Month: February 2019

The next book I’d like to write is on the idea of some homeless people becoming feral along the way.

The problem is that it is likely one of these “wild” humans has probably taken my Nikon D300 camera. (It is also possible that I misplaced it. But it is my most prized possession. I typically have always been pretty careful with it.)

So taking pictures for the next book is going to be a little more challenging if I don’t get another camera.

I was talking to someone yesterday about how I’m surprised someone would have taken my camera because of how incredibly kind and protective the entire houseless community is of me. That person said it was possible the person didn’t know it was my camera. Or they were just in the deep throws of addiction and would do anything for money.

I once gave a person $180 to go to the auto parts store to get a part for the minivan we had at the time. I had worked with this person for a long time and really trusted him. I never saw him, the money or the part ever again.

An amazing supporter of ours got $80 stolen out of her purse when she let a homeless person spend the night at her house on one of the super cold nights this winter. I don’t think she saw him again either.

And then there’s the trash.

In our weekly meeting last night we had a LONG conversation about throwing cigarette butts in one of the MANY cigarette butts buckets we have around the facility. One of which is a 5 gallon bucket that is really hard to miss.

One of our community members said she spent 3 HOURS picking up cigarette butts all around these buckets.

You will see a person take a wrapper off food and throw it on the ground as they are walking by a trash can.

Somehow the bathroom sink got pulled off the wall. The back ceramic cover of the toilet got broken, a piece of the ceramic is now clogged in the sewer pipe.

Quite honestly, these kinds of things are happening more now that the tent village is gone. Some of these people are going back to being more wild again.

You can see how the Haven of Rest becomes the Haven Of Rest.

• Take off all your clothes and stand together in this shower.
• Put on these over-sized, yet clean pajamas.
• Listen to stories of God like we used to do 1000s of years ago to other wild humans.
• Go to bed at 8:30am.
• Get out at 7am.

That’s an approach to working with these people. It at least gets things done.

We have wild humans in the houses we run. They come in late at night, go to bed, get up in the morning and are gone all day. Not to be seen again until they come home late that night.

What are some of them doing out there?

• Stealing
• Selling stolen things
• Buying drugs

You might be getting angry hearing these stories. “Why aren’t they just thankful for the things they are being given?”

But that’s not the point of this article. This isn’t about chastising these people or making them look bad.

It is also important to know that many houseless people are perfectly civilized people. 

I believe this wildness is on a spectrum. Some people become more wild while others maintain a larger portion of their civility.

But make no mistake, living in an elevator, under a loading dock, under a bridge will change you. You will forever have a different view of the world than someone who has never been forced to live that way.

This happens to pigs too.

Domestic pigs quickly revert to wild roots | MLive.com

“Any pig that gets out can revert back in a matter of months to a state where it can exist in the wild,” said Brown. “It will get hairy, grow tusks and get aggressive. They’re so good at adapting, and with their scavenging nature, they can get by pretty much anywhere.“

I believe this is important to talk about because this is a major aspect of working with the houseless community.

I also believe it is very possible to get these people to be brought back into society. To be re-domesticated.

I notice that most women, but not all, adapt back to society very quickly. In fact, I sometimes find that some women living in the woods actually never become wild. You would never be able to tell they are living a wild lifestyle just by looking at them.

Many men actually seem to fall into the wild human role quickly. Some of them seem to find their true selves in the woods. Even for me, it’s pretty easy to appreciate the freedom and simplicity of living in the woods.

But living in the woods is hard. Especially when you get sick. I know several cancer patients doing cancer treatment while living under bridges.

Even well people get tired of the cold, getting their things repeatedly stolen, being at risk of violence.

But when they come indoors they are faced with new hurdles that are difficult for them to handle.

Paperwork. Required meetings to keep the apartment. Close-quarter relationships. Doing dishes. Cleaning.

Some of them just can’t handle it and go back to the woods.

But there is one thing that none of them can resist: COMMUNITY.

The wildest of the wild want to be part of our community.

We had a man actually buy drugs from another person in our facility. He couldn’t even be bothered to go outside. So he is banned from our facility until future notice.

He’ll now stand on the sidewalk talking to people out there. We’ll bring food to him on the sidewalk because he isn’t allowed to step foot on our land.

He wants back in.

The drive to be part of a community is incredibly strong in humans. We are pack animals.

I believe this is how you re-domesticate these wild humans. They get to be part of the community if they act civilized.

• Don’t steal.
• Don’t do drugs, buy drugs, sell drugs or drink on the premises.
• Don’t lash out at others.
• Clean up after yourself.
• Treat the facility with respect.
• Treat your community with respect.

Do those things and you get to be part of the community. Don’t do those things and you are going to be pushed out of the community.

