Why am I doing this?

You see them at the park, at the train station, at the intersection, at gas stations, in front of 7-11, near public facilities – yes, they are the homeless population of Los Angeles, CA.

In the past, I didn’t think about them at all but simply categorized them such as disabled, mentally ill, nomad, recidivist, alcoholic, drug-addicted, or parasitic – then, moved on with my daily activities. It was too easy to stereotype people and assume something negative about them.

Nowadays, I argue that stereotyping is becoming less and less common; and, I believe this is happening because people are now more informed – or at least they now know it’s not cool, or even socially acceptable, to stereotype.

So, why is stereotyping against the homeless still common? I think it is because their stories are rarely told in any media. Even when they are, the stories more likely portray the negative side of the homelessness.

This project/blog is created to do just that—to tell their stories through photography and narratives. I, alone, won’t be able to cover every homeless person in the city, but it is a start. Please feel free to let me know if you want to help me relay their stories.

Just like stories of anybody else in the world, some are interesting, and some are not. And, that’s exactly what I want to convey, that the homeless population is not very different from yours.

Now, when you see them, what does come up in your mind? Do you wonder who they are, where they have been, how they became homeless, or how long they have been on the streets?

Well, now I do.

-Will

“God Will Provide”

A week before their hotel voucher expired, a counselor advised Tim and Ca’sha Knight to call Door of Hope*. They were told that while the chance for admittance into the transitional housing program upon such a short notice was extremely slim, they really had nothing to lose by trying.

Tim Peters, the director of DoH, acknowledged the family’s dire needs for housing, considering that Ca’sha was already 9 months pregnant with their third child. Regretfully, however, he told them that there were no immediate openings.

On the day they were evicted from the shelter, while they were sitting on a curb with all their belongings, not knowing where to go next, Peters called and said that DoH had a space for them.

Hours later, the family joyfully settled in one of the units at DoH in Altadena, Calif.. Two weeks later, their youngest daughter was born on the Dec. 30, 2008. It was a wonderful Christmas season after all.

This was not the first time Tim and Ca’sha felt they had been given a miracle.

After serving four years in the Army, Tim worked in construction. As he became really good at it, he established his own company that at one point had annual revenue of $300k. Ca’sha was a registered nurse and certified nurse midwife from Florida. Both are very religious and believe that God always takes care of the needs of His followers. They follow His teachings by helping and taking care of those who were less fortunate. Life for them was steady at that point.

However, Tim knew that his heart was not in construction; so, he began taking classes and attending screenwriting workshops where he met some celebrities. In 2002, his oldest daughter was born and Ca’sha became a stay-at-home mother. Four years later, Tim moved to L.A. to pursue his dream of becoming a Hollywood screenwriter. The entire family joined him several months later. Not long after, their savings were all used up, and Tim was still jobless. An eviction notice then arrived. They were soon homeless.

But then, an old friend called them out of the blue, inviting them to stay at her place; a stranger they met at a park offered a place to stay; a landlord dropped his lawsuit, during trial, against Tim for missing rent payments and gave him a maintenance job instead; an abrupt departure by one of the program’s clients opened the door to Door of Hope for the Knight family.

And, most recently: a celebrity whom Tim met at a workshop years back gave him a call and offered him a screenwriting gig and a new Macintosh laptop; a doctor whom Ca’sha met for medical checkups gave her a temporary nursing job at his office and promised a partnership at his practice if she were to become  recertified as a California Registered Nurse.

“We never ask them for any of these,” Tim says. “We only pray. We know that God will provide.”

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* More on Door of Hope can be found in the previous blog.

Downhill

“No, that time is too late as I have a customer meeting early in the next morning. Do you have a different airline to consider?” asked John to the corporate travel agent speaking on the other side of the phone.

“And, if possible, the one that allows one day layover in Narita, Japan on the way back to SF so I can have a daytrip meeting there too?”

“Great! Book my rooms at the hotel where I usually stay too. Please make sure everything is confirmed since the trip is only 2 days from now. Thanks Bob!”

John X.* has been working in the valley for more than a decade. Started as an engineer, he is now a mid level business executive commanding mid 100k salary plus stocks, options, bonuses and other perks. His job is to seek new businesses as well as to maintain good relationships with the existing customers in Asia and Europe by introducing them to the latest and greatest innovations the company makes.

Two years ago, he and his wife decided to upgrade their house by taking advantage of a creative financing offered by his lender. So, they moved from an okay neighborhood into a mid to affluent neighborhood in one of the East Bay hills. It was their dream house after all – with a $1.1M price tag.

