Category: Blog

I have a couple ideas I want to share with you about the drug community. One I have in mind is understanding drug dealers.

But today I want to talk about meth.

In Northeast Ohio meth is, BY FAR, the biggest drug in your neighborhood.

When the news reports on meth use they like to show before and after pictures like this:

It is true that meth users sometimes pick at their faces and their arms and hands.

They often times are constantly in motion. So picking at their skin definitely can happen.

But the fact of the matter is: there are meth users that you’d never guess were using meth.

Suburban moms are using meth.

Here’s an article from one of these people: I Don’t Look Like A Meth Addict – Sober Mommies

She opens her article with:

I am the mother of an amazing eight-year-old girl. I am a fabulous dressing, master’s degree holding, funny divorcee.

She goes on to write:

I smoke meth. I get high at home and at work. I get high before I go to the grocery store, the mall, the pool and the beach. I’m high in the Catholic school parking lot.

Here is a graph of why people use meth:

It’s from this article: Sex and Gender Differences in Substance Use | National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

Are Super Moms Turning to Meth to Do It All? – ABC News
“Speed [one of the drug’s nicknames] is a drug that people get into for functional utility,” said Dr. Drew Pinsky, a substance abuse expert and an ABCNEWS’ contributor. “Women today have unique circumstances. They’re expected to be all things, all the time, and that’s unrealistic. Not only are they juggling job and kids, but they are supposed to look good, and keep the weight off.”

The History of Crystal Methamphetamine – Drug-Free World
Methamphetamine went into wide use during World War II, when both sides used it to keep troops awake.

Most problems don’t get solved in this world because we maintain an “Us versus Them” mentality.

“I can look down on meth heads, aka “tweakers” because they are ghetto trash.”

Once we separate ourselves from each other then we have absolved all our responsibility of our own community. Judging others just makes life easier.

The only reason I wanted to tell you about “meth mommies” is because I am hoping to help you find compassion for all meth users.

I am surrounded by meth users.

If I had to guess I would say 70% of the people in our village are active meth users. To be clear: we have a zero tolerance of using drugs or alcohol on the property. So, people are going outside, getting meth and then coming back.

But don’t think its just homeless people using meth. 99% of all meth users live in houses. Akron is drowning in meth. It is everywhere.

Here’s the thing: I have developed a special place in my heart for meth users. They remind me of little squirrels. Running this way and that. Scurrying around cleaning, organizing and chatting.

Oh the chatting.

Meth users LOVE to talk.

I’m listening to a guy right now talking to another guy. The talker is probably on meth. He doesn’t stay with us. He just drops by sometimes. The other guy is a guy that I know is totally clean. He has a close relationship with God, which seems to help some overcome the compulsion of drugs and alcohol for some. This guy on meth just talks and talks and talks. It’s REALLY hard to get a word in edgewise with a person on meth.

But I will take a meth user over an alcoholic any day of the week. Meth users are still on this planet. Drinkers are on a whole other planet. There is no amount of rationality in the world to convince a drinker that they are wrong. Drinkers fight. Meth users clean. Drinkers yell and cry. Meth users want to tell you about the most beautiful rock they just found on a walk… for an hour!

The worst part of meth users is the shame.

They are almost all completely embarrassed by the fact they they are a tweaker.

Every other drug addict looks down on a meth user.

They are judged by everybody.

But usually the reason people use meth is to cope.

Truck drivers use meth to stay awake, for example.

But the coping often times goes deeper than that.

I’ve had people tell me that they can’t muster the courage to have a conversation with a stranger unless they are on meth.

I also once asked a high ranking cop what he thought we should do to get people to stop using meth. His advice was to convince them to never use meth to begin with. He said he focuses on 13 year olds.

Meth becomes your backbone. You eventually can’t navigate life without it.

But when you are on it you are superhuman. You can stay up for 72 hours straight. And you aren’t just sitting around watching TV. You are working.

One of the things that the city loves to throw in our face was that in the very early months we once had a meth user decide to build a shed WITH POWER TOOLS at 3am. It happened one night over a year ago and I’m still hearing about it.

We actually had to enact a village rule that you are not allowed to rake leaves after 9pm and not before 8am. Meth users LOVE to rake leaves. All. Night. Long.

I once had a meth user detail my truck. I paid him $40 and he worked on it for 8 hours straight. I’m pretty sure he never took a single break.

It’s really hard to convince a meth user they should stop using meth. It becomes their life. And they are functioning in life.

I want them to quit meth.

I quit drinking 15 years ago and I LOVE being sober. But the fact of the matter is: dealing with your emotions in the short term is way harder sober than when you are drinking. I could drink away all my problems in a half hour if I really needed to escape. Now I usually have to carry that pain with me for hours and sometimes days. 15 years later I’m getting better at relieving my anxiety and stress naturally. But no matter how good I’m at it it will never be as fast and as all erasing as a case of beer.

