Charlie and me
A Thanksgiving story, learning from a wise homeless man.
Some years ago I had reason to hire a Millionaire Club worker. I will call him Charlie to protect his identity. He was, or still is, an alcoholic, but he also holds a university degree in sociology. He is a good citizen by any measure. Over a period of three months we often discussed world affairs and our city. He defined himself a binge drinker. He would be sober for several months then drink himself into oblivion for a couple of weeks then clean up and start work again. I often visited him where he camped under the freeway.
Charlie and I had many talks about the homeless and how to deal with the many different reasons people fall out of the larger society and conventional housing. In these talks he described in greater detail the various categories of homelessness, their social or physical disorders that forced them to live on the streets and the attempts of government to intervene in their lives Once, I asked if he had a million dollars what would he do with it. He paused, stared at the clouds for a moment, and said he would buy “a new tent, sleeping bag, and a new pair of boots.” “Wouldn’t you like a house or warm dry place to live?” “Only occasionally," he said.
After what amounted to a three-month course in sociology as we worked together, I began to understand better those that live on the fringes of our city’s more affluent culture. Now I wish I had been able to record these discussions and create a primer for those responsible for designing and administering homeless programs. Charlie believed those responsible for shelters and public housing programs were from a world so different that they simply could not grasp or have any real concept of how the homeless think or perceive their world. He alluded to the missionary who thought it his duty to invade a primitive culture and bring the WORD of the gospel and modern ways to indigenous peoples. It’s not the same, he said, but it has some similarities.
The first item to be discussed in the primer for government housing administrators was that most assumed they knew what was best. He told me that the level of arrogance among program directors is astounding. “They assume,” said Charlie, “that because we were living on the streets, and that since we had made bad decisions in the past, that we were too stupid to understand what they were attempting to do with us. We are most often treated as children or damaged goods. They seem incapable of understanding that while some homeless want a room at the Olympic Hotel with room service there might be others who want to live in a tent instead of being herded into shelters like animals.”
It isn’t possible to repeat all of the discussions we had, but two things surprised me or at least made a big dent in my thinking. The first was that I was surprised that he had a very hard attitude toward the homeless. He didn't believe in pandering for money or handouts. He thought you had to help yourself as much as possible. It was why he worked for money.
On the other hand he believed that there were categories of people that needed far more help than they were getting. I will try to explain his thinking. He started from the premise that the public and our city had limits to what they were willing to direct toward the problem. He understood budgets very well and knew funds would always be limited. He also understood that the public, who paid taxes, had only so much humanitarian spirit to go around and would limit what would be spent. He would say there is only so much government can do. Next he said that many homeless people simply couldn’t, and others wouldn’t, be able to change their status in life enough to get them off the street. He mentioned drug addiction, mental illness, and alcohol. He included himself in this category where public programs had a very slim chance of making enough difference to be effective. He believed some might be helped, but most would never be productive citizens again. He also talked of really dangerous people, sociopaths who, in his opinion, were dangerous and would never change.
“Well then,” I said, “what would you do?”
His response as usual was clear, sensible, and logical. He said simply, “put most of your money and resources in providing exceptional care and support for families with children. Decent lodgings, food, medical attention, education, training that leads to paying jobs.” Surprisingly he included time limits on accomplishing it. I asked why this choice, weren’t there other deserving people around whom, but for loss of a job or an illness found themselves on the street. His answer was clear. “ No child by choice wakes up in the morning under a bridge or in the back of a car and decides that’s what they want out of life. If we have limited resources then lets stop the downward spiral and get these families back on their feet.” He added, “if a few addicts remain in the gutter then so be it.”
Comments:
Posted Thu, Nov 27, noon inappropriate
I agree with Charlie: Put the funds into services for homeless families. It is a matter of allocating financial resources. And as to those remaining, maybe a permanent "Bushville Camp" would be worth considering. But my biggest takeaway from your article is that the rest of us should not assume that the lifestyle we live is one which all yearn to follow.
