About Us

John Daniels, Lead Servant, Home Sweet Homelessness

As a volunteer teacher at a Northern Michigan homeless shelter, John challenged his class of guests there to design a simple board game that would help others share their experience and gain understanding.  He did it as a “stretch goal” to help them rediscover their talent…but they met and exceeded the goal.  John worked with some of the primary participants to develop their powerful model into a polished product, and now shares it with advocates, teachers, and others across the country who serve the needs of some of the 600,000 of our neighbors without homes.

John’s work with homeless people in his retirement follows years of impactful leadership in Detroit, including lauded service on the board of the Homeless Action Network of Detroit, the city’s Continuum of Care. There as Director of the University of Detroit Mercy’s Leadership Development Institute, he brought together an unprecedented team of community leaders and homeless “Street Ambassadors” and guided them through strategic planning that resulted in a 700% increase in those engaged in HUD Point-in-Time Counts of Detroit’s unsheltered homeless, establishing a celebrated and loved brand: “Every Person Counts”.

But the impact of these marginalized people on himself is what keeps him engaged through the production, distribution, and use of Home Sweet Homelessness.  After a lifetime of education, service, training, leadership development, spiritual formation with the Jesuits and the Sisters of Mercy continues to find resonance and sustenance in relationships like those the game enables.  Perhaps especially in the dark places, he finds, the light of the human spirit illuminates and warms mutually, and all are better for connecting.  He lives with his wife of 45 years, delighting in the lives of their three adult children and their families and careers.  Contact email: John@HomeSweetHomelessness.org