But being sober is THE BEST.

I didn’t realize how all absorbing drinking was for me.

Since I’ve quit drinking I’ve developed hobbies. And I don’t have to suffer for an entire day hung over and sick.

I will never drink again. It’s a limiting life.

I want to try to share that thinking with my friends that are on meth.

They carry a lot of shame with themselves. And they have a hard time navigating the non-drug world, sometimes.

The fact of the matter is, I don’t have a clear reasoning for a lot of these people why they should quit meth. It has become their entire lives. Quitting meth is pretty much like quitting their lives. All their friends are on meth. And their work habits all revolve around using meth.

But there is a clarity and beauty in sobriety.

My instinct is that they use meth because they hate themselves and they don’t feel adequate. I totally get that feeling.

I just try to be a friend to them. I treat them like a friend. I care about them like a friend. I am their friend.

Compassion and care is an incredibly powerful force. If others accept them for who they are it increases the likelihood that someday they might be able to accept themselves.

 

It’s 45 degrees and rainy today in Akron, Ohio.

I hate 45 degrees and rain. I’ll take 10 degrees and snow any day over this mess.

I’m writing this in front of a HappyLight that is supposed to counteract S.A.D. – seasonal affect disorder.

I sat here in front of this light because I didn’t know how I was going to motivate myself to accomplish anything today.

And then came Brett.

9:00am. And he is on!

He’s got his half-broken umbrella with him. He’s already wet.

He’s heading out to panhandle.

He usually goes for about 2-3 hours at a time.  He goes out about 4-5 times a week.

He checked his pocket for his inhaler. He has chronic COPD, hypertension, asthma and sleep apnea. He now can plug in his nebulizer at night now that he lives in our house instead of living in a tent.

I like to just go right for the jugular and ask the most stereotypical questions.

“So Brett, do you spend your money on drugs?”

“Man. I can’t afford drugs. That shit is expensive.”

“I spend my money on food. I love to eat.”

I asked him what else he spent his money on.

The list includes:

• Rent
• Phone bill
• Personal Hygiene products
• Clothes

He doesn’t do drugs. He doesn’t drink.

I asked him why he doesn’t have a job.

He said he’s trying to get a job.

He has been diagnosed with PTSD, complicated bereavement and borderline intellectual functioning.

Between his physical disabilities and his mental disabilities and some breaking and entering felonies from decades ago finding a job is really hard.

He’s focused on getting disability.

But he’s still applying for jobs. He doesn’t think he has the physical stamina to work in a warehouse anymore. But he is applying at the fast food restaurants.

He says that being in his 50s also makes it hard.

This post isn’t meant to make you feel bad about Brett.

This purpose of this post is to let you know that there are reasons that some people panhandle. I know some people that work AND panhandle. $8.15/hour is hard to make ends meet.

People often ask me if they should give to panhandlers. This is my advice:

Giving to a panhandler should be more about you than it is about them.

Giving should not be painful. It should feel like a blessing. It should feel wonderful.

If you don’t feel good about giving then don’t give. You probably aren’t ready yet on your journey through the universe to give. It’s OK. Possibly your path is to do no harm.

Not hurting those around you is a wonderful gift you can give to the world.

Then the next level is to give to your family. Mother Teresa often would suggest that the best way people could help the world is to go home and love your family.

So, if you don’t want to give to panhandlers please don’t ever feel guilty about doing so. (And for sure, some people are using it to get beer. Real drugs are, indeed, too expensive for a panhandler’s income.)

I can attest to one thing: if you give a couple dollars to Brett it is going to a good cause. He gives his food card to his kids. So all his food comes from our food pantry and panhandling.

On top of that, he usually shares his food with his housemates.

Here is Brett’s Gofundme: https://www.gofundme.com/help4homelessintransition

 

This is the speech I made to City Council on Monday, October 28, 2018. 

On Monday, September 17 you voted no on our homeless village. That was 43 days ago.

We have housed 11 people out of 43.

There are 5 people that are what is called “self-resolved.”

• 1 moved in with a friend.
• 1 disappeared.
• 2 are in an abandoned house.
• And 1 is in rehab.

There are 24 days left until Thanksgiving.

27 people are left.

My hope is that you are willing to understand that housing the homeless is a slow and difficult process.

• Fingerprinting takes 30 days.
• Getting an ID takes 3 weeks.
• Getting a social security card takes 10 days.
• There are orientations.
• There are intake processes.
• There are countless meetings and phone calls required for people that don’t have phones and can’t afford a bus ticket.

And that’s just the logistics of housing a homeless person. The psychological condition of treating homelessness is a long, complicated process.

