title: Episode 9: On the Ground
author: Outsiders
contenttype: podcast
publication: Outsiders
published: 2020-10-14T08:01:00+00:00
sourceurl: https://cpa.ds.npr.org/s148/audio/2021/09/outsiders-episode-9-on-the-ground-new.mp3
word_count: 2794
Outsiders is made possible by grants from the Dennis A. Hunt Fund at USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism Studio to be Seattle and Jim and Beard a Falkener of Seattle Okay, please enter your mailbox member You have no new messages to record a message press two or to change your personal greeting press one to change your name Hi You've reached KNKX Public Radio's hotline for questions about homelessness Thanks a lot for calling Before you ask your question consider introducing yourself using your first name and the city where you live Remember someone who's homeless may hear your question and this recording may end up in a project we're working on Okay, time to introduce yourself and ask your question about homelessness I'm Will James. This is Outsiders a series about homelessness on the west coast told through the perspective of one city only be a Washington Okay, we're recording now so Here are some interesting questions a few months back we set up a hotline for listeners to ask questions about homelessness We let the mailbox fill up with questions over the course of a few weeks And then I along with my editor Aaron Hennessy whose voice will hear in this episode Went out to the streets of Olympia and gave people living outside the chance to respond to those questions directly Hello, Will my name is Linda and I live in Olympia the question. I would like to ask a homeless person It's how long have you been without a home and what brought you to this situation? I've been without a home for I'm going on two years now. It's a little over a year and a half My best friends grandma died and that's why I'm homeless you you were living with your best friend I was yeah, we her house went up for for closure and I had to go Well, I lost my job due to an injury last job. I had was DSHS Working at Eastern State Hospital a client hurt me and I went on disability and there's there's a severe housing shortage here I was the house cleaner for 12 years and I have a genitive disc disease from my cell bone up. I have no disc So I can't work no more Uh Well, I've been without a home on and off for a number of years I left home when I was 14 years old. So I mean bad environment I was young and I actually got myself in trouble with the law Trying to make do with like a felony on my record It's hard trying to live down your past My name is Lynn from Olympia. I'm just wondering how many of the homeless people Residing here actually are from here versus how many migrated here from other states and our cities Well first up, I know a lot of locals that are homeless here most of these people are actually coming from Seattle or from Portland For their life is a little easier here, you know, they're gonna come here You know, you go any other state they're not offering the programs or the assistance that they're offering in this state I know for a fact because I went traveling I was all the way on the east coast and they've got good programs there But they don't have anything like Olympia and you could put a 10 a half a block away from the food bank and then also A half a block away from a mission where they can get a meal and a shower and do their laundry So what would you say to someone in Olympia who's kind of pissed off by that or or says they don't want their community to be Uh a place where people are coming from all over You know what I mean like I would say that their people came from somewhere too before they came to Olympia So they should probably open them up with open arms and then and actually accepted these people Will they're coming here for help they're coming here to live they're coming here because they got kids here They're coming here because they got a job here, you know, they might not have a house, but they got a job So I mean, there's a lot of judgment all the way around in this in the city on a lot of different issues And it's fair to be judged But I mean if the person who come here from out of state or even from another country, you should welcome them I've been outside the northwest a total of four weeks my entire life in 39 years I spent two weeks in Bolloxee, Mississippi and two weeks in Bahaog, California where I've lived in Olympia, Lacey, McCleary, Shelton, Union uh, Citralia Yeah, so it I probably want to settle down somewhere in western Washington for the for the long haul, but I just I don't want to live anywhere else It's like I I kissed the ground when I came back from Mississippi. It was January rainy and sleety is like five or six in the morning I got on my my hands and knees and I kissed the ground when I got back Wow No, but I you got a guitar. I was learning before we let you go um I looked at yourself. Do you would you be able to This is where it all starts I do some peak foil, but I'm still a little rusty I think Hi, my name is Sue and I live in Olympia, Washington I can't give a home to someone But what is the one things that I can do or help with that would have the most impact? Oh blanket socks, uh, heaters, propane, anything batteries Um, your name it we need it I you know, we could use some animal services There's people I mean like there's a dog that has a swollen eyeball and that lady can't afford it But I know that if I lived out here without my dog I mean I would not be doing good My dog say I mean I rescued her but she said rescue me Do you would you like to come in? So Sue's question Sue in Olympia she says I can't give people a home But what's the one thing that a person who's living on the street would need if I can't give them a home? I think everybody down here right now needs a voice and we don't have a voice Like the community that is fortunate enough to have houses and jobs and income They need to go to their their representatives. They need to go to the city and let them know they're concerned about it That is what we need if you show your carer. That's all that matters. The rest can be taken care of Hello, my name is Stephanie and I live in Everett and my question is Why is it that homeless people don't pick up their trash and dispose of it as they're um going about their day Um, I would appreciate that myself So thank you Well, you got people just like anybody that's gonna be how they were raised You know, I mean like you There's people that feel guilty about throwing something on the ground and making the environment look bad And then there's other people that just like they feel like trash. They feel thrown away. So they just they don't care They're already dirty. They're filthy. They're not thinking about anything except how wet their socks are that they haven't changed in two weeks Let alone Somebody give them a given them a hot meal that they don't have to stand in line for for like an hour and a half to two hours Throwing a piece of trash on the ground is probably the least of their worries that they're thinking about at that moment So I mean, but then you got other ones that go around and they know how to pick up after themselves And the ones that even walk around and pick up needles. So I mean it depends on the person All right, my name is Charlotte. I live in