A year after, the world seemed to turn around on them: the wife lost her hi-tech job, he got a pay and bonus cut and the real estate market tanked. They were now bounded by an upside down mortgage – the house is now valued not more than $800k. The 20% equity deposited to purchase the house is gone.

No more BMW. No more Porsche. No more exotic vacation for the three kids. Having to use their take home income alone to pay mortgage is impossible.

“There is nothing we can do for you, Mr X. Your loan is still current” was the loan officer’s answer each time he attempted to renegotiate terms with the lender. John knew that using the family savings to pay the mortgage loan was not sustainable. He sought help from a mortgage lawyer hoping that she could negotiate better with the lender. Yet, nothing happens.

This interview was done back in August 2009.
At that time, the family savings could only pay 2 more loan payments before the loan finally defaults. Foreclosure and eviction are just around the corner.

*John X. requested me not to reveal his true identity, in fear of ramification from the corporate office. He thinks that the company may be “forced” to lay him off should they know that he has any financial trouble. They may deem him as a financial risk that should not be trusted to handle multi-million dollar customer accounts. He certainly cannot risk himself losing his job.

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Silicon Valley is known for its prowess in technology advances. Google, Intel, Yahoo, Sun, Applied Materials, Pixar and Apple to name a few. These companies pay their workers better than the national or state average, but the “Valley” is also known for its astronomical housing prices. It is located in the San Francisco-San Jose-Berkeley triangle or Bay Area. In 2009 California accounted for almost 50% of America’s 50 most expensive ZIP codes – down from 96% of the prior year.

Next Stage

On the evening of Feb. 2, 2009, all house residents gathered in the living room of Door of Hope. Some spilled over in into the dining and entrance areas. Stories were exchanged, prayers offered, tears and laughter shared. A close-knit community of 30-plus people was there to celebrate the graduation of some of their own.

Door of Hope is a faith-based non-profit organization located in Altadena, California, that aims to equip homeless families to rebuild their lives. The goal of the organization is to help people go from homelessness to self-sufficiency by providing transitional housing and training in areas such as parenting, home economics, and employment skills. Participants are typically required to make one-year commitments before graduating. The Brooks family accomplished that milestone.

“We came here to learn ways how to be on our own, to survive in the world. We also wanted to use the opportunity to fix and rekindle our marriage that had been severed due to our situations,” remarks Anthony Brooks.

Mandie and Anthony met while she was still in high school in Tujunga, California, and they became a couple about 15 years ago. They were blessed with a couple of kids: a 6-year-old girl and an 11-year-old boy. They have gone through many changes and challenges, their parents said.

The young girl occasionally hugged her mother, who had tears in her eyes as she told of the pain and struggling the family endured all these years. Her older brother listened knowingly and patiently while sitting near his parents’ feet. Once in awhile, he grinned and jokingly poked his friend who’s sitting next to him.

Drugs, jails, changing homes and schools, evictions and separations are not unfamiliar obstacles for the family. Often they lived on welfare and others’ charity. Running the streets selling drugs certainly didn’t provide income and life stability. In 2007, Mandie and Anthony realized their problem and committed to each other to seek help for the sakes of themselves and of their children – and help is what they found.

Living at Door of Hope for almost a year provided the children stability to learn better in school. For that reason, Mandie and Anthony decided to live nearby after graduating so the kids wouldn’t have to change schools anymore.

Tim Peters, the executive director of Door of Hope, closed the event with a reading from scripture, followed by a prayer to bless the Brooks family. This auspicious evening marked a new beginning for the family.

Although they had been homeless on and off for almost 10 years, the Brooks were more confident that they would be better off this time around. Door of Hope has equipped them well.

Follow the leads

Do you remember the character played by Will Smith in the movie “The Pursuit of Happyness,” which was based on the real-life story of Chris Gardner? At one point, Chris and his son stayed at the shelter provided by Glide Memorial Methodist Church. They received help from the Rev. Cecil Wiliams himself, the church’s founder and leader. It was an exception made by the reverend because the overnight rooms were originally reserved only for homeless mothers and their children.

Joe Silvarro, whom I met and wrote about in this blog, was also assisted by this church through its rehabilitation program to free himself from narcotic addiction. Joe’s diligent participation in Narcotics Anonymous (NA) and occasional volunteering in the Church has kept him clean for 14 years.