Terri Heckman reported in a recent article that she expects 10-12 people are going to be very difficult to house. She put out a plea in the paper for my supporters to come forward to help house these people.

That’s a big admission. The truth of housing the homeless is that it is more than just available housing inventory.

Homelessness is a condition. It is not just a simple lack of a socially approved dwelling.

In 1935 Dr. Bob and his wife Anne began allowing alcoholics to live in their house on Ardmore Ave here in Akron. The first realization they made was to remain sober, an alcoholic needed another alcoholic to work with. Our program has a similar belief. The homeless helping the homeless is the core of our program. I believe we are creating the beginnings of a new kind of program to help the condition of homelessness. That’s why we are pushing to ask the courts to allow us to continue our work.

I believe history will show that Akron is not only the home of Alcoholics Anonymous but also the home to a new kind of treatment for the condition of homelessness.

I don’t think my wife, Rocky, is going to like me telling this story. But she believes she killed Marty.

Marty is the cat in the picture of this article.

She believes she didn’t take him to the vet soon enough (but she did). Then she believed she didn’t go back to the vet, even though they thought Marty was going to be fine.

This is actually a sensitive topic in our family.

The fact of the matter is: we moved from one house to another house. We got a GIANT Christmas tree that we put in a tiny apartment. It was too much for Marty. Marty didn’t adapt well to the change and Marty passed away.

It wasn’t personal. Rocky didn’t kill Marty. Marty died because of circumstances.

I am hearing messages from a variety of people that are upset with me.

Newspaper people, homeless service providers and most likely city workers. I’ve actually had someone call me and say she was “butt hurt.”

I have one message to all of you: This is not about you. This is about the system. It is about the circumstances and the machine in which we currently function.

I’m not angry at the mayor, the CoC, City Council, The Akron Beacon Journal. And most certainly I’m not mad at homeless service providers.

I’m not angry at anyone. This is the picture I keep in front of my computer monitors:

And this is the bracelet I wear everyday:

If you read everything I say I am talking about systems and the machines of society.

I not talking about individual people. But some of you are reading into this as an attack on you personally.

You are surprised and shocked that anyone is questioning the system. It is not a common occurrence for you. So I think you just assume I’m attacking you the person.

The system is always the problem in history.

It’s not typically individual people that are the problem.

The only individual enemy that comes to mind from history is Bull Connor. He hated the civil rights movement and took extreme actions to stop it. Hitler is another guy.

But in these kinds of things it is rarely about moving against a person. It is pushing against a system. Even Bull Connor and Hitler just made systems that needed corrected.

I suppose if you identify with the system you can make a connection in your mind that I, therefore, am against you.

The only name I ever bring up with any regularity is Terri Heckman. I only quote her simply because she puts herself out there as the voice of the Continuum of Care. But I love Terri probably most of all.

Terri Heckman is a strong person who has a heart of gold.

I have nothing but the greatest respect for her.

While I have a special place in my heart for Terri, I have a tremendous amount of respect for all the homeless workers in Akron.

Do you know why this tent city thing is good to have in Akron? Because the homeless services are already SO good.

Cleveland sends their homeless to Akron. Medina sends its homeless to Akron. All the counties around us know that we are great homeless service providers.

But that’s why we need to keep pushing.

We can’t stop and rest on our laurels. We need to do better.

The bar we have to meet isn’t with others. The bar has to be with ourselves.

The way we can move the bar up is by expanding the legal playing field in which we work.

Politicians are simply working in a lane that is the law. They aren’t evil people. If the law changes and expands the lane then we can all work in that bigger lane.

You should know, if you haven’t figured it out yet, that I am transparent and I don’t lay down.

If you come at me I’m going to push back. It’s just what I do. I am a person who refuses to sit down and shut up.

And now I feel like I’m on a spiritual mission. I feel like this no longer has anything to do with me. I am just a tool that God is using to help the homeless. Like I’m a nonviolent Joan of Arc for the homeless.

For what it’s worth, here is what I tend to hear from supporters and the public:

• The homeless need more help.
• Private people should be able to help them.
• People living on the street in a country like America is absurd and a tragedy that needs fixed.

That is the entire premise of everything we are doing.

It’s not that there is some evil empire conspiring to hurt homeless people. That’s never been part of the narrative.

And I also know that people want happy stories. They want to hear good news. They are tired of negative stories.

So, when people say things like we increased homelessness by 71% and we aren’t being grateful for all the kindness the city has bestowed on us: It doesn’t play well to the public.

If I was your PR person I would say something like:

We, the homeless service providers of Akron, house hundreds of people every year. In fact, so far this year we have housed XXX number of people. We provide food, showers, shelter, laundry, mental health and physical health services… just to name a few.

We are revered by all the surrounding counties.

