At Home with the Homeless: A Day in the Life of an Unhoused

By Andrew Williams on November 18, 2022

“Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity over humanity, nothing exceeds most of the criticisms made on the habits of the poor by the well-housed, well-warmed, and well-fed.” –Herman Melville

Welcome back to my life, and pieces of the lives of my new companions, microcosms amongst the macrocosm. When last you heard from me, I was without lodgings but not without hope. Well…last week I got the boot again. It’s funny how these Christian types seem OK with you being on their property for weeks or months at a time, then, all of a sudden, someone walks over and announces, “This is private property. You have to leave. I don’t want to have to call the police, but …” and there they stop, because you both know the rest of the spiel. Of course, you say, “Give me an hour or two, OK?” and start packing up your stuff, purging the chaff as you go. So, you understand, I’m not a fan of God at the moment–and especially not those who profess
to follow his teachings. That line in my first column about getting turned out was foreshadowing.

OK for now. At the library typing this column and “Nursery Cryme” by Genesis is filling my ears, mind and heart with that particular balm of Gilead. But harmony, like all things, is finite and temporary. I need a place to lay my head, whether soil, cotton or concrete. And who knows what dreams await me?

Please don’t think of me as a sob sister who sees their drama as unique. What I’m describing
in general detail is the situation and dilemmas facing every homeless person. Until more permanent housing is found, we’re at the mercy of cons, cops, and/or goons representing the property owners. So we soldier on, joining the lines of our fellows carting around their everything from sleeping spot to sleeping spot. You see the weariness and the frustration on our faces, always having to be on the move and get on the move at a moment’s notice.

The numbers from the National Alliance to End Homelessness are unambiguous on this point: For every unhoused person who finds a shelter bed or a studio apartment, there is one who has been, and will be, on waiting lists for months. Or years. Even decades. And then you need to factor in the effect of inflation on housing availability, as well as its impact on the number of unhoused individuals. At any given time, affordable, low-income housing is only a fraction of the available housing on the market. And things can only get worse when housing bubbles expand, shrink or burst.

It’s a week later, and your own correspondent has gotten very lucky. I continue this entry from the top bunk of a mixed occupancy shelter. As per journalistic ethics, the facility’s name and location, as well as the names of fellow inhabitants, are not given and are not anyone’s business, including mine. Suffice to say, after nearly six months of sleeping rough, without daily access to hygienic resources, I’m meeting Abraham Maslow at the bottom of his hierarchical pyramid: food, clothing, and shelter.

We few, we fortunate few, we who rest and read and sleep and weep in this place, who have three hots and a cot without being surrounded by bars, who have freedom of movement outside these walls (as long as a vehicle is involved), we count ourselves privileged indeed to have bellies full of warm food and hot coffee, to be able to sit at leisure, to enjoy the company of others of our kind or sit alone in contemplation, knowing too well this benevolent existence is contingent upon our good behavior and continuing self-improvement, as measured by society’s metrics. Pass/fail.

By the time this column sees print, we will either have a somewhat more stable democracy or will have taken another step towards autocracy. All I can say is this: Be careful what you wish for. Those candidates who say that the problem of homelessness should be solved now are not realists. This problem was not created overnight and won’t be solved as quickly. Also, beware those candidates who blame their opponents for problems that are well beyond the scope of their powers, such as the prices of goods and services. Most important, vote for those who champion the downtrodden, who advocate for the mentally ill, who punch up, not down.

Better days are coming…if we work for them.