The woman who picked up cigarette butts for 3 hours had a brilliant idea. She suggested that the first person who is caught throwing a butt on the ground has to clean up ALL the butts on the ground.

That person won’t be allowed back in the building until they do that job.

Herman, who is the longest running member of our democratically elected (and always wins in a landslide) tri-council will often be heard yelling: “If you want to eat this week you’ll go outside and help pull food off the truck.”

The risk of losing your community is highly motivating to work together in the community.

Unfortunately, and ironically, the larger community destroyed our micro-community. So now people seem to be reverting to behaviors where there is nothing to lose.

But we still have value. We still are a place people desire to be. So there continues to be a value to them in being part of the group.

I want this to be known: These wild humans are rarely violent to non-wild humans. Other than to me, I’ve never seen any supporter ever be hurt. And only a couple highly involved volunteers have gotten into a yelling match with them. In a strange way, that just means they consider you an equal. (Some of our stronger volunteers don’t take shit either. They have their own wild side, if you will.)

They might occasionally fight among themselves. But I’ve never seen them physically lash out at volunteers or anyone in traditional society. You don’t need to be afraid of them.

They steal from each other and local stores. They don’t have the resources to go to your neighborhood. And they actually want to be accepted by you.

No one wants to be an outsider. Being an outsider with no resources is death. So please don’t worry about your safety around them. While I don’t recommend taking them into your home, except in really specific scenarios, I definitely DO recommend befriending them. They are incredibly interesting, kind people that need a friend more than anything else. That’s how we begin the process of bringing them back into society.

 

 

 

My mom used always say how annoying it was to go places with my dad.

She said she always had to hear how “great” John was.

I come from a long line of likable guys.

It’s just in our genes.

I am probably the most eccentric of my grandfather, father and now my son.

I’m like Columbo or Doc Brown in Back to the Future.

Sure. He’s wacky. But you’re always in for a fun time when you hang around him.

It’s also true that it’s more fun to be giving hell rather than getting hell.

I remember the mayor patting my arm and saying “hey buddy” at one of the many hearings where I was resoundly and repeatedly being turned down for wanting to put tents in my back yard. It’s fun to watch the competition get beaten.

You rarely “hey buddy” a person you hate.

And look at that picture of us above from your State of the City address yesterday. I mean he gave me a DOUBLE-HANDED handshake. Even his tie wanted to get in on the action.

Phil Masturzo from the Beacon Journal took that picture and is in this Ohio.com article.

There was, however, that testy op-ed he put out.

Dan Horrigan: Let’s clean up the picture on the Homeless Charity – Opinion – Akron Beacon Journal – Akron, OH

He opens up with this zinger:

I’m not often compelled to pen op/ed pieces, but the current narrative and public posturing by Sage Lewis and the recently transplanted, slick, out-of-town lawyers from the Institute for Justice need to be addressed.

In hindsight it sounds like something a person might say that was just told by their girlfriend that they need to see other people.

Those slick out-of-town lawyers are just friends. When it’s all said and done we’re in this together. Him and me. Dan and Sage. I’m not going anywhere and chances are, either is he.

Our relationship was written in the stars. And no one wants to see mom and dad fight.

It’s just like that song from Deep Blue Something – Breakfast At Tiffany’s

We have to look for common ground. In our case our “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” is incubators and entrepreneurship.

Those areas happen to actually be my specialty. I’ve got over 20 years in the startup space. I’m nothing if not a startup guy. And I LOVE helping people start their own businesses.

Check out these houseless people:

That’s Dustin. It turns out he got his barber’s license in prison. What if we setup a barbershop run by houseless people?

That’s Sully. He’s already setup a bicycle repair shop. Bikes are huge transportation for the houseless population.

That’s Kenny. He’s starting a screen printing business and already has 2 people asking for t-shirts.

I’ve learned that the houseless, like me, don’t make great 9-5 workers. They’re too independent. But they make GREAT entrepreneurs. They will work constantly on things they choose to work on.

I feel like our building could be an ideal makerspace and incubator for the houseless community. That’s where things seem to be heading.

Dan and I still have that one wedge issue in our relationship: Shelter.

I simply can’t abide by the idea that we are just supposed to let people suffer out in the cold with no shelter or safety. It is inhumane. We don’t allow it to happen with animals. We can’t allow it to happen with people.

Now granted, I have had problems in my execution.

He, rightfully said yesterday that “perception matters.” That’s very true. I know that as a marketer. The problem came in that I’m not that guy.

I’m the guy that makes things happen and then I work with people that make it pretty.

I was having a midlife crisis and threw 50 tents up in my backyard.  I was just venting my life frustrations on my own. Me and my new houseless friends. I wasn’t working the way I normally do… with people that do things right. I do things and other people make it right.

The concept was right. But the execution was not elegant.