But, as is the case in anything, we know we can do better. We know people are living in the woods. We know we must continue to reach these people and engage them in creative ways to bring them back into society. Many of these people have valuable skills and life experiences that would make them great community members if we could reach them.

We are thankful that people like the people at The Homeless Charity, and Sage, want to be part of this system. We are working very closely with them. In fact, we come to The Homeless Charity day center multiple times a week to work with homeless individuals there.

Tents are not the level of service we want to provide. But if these folks have found something in their village that appeals to them we want to understand that and figure out how we can incorporate that in our overall services.

Funds are limited so if private individuals want to participate in the homeless process we want to take them up on their offer and work with them to keep helping the homeless population.

We are thankful for what Sage and The Homeless Charity is doing. And we are excited to work more with them and others to solve homelessness in Akron.

*******************************

Look for the common ground. You don’t need to be scared of me. I am not a threat. I am merely fixing a hole that happens to exist in the system.

Would I prefer if people weren’t in tents: HELL YES!!

But you don’t have the money to build something better and neither do we. So we are doing the thing we can do for a system that needs to continue to be worked on.

It’s the system I’m pushing against. It is not you.

I want you to understand that. I love you. I respect you. And I am incredibly thankful for the services that you do.

 

 

 

As Akron connives to shut down our tent community, Eugene Oregon council OKs a new tent homeless camp at former a City Hall lot.

We like to talk the talk of being a city of the future that people would want to move to. But the old ways are so entrenched in the minds of the powerful.

One of the key aspects of our future in our charity is servicing tent communities throughout Akron.

People in power like to talk about how they don’t like people living in tents. But what they mean is they don’t like to see people in living in tents.

As is the case of this tent community they just shut down:

This camp is on the east side. You would never be able to find it if you didn’t know where to look. It’s on public land in an area that was once a railroad.

Some of these people have been there for years.

But the city found it and now they have decided to come by and take this encampment down. Why now?

I would hate to think there is now a war on the homeless happening in Akron. That there is some sort of retribution happening.

I need to confirm it, but there is another camp that has been around for years that has also allegedly been taken down this month.

To think we have done a single solitary thing to get people out of tents is delusional. In fact, all we have done is made things worse.

Just as one example, woman after woman after woman are coming to us right now because all the women’s shelters are booked up. Women have no place to go. And because we are not supposed to be allowing people into our camp we are turning women back into the streets.

Women and gay young men are the most endangered people who live on the streets. But there seems to be no line we draw where anyone is safe from being thrown out onto the street. Government never says “enough is enough” when it comes to allowing any human to be spit out on the streets.

But our work continues.

However, it has to be in a much more covert way with how we help these people.

We have to create the Homeless Underground. 

It is illegal for the homeless to shelter themselves or for private citizens to shelter the homeless.

We have to work in the shadows quietly and privately to take care of the homeless living in the woods. If they are discovered, their homes will most certainly be taken down and destroyed.

We have a small group of high school seniors who are organizing an underground camp cleanup. It’s at an undisclosed location at an undisclosed time.

But the thing we need most for this is trash bags.

Again, the city will not provide us with trash bags or trash service. We have to do it all privately and secretly.

This clean up will be happening in the next couple weeks.

If you are able, we REALLY could use large trash bags.

We’ll take care of the rest. We’ll dispose of the trash and clean it up.

But we can’t do this work without trash bags.

If you are able, please drop off trash bags at the right side of the building at 15 Broad Street in Akron.

It is nearly impossible for a person living in a tent in the woods to handle trash. The only place they can dispose of it is illegally in neighbor’s dumpsters. It becomes an overwhelming job very quickly.

As always, thank you for your never ending support.

The homeless are a sector of society that government clearly wishes would just disappear. But we the people are the ones that see the wrongs being done. We see the needs that must be addressed.

We will do the work even if the city doesn’t want us to do it.

We will  do what needs to be done.

If you would like to deliver us trash bags we have an Amazon wishlist here:

http://a.co/jlexeN7

They can be sent to:

The Homeless Charity
15 Broad St.
Akron, Oh 44305

 

 

 

 

On Monday, September 17 – 29 Days Ago – Akron City Council voted 8 to 4 to shut down our tent city.

“We support people living in safe housing indoors, not tents,” said City Planner Jason Segedy, who crafted the action plan after consulting the CoC. Segedy added that he and the CoC are committed to working with Lewis to move the needle on homelessness, and not just for people living in tents at 15 Broad St.

That’s from here: Tent city’s homeless residents must vacate by Thanksgiving

All along this journey the city has confidently said there is housing for everyone that needs it. Literally that’s what they said.

Akron City Council votes to end homeless camp, find housing for dozens | fox8.com

Heckman said there are enough available beds in the county to accommodate those affected, many of whom have mental health or substance abuse issues. The action plan calls on Continuum of Care to meet with each person and develop housing options for each.

