Meet two women amplifying the voice of the
unhoused to the Chatsworth community

 Kathy Huck and Rita Dunn have a lot in common. They’re both independent leaders in their community, they’re both in charge of organizations that seek to help the homeless in San Fernando Valley and they’ve both felt what it’s like to live on the street.

Dunn is not a woman to be messed with. Fiery red hair and a confident demeanor, she dominates whichever room she walks into. She is educated and knowledgeable, tough and kind. She’s also unhoused and upon meeting her, any negative stereotype about what homeless people are goes out the window.

Dunn goes to every neighborhood council meeting, bringing her unhoused friends along. Dunn believes that the unhoused deserve a voice and the only way for them to be heard is to be active members of their community.

She’s currently running for neighborhood council in Chatsworth, where the encampment she calls home is located, and beginning work at her own non-profit, H Minus: For the Unhoused and run by the Unhoused. Each of the members of H Minus are unhoused, including those on her board of directors.

“They can take your stuff, they can sweep your encampment,” Dunn said. “They can tow away your RV or car and they look at the homeless as if they are powerless. Voting helps them. If they were recognized as constituents’ politicians like John Lee would be shaking their hands and kissing their dogs.”

Kathy Huck is a pastor who began working with the homeless since her early days at the church. She began doing outreach in Chatsworth, where she would eventually meet Dunn, and founded her own grassroots organization called “About My Father’s Business.” She refers to those involved with the organization as “hope dealers.”

“In fall of 2018, I came to Chatsworth and I was doing a solo “Word on the Street” ministry and I was wondering where all of the advocates were,” Huck recalled. “In Van Nuys there are tons of advocates, but in Chatsworth there were practically none.”

Huck compared the current homelessness situation to that of the civil rights movement, stating that before the movement and before African Americans were able to vote they were overlooked as a community as well.

These two women share the same goals: Help the unhoused, have them viewed as contributors to society rather than as a group of stereotypes.

They want the world to understand that unhoused people are just like anyone who has a roof over their head. They need representation and for their voices to be heard, just like everyone else.

During the latest election period, both women went around the community and had every homeless individual registering to vote online through lavote.net.

Dunn recounted how she became homeless and how she came to be living in Chatsworth after her company shifted operations overseas.

“I had a house in Cleveland Canyon, and I missed some deadlines and back in 2008 I was about to have my daughter,” Dunn recalled. “For over ten years I was working and trying to provide for myself and her and I was sent out onto the streets until I came to Chatsworth with my RV. I lost my truck and then my RV and people kept telling me that I needed to go away. When I was pregnant with my second kid, I tried to get help, and no one was willing to help me. In August of 2018 I was officially out on the street and my life has been crazy since then.”

Since she arrived in Chatsworth, Dunn has been working to change how the unhoused are viewed and accepted in Southern California. The individuals living on the streets trying to get by look toward Dunn and her organization for guidance when times are tough in the west valley.

“She’s really something else, she goes beyond and everything is so well thought out,” Huck said of Dunn. “Rita is doing it and doing it well because it should be that the unhoused community are advocating for themselves."

“We don’t need any of us to tell them what they need, we need them to tell us what they need.”

Huck first met Rita back in 2018 while working with Hope of the Valley Rescue Mission and Manuel Flores, another homeless advocate and the executive director of North Valley Caring Services, when she got a taste of the encampments.Today she works with eight other people in About My Father’s Business and all the members have previously been homeless or are currently homeless.

Huck became homeless after serving in USAF during the Vietnam era and found herself back home, experiencing poverty and for awhile, homelessness. People often ask her why she does what does for the homeless and she tells them it is like the story of her life. She felt that God had called her to go out and about for others. Huck has known Rita for a long time and credits their relationship as advocates because of their similar backgrounds.

“(Dunn) is the first part of my story in Chatsworth and it can’t be About My Fathers Business without her. The homeless see me as a blessing, but they are the blessing for us since they mean so much to all of us. The miraculous things that have happened to my organization have allowed us to get the story out about the unhoused and meet with all kinds of people,” Huck stated.

"RITA IS DOING IT AND DOING IT WELL BECAUSE IT SHOULD BE THAT THE UNHOUSED COMMUNITY ARE ADVOCATING FOR THEMSELVES.”

In that time, Dunn has really made an impact on the lives of the homeless in her community. She goes with Huck to every Chatsworth city council meeting and many of her friends often accompany the two of them because they want people to know they aren’t afraid to show up and be counted.

“It is a lot easier to speak on behalf of all of us than individually. It can be embarrassing, but with our members we are willing to work with others and we are chaptering with other groups to get our voices heard. We collectively unify our voice throughout H-Minus and Kathy helps us out whenever she can,” Dunn said.

The two women have a long history and although they both have very different personalities and ideas (Kathy is constantly smiling and telling jokes, while Rita is always serving reality checks), the support they have for each other is unwavering. Together Kathy and Rita are aiming to change the conversation on homelessness.

“The homeless are the story, not us and I think those kinds of stories need to be told,” Huck said. “The people we work with are surprised at how well everyone acts, and the negative stereotypes disappear. I have never taken anyone out who hasn’t fallen in love with someone else. It basically changes the narrative.”