Posted Thu, Nov 27, 1:33 p.m. inappropriate
Kent -- this is a great story and one that resonates deeply with me. Occasionally I cut hair for the homeless at the Presybterian Church on Queen Anne. In my volunteer experience, I have heard stories like Charlie's over and over again and what always surprises me is how grateful these guys (and a few women) have been for respectful touch and conversation. Once I was cutting the hair and beard on a shaggy mountain man of a guy, and he told me he hadn't been touched kindly by a woman in 20 years. (An exaggeration I assumed, but his observation at the moment.) He told me about his time in the Bothell Tent City where he had friends in a community who treated each other like good neighbors and who picked up
trash around the streets near their Tent City to prove to Bothell that they were clean people. He disliked the government and some other organized shelters because he was treated like a piece of meat rathern than a human being. He was saving his money to get an
apartment of his own; he had one month's rent saved, but needed money
to pay for last month's rent and a security deposit, to him a princely sum. He was heading to a bank the next day to respond to a job ad, and he
needed to get cleaned up. Hence the haircut.
Another guy who looked only slightly better kept told me he had been a
college professor at Whitman College. Bad things happened in his
life, he made some poor choices, and found himself on the street with
a sleeping bag. He said to me "you could be just one pay check away
from the street too." He had no one to turn to now, so he went night
after night to different places that would offer him dinner. He then
crashed where he could, and talked his way into the YMCA or other
facilities for a shower during the day.
We can really do better in this community for our brethren. I'm
excited that you've started the dialogue in a new way. I'd love to
continue the discussion.
Sally Bagshaw
Posted Thu, Nov 27, 5:22 p.m. inappropriate
This man speaks the truth! trouble is seattle is full of do-gooders who mainly want to make themselves feel good and rightous, so its not really important if its done right,
of course they want to put all the homeless in the u.s. in YOUR back yard and then get all worked up if you complain.
seattle cannot take all of the homeless in the u.s; san francisco tryed and look at the mess their in.
Posted Thu, Nov 27, 6:16 p.m. inappropriate
"... you can’t help but wonder why we try to save some folks who can’t be saved."
Very good piece Kent. It's the best piece on the homeless that I have read and I thank you for writing it. You do not pursue the above quote; it is, to me at least, a cut to the heart of the dilemma. We want to do something: tent cities, porta potties, hose bibbs, some police protection, build favelas. Isn't that just more of the same? what's the difference between an official tent city and a shelter? no curfew, I suppose.
You also (barely) imply that Seattle attracts the homeless because it has a budget to alleviate at least some of the problems associated with the homeless. You are not crass enough to say it but I think I can assume that the higher the budget, the more homeless Seattle gets.
Posted Fri, Nov 28, 12:15 p.m. inappropriate
Future 'Obamavilles' are not the answer. Many Seattle neighborhoods, businesses, and residents are tired of the daily onslaught of 'in your face homelessness' as demonstrated by tent cities, storefront panhandlers and paper salespeople, seekers of toilet facilities, etc. Why is Seattle a magnet and Kirkland/Mercer Island/Carnation/Redmond et al a 'homeless free zone' relatively speaking? Maybe it's time for Seattle to have a sister city relationship for taking care of 'Charlie' and some of his friends. Hello Yakima, Walla Walla, Longview, Kelso, et al.
Posted Thu, Dec 4, 8:57 p.m. inappropriate
Interesting piece. Certainly a more sensitive approach in delivering services to those without homes is a welcome recommendation. I don't take issue with anyone who wants to help though. I'll take the most obnoxious do-gooder any day over the callousness as expressed in a couple of the previous comments. Why pretend that the homeless are a separate population? They aren't. Homeless people are of our society just as much as those with homes. They're from small towns and big cities, have had families and professions just like the rest of us. And homeless people certainly don't have a monopoly on social ills. You can find quite a few sociopaths and addicts up in the corporate towers just as readily as you'll find them on the street. Come to think of it, I am accosted on the street more by corporate harassment (ads, billboards, samplers) than I ever have been by panhandlers.
We can say we don't have the resources to address homelessness (despite the huge number of millionaires this state has), but until we do address it the problems confronting homeless people will continue to be all of our problems.
Posted Sat, Dec 6, 4:53 a.m. inappropriate
FWIW, there are some very well established couples, and families, 'round here that have done a whole lot more to deserve being on the street than ANY of the families that are there now...