The Continuum of Care also said that our Tent City is the cause of homelessness increasing 71%.

Mar-Quetta Boddie, Rebecca Callahan, Keith Stahl and Fred Berry: Second Chance Village is not a solution to homelessness

This past year we have seen an increase in homelessness. In exploring the cause of this increase, it appears the growth and development of the Second Chance Village is a primary factor. Since the opening of the village, our unsheltered homeless population grew by 71 percent in one year.

This isn’t simple victim blaming. This is blaming the Good Samaritan.

This is the mindset of an addict that sees no problem with their behavior.

Not one time have I heard anyone in the city or the Continuum of Care say they have a problem.

As of today, through incredible diligence and determination by the homeless workers of Akron we have housed 6 people.

DESTINY – HOUSED!
JOSEPH (CJ) – HOUSED!
JOYCE – HOUSED!
JARED – HOUSED!
ZAK – HOUSED!
ERAN “Red” – HOUSED!

I am beyond excited for these people.

And because of you in our donation drive, we have been able to pay for things like back electric bills, moving expenses and things they need for their houses.

It’s truly incredible.

But there is another side to all of this.

It has taken 29 days to house 6 people. That’s just over 1 person every 5 days.

And truth be told, that’s amazing work, if you think about it. Here are people that have lived on the streets for months, if not years, and we are putting them into houses to the tune of 1 a week. That’s an impressive feat.

But that’s not the bar we have to achieve.

All of these people must be housed by Thanksgiving. Through no basis in research or understanding the homeless population, that’s the random deadline the city has given us.

As of today, our pace needs to be to house 1 person every single day until Thanksgiving. And not just Monday through Friday. We have to house a person 7 days a week to meet this deadline.

I’m now hearing rumblings that “well, we might not actually be able to house all these people by Thanksgiving. Some of them might need to spend a “few days” in a shelter.”

This is a situation where those in charge are happy with the way things are and they don’t want to see anything change.

Change is scary. And change for people in the non-profit world is terrifying.

These are all truly good people.

But they have become beholden to a bureaucratic system where government funnels them millions of dollars every year to maintain the status quo.

This is why people become resentful of government. They don’t innovate. They don’t adjust. They just maintain… Usually while asking for more money.

These are people who, while very good intentioned, have never seen the business end of the capitalist system.

Bureaucracy is insulated from the invisible hand of capitalistic natural selection. This is the world I have been forged in for the last 2 decades.

If you aren’t a better and cheaper solution than the other guy you will die. It’s just that simple.

Bureaucracy, for the most part, has never experienced that kind of raw survival of the fittest.

So when guys like me and Dave Murray, with his tiny houses, come along we instantly get shot down. They will do anything, include lie and blame us for hurting the homeless. When in reality they are just terrified that the truth might get exposed.

That housing the homeless is incredibly difficult.

To say that all a homeless person is missing is a house is to say that all an obese person is missing is more salad in their diet. Theoretically that’s true. But the underlying reasons for obesity and homelessness are a complicated mess of emotions, psychology and mental health issues.

If there were 5000 empty apartments ready to house our 43 people I’m telling you the process would go no faster than what it is going right now.

• There is finger printing.
• There are background checks.
• There are birth certificates, IDs and social security cards to get.
• There are statements for the social security office to get.
• There are intake processes.
• There are orientations to get into programs.
• There are countless trips to countless government offices to take.

Then there is the driving around looking at apartments.

This is all done with people who make ZERO dollars a day and have significant mental health issues AND have lived wild in the woods sometimes for years.

I’ve seen a woman sleep in the grass beside a railroad crossing with her dog even though she had a house.

These are feral humans. They are wild and completely suspicious of a system that spit them out onto the violent, cold streets of America months or even years ago.

This isn’t just about putting people into houses.

This is about treating a condition called Homelessness. It has as many moving parts as treating alcoholism or any other behavioral-based condition.

For the leaders of homeless services to say that we just need to get people into houses is insulting to the homeless and is an outright lie to keep their millions of dollars flowing into them.

They know perfectly well what a complicated process it is to house the homeless.

• What if you have 2 dogs?
• What if you have an arson charge on your record?
• What if you have a meth manufacturing charge on your record?
• What if you are a sex offender?
• What if you are so riddled with anxiety that you can’t imagine ever moving indoors?
• What if your spouse has a bad record? Will you move without them?

They know this is a mess.

But to keep the money people happy they just keep blaming people like me for increasing homelessness and repeating the party line that “we have houses for everyone that needs them.”  (And may I say, that line is a total lie in and of itself. There is not a single county in America that has enough housing for the poor and extremely poor of their communities. We have 20,000 people on our low income housing waiting list here in Akron.)

