegal ordinances against the homeless population is that “they won’t seek shelter” even if there were enough beds at the shelter they do not or can not accommodate everyone seeking shelter. There are barriers in place that do not meet the needs of every homeless persons situation.

About Me

I’m Scotty Franzyshen.

Building • Fixing • Serving

I’ve spent much of my life building things, fixing things, working with technology, helping people, and participating in my community. This blog is another way of doing that—by documenting what I see from a perspective that isn’t always represented.

More about me →