Seattle. Please assess the role of addiction and select the input from homeless people Who have access or tried to access addiction services? Oh Oh, God, that's a good question. That's a good one Um addiction is huge out here Okay, for whatever for whatever your reason is. Okay, a lot of people it's coping You know, they they can't stand every day thinking about living in a tent in a in a fenced parking lot And you know, they're circumstances are more than they know more than they want to handle so You know, they they use for that reason they use for health issues. They young for mental health There's a wide variety of reasons I'm a recovering methodic uh Being homeless uh Honestly, it's everywhere It's just easy to get and and hard to stay clean when you're when you're on the streets, you know what I mean Uh, but there is a lot of help and I personally prefer prosperity wellness and change my whole life It's a trauma-based facility. It's not just about drugs because a lot of people are Handcaps and they have trauma lots of trauma and uh, I mean, there's a lot of royals good and I heard BHS is good. I don't know, but there's a lot of Opportunity you go get help You just got to want to and sometimes you know addiction is I mean people sell their children Or rob their family because the addiction is so But it's part of your brain It's it's not easy to stop once you start You Hi, my name is Whitney and I live in Olivia, Washington And my question that I would like to ask people who are homeless is what would help you Get housed or I guess in tandem with that. Do you want to be housed? I need a car. Okay. Uh, I knew you guys get them donated. Don't make me one So tell me about what you What your plan is like what you need what we you would use a car for Deliveries Postmates door dash stripped I can take a package from the vehicle to the house. I can do it. I love the drive I wouldn't be homeless any longer within a month no more homeless. I need a vehicle We did a poll here and uh, getting help with IDs Was number one or licenses that would be awesome Is the ID thing because like you need an ID. Yeah, it's a little bit to get other stuff like yeah, it's a little bit of freedom um Court help like um lawyer type stuff rental eviction like past eviction so they can get into housing um You know stuff like that and then you know, it's obviously something about the rats down here Because rats yes They're smart and annoying and dirty There's so many empty buildings around here that instead of there's supposed to be cheap but they're not You know the cheap maybe for the middle class to the rich But for people on fixed income They're not that's why there's so many homeless But people have just given up We need jobs We've got food but we don't have any jobs Give me a stick in a nail or something. I need a job Some kind I can't get out of this poverty. I tried to sell my plasma and they said that they want a permanent dress. It's a catch-22 I can't get out home You're not going to starve today there But there's there's no way out The homeless thing Some people decide I want to go be homeless because that's what I want to do It's a mature responsible intelligent decision that was thought over and I don't know it seems like there's just as much destructive influences Anywhere you go whether it's in a holster environment or a First-class or upper-middle-class environment to each their own Different people find contentment and different things My guess is the majority of people who become homeless. We're out planned on being homeless Something happened. A chain of events were inability To manage one's own Well-being as responsible dogs something caved in a bottom fell out Hello, my name is Retsu. I live in Ballard I see around town that there are people holding signs asking for help and or money Is it better for us to go about our days giving a couple bucks here and there as we go? Or pooling our resources and giving it to a single organization If you're out there and want to really help these people Don't help and keep the drugs Just helping with necessities, you know like keeping warm Even buying them a little bit of food or if they really need a cigarette Pline buying the pack of cigarettes don't give them the money because all they're gonna do I won't see all of them because I wouldn't but most people will just go and buy drugs or alcohol or something It's it's a double-edged sword for one thing every city provides meals If you starve in Olympia, you're an idiot. They have free dinners and lunches and breakfasts all over Okay, the problem with giving an an organization so much red tape and so much bureaucracy That unfortunately the money that's put in funds hardly ever makes it It's more for the The operation paying for the operation What you're doing when you're giving money to somebody you're getting them a beer Get them a joint And that probably make it make their day. I mean But let's be honest about it. They're not out there doing anything with the money other than that Oh What does a good day look like to you? Oh, I love it you guys have come up some with some great ones A good day is a day that I eat At a roof over my head Uh People to talk to it's people caring Is a good day because there's a lot of times when they you know they just don't they would rather not see it You know, they know that we're here. They know we exist but if you ignore it'll go away Syndrome is really prevalent. Okay, then people don't understand that they're one One pay check away from being us That's it For me. Yeah, if I can get some cigarettes for the day to keep calm Get myself my girl is soda You know, I mean and maybe a hot like burger or something You know for the afternoons so she has something in her belly at all I'm fine with that. That's a good day for me especially if it's a warm day and dry I haven't had a good day in a year It would be work some kind of job I almost had a job yesterday out here somebody was unloading the trailer or something trucking They took one look at my scruff and sat around my stool. How old are you? 60 How boy? You're gonna be a good day is Being warm having a full belly and kicking it with my dog That's a good day for me My name's Jesse Dorazo. Yo, I'm Johnny Irish. I'm fine. Brenda. My name is Jerry My name is Alan Jenkins Hi, I'm Bianca Dunmeyer and I live in Olivia, Washington at the mitigation site Elvis and I'm living underneath the fourth Avenue bridge Outsideers is a collaboration between KNKX public radio and the Seattle Times project homeless team Rob Smith produced this episode his podcast is welcome to Olympia This episode was funded in part by a community engagement grant from USC Center for Health Journalism Ashley Alvarado is our community engagement advisor The reporting on this episode is by Aaron Hennessey and me Will James Bethany Denton is our editor and mixed engineer The outsider's team also includes Scott Greenstone and Sydney Brownstone of project homeless and Viana Davila Thanks to KNKX's director of content Matt Martinez news director Florengela Davila digital content manager Kari Plogue and Adrian Flores who designed our logo Next in the final installment of outsiders we track down Jessica one of the central people we followed through the series and find out where a year has brought her I'm Will James. Thank you for listening You