 

Now let me just stop right here for a minute.

 

Perhaps you feel the frustration I feel through the words I’m writing here.

While I’m frustrated, I am not hateful.

I have no hate in my heart for any of these people.

If anything, I have pity for them. They are scared addicts of a steady supply of government money.

“What happens if a guy like Sage changes the system?”

“What happens if a guy like Sage shows the government that we don’t have the homeless situation handled? That we aren’t doing everything we can to help these people?”

Truth be told, I don’t know what will happen.

But this is who I am. I’m a change agent.

I was leading the digital marketing revolution in 1999 when people barely knew anything about online marketing.

I come at problems from a new perspective. I’m a trouble maker for industries that see no reason to change. This is what I bring to planet earth. It’s my “gift.” (I’m quite sure many people see it as an annoying fault. But change is inevitable, no matter how painful it might be.)

I see no reason why we need to build multi-million dollar buildings for the homeless that make developers wealthy when we have countless houses we’re just tearing down.

I see no reason why we can’t ask the homeless what they want instead of people who have never missed a single utility bill dictating the services homeless people get.

I see no reason why we can’t admit that getting people into housing is as hard as telling your uncle he needs to stop drinking so much.

This is an intervention.

I’m not here because I hate anyone. I’m here because I love everyone.

I love the homeless service workers that work insanely hard for these people.

I love the politicians that are just trying to do the right thing for their city.

I love the homeless service leaders that are just trying to keep their organizations afloat in a turbulent era.

I truly get where they are all coming from.

And, I hope it goes without saying, I love the homeless most of all. Had it not been for the endless support of my mother and my wife I feel quite confident I’d likely be out in the woods with these people.

I would rather die than be told to pray. I would rather die than be told to go to bed at 8:30pm. I would rather die than be stripped of dignity and be forced to shower in gang shower facilities.

Without a doubt, I would be one of the people that homeless leaders would accuse of “not wanting to be housed.”

“Sage just wants to live in the woods. He doesn’t want help.”

NO! I want to be treated like a human being. I am a person, not the animal you are forcing me to become.

I get the homeless. I will not quit the homeless.

Together we will all learn what being homeless means and what the homeless need.

We have not come to an end. We have just begun.

In the next 38 days, the city has committed to housing the remaining 38 people living at our facility. This feels like Schindler’s List to me. This is just a small drop in the bucket of a sea of never ending homeless people that will need help.

But, damn it! I’ll take it. House these people:

ANDREW – Not Housed
ANTHONY – Not Housed
BRIAN – Not Housed
CHARLA – Not Housed
CRAIG – Not Housed
CRYSTAL – Not Housed
DANIEL – Not Housed
DARRELL – Not Housed
DAVE – Not Housed
DION – Not Housed
DONNIE – Not Housed
DUANE – Not Housed
ETHAN – Not Housed
GARY – Not Housed
GEORGE – Not Housed
HUGH – Not Housed
JACK – Not Housed
JAMES – Not Housed
KATE – Not Housed
KENNY – Not Housed
KEVIN – Not Housed
MARK B – Not Housed
MARK W – Not Housed
MARY – Not Housed
NIKITA – Not Housed
PATTY – Not Housed
REBECCA – Not Housed
REINA – Not Housed
RICHARD C – Not Housed
RICHARD G – Not Housed
RICHARD R – Not Housed
ROBERT (Sully) – Not Housed
ROCHELLE – Not Housed
SONYA – Not Housed
TRAE – Not Housed
TYLOR – Not Housed
VIRGINIA – Not Housed

 

If you have spent any time with me you will have learned that I tend to do things with not a lot of detailed thought.
Anybody that lets 40 some people set up tents in his backyard and create their own governmental system based on the principle of “Let’s see what happens” tends to be a “fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants” kind of guy.
I prefer to build the plane mid-air instead of building it on the ground. It’s just more fun that way. (not to mention more efficient and effective, imo)
So, in that vein I am excited to announce the:

ADOPT-A-VILLAGER PROGRAM

The idea is that we will line up a volunteer with a villager. Kind of like the big brother / big sister program.
This could be useful as all of our villagers are being rapidly pushed out of their community and, hopefully, put in housing.
It’s important to understand that you only have to do what you are comfortable doing. You can spend as little or as much time with your villager. And if the relationship doesn’t work out you are welcome to just let us know that you’ve gotten busy and can’t help any more.
But all of these people are going to need things like:

• Moving their things into their apartment
• Finding free or cheap furniture and household items (we probably can get a lot of that stuff)
• Driving various places in the transition
  • Doctors
  • Local city driving
  • Picking up various things
• Moral support