When I found about it, I decided to check out and see the church myself. I hoped to get some pictures as an additional element of John’s story. It was a little bit after 12.30 p.m. when I got there and noticed there was a line, a good one block’s length, of people waiting for free lunch. There were people of all colors and ages. Some were disabled in wheelchairs. The temperature was a bit higher than when I met John earlier in the morning. As the sun was already out, it was probably in the low 60s.

I went directly inside, since I was not there for lunch, and checked myself in at the front desk. I showed my ID and credential to a gentleman in a yellow shirt with a communication radio on his chest and told him the purpose of my visit. He was quite friendly and greeted me with respect before immediately calling his supervisor. After I waited for a short while, Israel came to tell me that I should call the main office on a weekday and ask for permission.

I wasn’t able to get the photos this time around, but at least I left with a clear visual in my mind of those who benefit from Glide’s services.

Located at Ellis and Taylor in the Tenderloin, one of San Francisco’s harshest urban environments, Glide Foundation is an oasis that has served the poor and disenfranchised for more than 40 years. Glide touches many lives — by serving nearly 1 million meals a year, providing holiday programs that help more than 80,000 people, operating a professional medical clinic, offering youth job training, hosting weekly spiritual celebrations at Glide Church and much more. Glide has helped thousands of disenfranchised and poor people get back on their feet and find their way to jobs, housing and spiritual fulfillment. (Source: www.glide.org)

“They herded us like cattle . . .”

Holidays. Conventions. Concerts. Foreign luminary visits.

What do they all have in common? Those are the times city police and other officials herd the homeless people away from places where the crowds will gather. Christmas: out of Union Square. Convention: Moscone Center area. Concert: Davies Symphony Hall. Visits: wherever the luminaries congregate.

“They herded us like cattle,” says John.

John Silvarro is 54 years old, an ex-narcotics addict, cancer-ridden, disabled, ex-military and chronically homeless for 30 years.

According to the mayor’s homeless count report in 2009, there are 6,514 homeless people living in the streets of San Francisco. The numbers may seem lower than those living in Los Angeles, but “The City,” as locals refer to San Francisco, is significantly denser due to its smaller area.  That’s the reason the homeless presence appears to be more prominent — especially to visiting tourists.

And, these tourists bring a lot of money that keeps The City alive — 16.4 million visitors and $8.52 billion in 2008, to be exact. That resulted in $527 million in tax revenue, according to San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau statistics.

So, considering the conundrum police and other officials are facing to keep a healthy flow of tourists coming into the city while also maintaining its homeless-friendly policy, what would you do differently?

Inspiration

Here’s the excerpt of the first story. The full story will be available during  and after the final presentation in Spring 2010.

“I put everything in this yard,” said Virge Purdue while pointing to a half an acre estate in Pasadena. This tall medium built 46 years old African American likes to spend his Saturdays visiting some of his clients’ houses making sure that the flowers and greens are in good condition. Adjust the sprinkler system. Care for the browning lawn. Spot check the flower beds. These visits are not previously scheduled. Free to the clients. His own house won Golden Arrow Award from Pasadena Beautiful Foundation in 2002 for the most beautiful landscape.

Virge Purdue used to be a homeless living in Skid Row, Los Angeles. He is also a dyslexic.

Skid Row is an area of downtown Los Angeles, which is a home of the largest homeless population in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the Skid Row population was 17,740. The informal population who live in cardboard boxes and tents is approximately 7000 to 8000 people. Many social-service providers are in this area too, such as Weingart Center Association, Volunteers of America, Union Rescue Mission, Downtown Women’s Center, Frontline Foundation, Los Angeles Mission Community Clinic, Fred Jordan Mission and Midnight Mission. More than 20 years ago, Virge moved from one transitional-housing to another, Casa Sonora and Weingart, while taking various jobs through Department of Public Social General Relief program.

Born on July 18, 1962 in Montgomery, Alabama, Virge Purdue, Jr. was the seventh of ten siblings. In the first two years of his life, the family lived and worked in Branshaw Plantation in Mount Meigs, Alabama, picking pecans five days a week.

“I decided to move to California to face my fears.” He wanted to make it on his own in a new environment with a learning disability. So with a one way airplane ticket, a suitcase, and $300, Virge went to Los Angeles on January 28, 1986. Although his family was not happy with this move, Virge persisted.

In 1991, Virge got a full time job at Caltech as a groundskeeper.  Three years later he purchased his own house in Pasadena. “I enjoyed my job and felt a sense of accomplishment. I was living the American dream.”