Look at what just came out this week in Modesto California:

Hundreds of Stanislaus County’s Homeless to Move Into Tents Under Modesto Bridge | FOX40

Eventually, 300 tents will fill up space under the 9th Street bridge. One hundred and twenty of them were already in place Tuesday. The tents will be a 10-by-10-foot waterproof space with some of the comforts of home, like braced walls and access to bathrooms, as well as handwashing stations. The “Qamp” will serve as a no-barrier shelter. Your dog, your criminal history and your mental health status will not keep you out. City staff is just requiring people to check in at their on-site office and provide their name.

That’s in Modesto California where the medium cost of a house is $288,000.

WE HAD THIS.

But it wasn’t pretty.

Our camp looked like this:

I now know the error in my ways and I beg for forgiveness.

I think we can make something way prettier than what Modesto just put up. Fellow-Akronite Dave Murray designed these incredible cabins that we could use to instantly shelter the houseless population.

They are amazing!

Look: there is something going on in America. Something is off economically. People are falling out of the system onto the streets from a federal level. It’s only going to get worse the next recession.

I love working on this in Akron because it’s so doable and fixable. We’re talking 300-800 people. We have cheap land and vacant lots.

We can be the heroes of America. Solving homelessness in Akron is a real possibility.

I’m sorry I had to bring up the issue that drove Dan and I apart: shelter. I’m still sensitive. It’s important to me. And I’m sure any couples therapist would agree that it’s important that he acknowledge my feelings on this issue just as I need to acknowledge his feelings that he doesn’t want to become known as the shanty town of America. But I really want Dan and I to get together again.

So, hopefully Dan will chew on the Dave Murray cabin idea or even some other idea. We just have to get people off the streets. This kind of thing is happening in really innovative, progressive towns all throughout America.

But in the meantime let’s come together on an incubator for the homeless. It’s very revolutionary. I’d love to show the mayor around sometime. (Incidentally, it probably wouldn’t be bad optically in an election year, either.)

I’m telling you: homeless people are not the lost cause we often chalk them up to be. They are just having their own midlife crisis and are looking for a new direction. We can help guide them in a new way that helps them and helps the city.

I would love nothing more than for Dan Horrigan to be the hero of solving homelessness in Akron.

 

 

 

I know poor people are supposed to just watch the state of the city address on Facebook or go to an entirely different building (the library) to watch the mayor rave about how amazing everything is going in Akron.

I mean who can afford a $35 lunch or be able to skip out of their job at 11:30am on a Wednesday except people that aren’t grinding out a living at McDonald’s or the local temp agency?

But fortunately a VERY generous donor got us an entire 10 person table to hear the mayor first hand.

Now before you ask for a refund of your state of the city luncheon ticket, I assure you homeless people are actually very interesting and lovely people. There is nothing to be afraid of. Except when they find out how dry the “Parmesan Crusted Breast of Chicken with Lemon Dijon Sauce” is bound to be. At least the Roasted Garlic Smashed (they actually called them “SMASHED”) Potatoes should be pretty tasty. $35 lunches are always surprisingly disappointing. But they aren’t animals. They are kind, decent human beings. They’ll probably just wish Eva had made the lunch because of how amazing she cooks for them.

If there is anyone you should worry about doing something embarrassing it would be me. But even I promised my wife I would be on my best behavior.

We are just going to have a nice afternoon out as Akron citizens hearing what our mayor has to say about how things are going in our city. Homeless people are Akron citizens too, after all. It will be interesting to hear how represented they feel as Akronites at this speech.

We’re bringing the people who work the hardest at our facility.

Every job is done here by a homeless person. They work endlessly keeping our facility in tip top shape.

But you might be surprised to learn that the city hasn’t actually solved homelessness when they shut down the village these people built for themselves. People are living in tents at this very moment. And some of them will be coming to this event.

If you have never met a homeless person (some of them prefer being called “houseless”) this might be a very exciting opportunity. You are more than welcome to come over to our table and say hello. We are Table Number 89. 

If you have always wanted to ask a houseless person a question now would be a perfect time. Literally, feel free to ask them ANY question you’d like. Here are some sample ideas:

• Aren’t you all raging drug addicts and alcoholics?
• Why don’t you just get a job?
• Why do you choose to live in a tent?
• Why don’t you just go to the Haven of Rest instead of living in a tent in the freezing cold?
• Aren’t you all just totally insane?
• Have you ever held a real job in your life?
• Why don’t you stay with your family?

There really isn’t anything you could say or ask that would be worse than anything they haven’t already heard.

We aren’t going to cause a commotion. We aren’t going to start chanting. And we aren’t even going to whip out panhandling signs begging for money.

We are just Akron citizens coming to hear what our mayor has to say.

If you were lucky enough to get a ticket, like us, we’ll see you there.