And who knows what else.
Moving is one of the most stressful things you can do in life… in the best of circumstances. It’s going to likely be a pretty tense couple months for some of these folks.
So… if you are interested, the way to get involved is to join this Facebook Messenger group:
Click this link: https://m.me/join/AbaiGgk8ln9AW_fo
I’ll post a list of villagers that are interested in being part of this program over there. And then we can work as a group to get these people into housing.
This could be a really meaningful journey for both you and the villager you connect with.
Thank you!
Sage

If you aren’t familiar, today in Akron was “On The Table”.  It’s this thing where people all over the city get together and talk about different issues in the city.
Not coincidentally, we discussed homelessness at our “On the Table” at The Homeless Charity.
All the people (except for me) in our meeting are homeless or were previously homeless.
They came up with 3 initiatives they feel could significantly change how we work with the homeless in Akron.
These are the ideas they came up with:

Homeless Recovery

They astutely observed that Akron is THE recovery community in America. We are the home of AA.
It doesn’t matter if you are homeless or if you are a stockbroker… recovery is recovery..
They had the idea that we should consider homelessness the same way we consider addiction. It is a condition that can be overcome.
This is a powerful idea because it looks at treating the whole person.
The idea that a homeless person is just missing a house is short-sighted and simplistic. Being homeless is a multi-dimensional condition that needs treatment from many different angles.
Literally, these people are trying to recover from homelessness.
There will be slip-ups and missteps. But with the right treatment plan they should be able to recover from homelessness.

Sweat Equity For Homes

Most homeless have little to no money. This makes getting into housing that requires a deposit and first month’s rent incredibly difficult.
They had the idea that people should rent houses or rooms in houses for sweat equity.
The homeless person would enter into an agreement with the landlord that they would work on the property in exchange for a place to live.
The Homeless Charity could help broker that deal if both parties needed.
The Homeless Charity has already bought a house and is looking to buy more. A portion of our residents are sweat equity people. Some people pay to help pay for utilities and taxes. And other people work to make the house better.

Homeless Underground Railroad

This is the idea that excites me the most.
The profound observation of this idea is that the homeless realize that Akron is not ready to help the homeless. Places like Seattle are more enlightened. They have multiple camps to work with the homeless.
But Akron is not yet ready to deal with the truths of homelessness.
They believe that there will always be a portion of homeless that will need to live in the woods. We can minimize this population. But some people need to be in the woods for a time.
They said that society has to understand that these people are in the woods as their strength. For a wide variety of reasons they need to be in that place for some time.
But just because these people are in the woods does not mean they don’t need support. They need Port-a-potties and trash service and food and supplies. These people need support services.
There are also people that are ready to begin the re-entry process of getting back into society. These people need things like the tent community the city of Akron chose to shut down.
But since this is not currently possible in Akron we need to look at different options.
They had the idea that people, organizations and churches could adopt a homeless person. They would actually take these people in and give them shelter, food and support. They were very adamant that this is not a good idea for everyone.
They said that the “Recovery Community” would be a good candidates to take a person in. The “Recovery Community” are people that were formerly homeless.
They also said that “hard-core” religious might be good candidates for this program.
But they strongly cautioned average people from this program. They had the idea that maybe we could have training and orientation classes if you wanted to try taking a person in.
They also thought that The Homeless Charity could be a support service for anyone that took in a homeless person.
And then they had the idea of doing a kind of virtual adoption. Where a person could adopt a homeless person through donations and that sort of thing. They both could write each other and so forth. But the donor wouldn’t need to work with the person in-person.
Overall, they felt that much of this program would need to be hidden like the actual underground railroad. They felt that if anyone was caught sheltering a homeless person they would likely be found out and fined.
***************************
In one sense, it was a little sad that these people know that they are not accepted in society. And it is basically illegal for them to exist.
But on the other hand, it was really amazing to see them optimistically coming up with really cool and innovative ways for people to work with them, if a person chose to do so.
Finally, the group was so excited about this meeting that they want to make this a regular meeting. They want to call it the “Homeless Not Helpless” Initiative.
I really feel like these ideas of merit and could make a big impact in homelessness in Akron.
 

Today happens to be my birthday. This is the best possible birthday present Destiny could ever get for me.

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DESTINY GOT INTO HER FOREVER HOME!

And it is awesome.
She has a brand new refrigerator, stove and carpet.
It’s a beautiful open floor plan with 2 bedrooms.
This is incredible news because she is due to have her son in November.
Destiny lost her mom several years ago. It threw her life into a tailspin. She’s been homeless for about 3 years.
But she is homeless no more.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen her this happy.
What is important about all of this is: she could not have gotten into her apartment had it not been for you.
Something I’ve learned working with people here at The Homeless Charity is that any debts you owe a utility company must be completely paid off if you ever want to have utilities again.
I once worked with a person who had a $3000 debt with the gas company. She will never be able to get gas turned on in her name again simply because it is highly unlikely she’ll ever be able to pay off that debt.
Destiny owed $218 to the electric company.
The ONLY way she was able to move into this apartment was because we paid her past electric bill. We also paid her $25 deposit.
All that money comes from you.
We get no government money or anything like that. We are entirely funded by private donors like you.
Destiny is our first resident to get housed in our required push to house the current 43 people living in tents in our tent community.
We’ve housed many people since we’ve started.
But if we don’t house these 43 people they are going to be forced to leave their community and be pushed back onto the street.
So… 1 down and 42 to go.
If you’d like to help donate to this critical time in the history of The Homeless Charity please CLICK HERE.
Because we are entirely privately funded by people like you we are able to act faster and pay for things other agencies simply are not legally able to pay for.
For example, most agencies funded by the government are not able to pay for down payments. If the person can’t come up with the deposit they will miss out on getting housed and be moved to the bottom of the list. They have to start the entire process over again.
All money donated to the homeless charity go to the homeless. No money pays for staff or salaries.
If you are interested, I’ve put some more pictures of Destiny and her apartment in the member’s only site. You can click here to see them. Membership costs as little as $1/month.

The work we are doing with the homeless has a two pronged approach.
The first prong is working with the homeless where they are today.
Even though the city is forcing us to close our tent village we have a 4 part strategy moving forward:

• Extending the hours of our drop-in center.
• Buying houses to get people in-doors ASAP.
• Get a shuttle to transport people to appointments and our drop-in center.
• Working with remote tent communities to make them safer and more stable.

Our day-to-day operations are all about moving as quickly as possible in that direction.
But we have another prong in our approach that is a much longer game. We are looking very seriously at all the thousands of homeless that will be coming to America tomorrow, next week, next month and next year.
We have not solved a single thing, so far, for the homeless that aren’t currently on our “official list” of people in our village.
My personal view is that we live in an economy where the wealthy just continue to get insanely rich while they pay their employees non-livable wages.
If you aren’t making $15.09 an hour at a full-time job in Akron you are not being paid a wage you can actually live on. You can’t afford your rent, your utilities, your food bill, your phone bill, your clothing bill.
You are barely scraping by.
Amazon employees on food stamps – Business Insider

In 2017 nearly one in three Amazon employees in Arizona was on food stamps, or lived with someone who was

If you want to call me a left-wing wack-job liberal because I think it’s wrong we are subsidizing a $1 trillion company’s profits by paying for 1/3 of all their employees’ food, go right ahead.
But this is America.
And when people can’t afford to pay their own way then they can’t afford to help their son or brother or daughter or sister or mom or dad when they lose everything. And so homelessness increases.
People end up alone on the street.
It’s simple cause and effect. “I can’t help you because I can barely help myself.”
This is not a Republican or Democratic issue. Both parties are guilty. But look at the 2019 budget our current administration is proposing:

I don’t think you have to be a great economist to see that housing and labor are all taking a hit. These numbers rip through local communities in ways stats like that graph never can fully explain.
I’m not here to judge federal economics. I’m just the guy on the ground trying to prepare for the cleanup.
Do you think those numbers are going to increase or decrease homelessness? My guess is that homelessness is going to increase.
And keep in mind, I’m working with people begging us for a tent in our backyard in a good economy. There is supposedly plenty of jobs and all the rich people are making crazy money.
What happens when the next recession comes? Do you think there are going to be more homeless or less homeless? My guess is that homelessness is going to increase.
Every path I see for the future is more homelessness. More people living in tents. I simply see no evidence where super-low income housing springs up from coast to coast, homeless people with no identification and no money are scooped up and put into spiffy new apartments.
That’s a fantasy world that has no conceivable foundation in reality.
So we are preparing for the fall-out of a nation-wide federal economic disaster. It’s already here. But we are planning for it to get worse.
Over 500,000 people slept on the streets of America last night. They had nowhere to go. They had no services to support them. They were scared, cold and alone.
Do you think they would have been grateful for a safe place to sleep? Do you think they would have been grateful for a blanket and dry shelter?
Do you think they would have been thankful for a tent on someone’s private property that was inspired to help them?
The answer I hear every single day is that they are incredibly grateful.
Do not believe the hype that we have resources for those people. That’s a gaslighting lie to make you feel better and divert attention from the reality that American streets are not paved with gold and, in fact, we are home to hundreds of thousands of people living on less than $1 day. We live in the richest country the world has ever seen and yet we have poverty on third-world country levels.
Homelessness is hard. If it was an easy problem we would have solved it already. But it just keeps coming. Wave after wave after wave of homeless dads, moms, kids, grandparents and veterans falling through all the government and family safety nets and landing on the streets of America.
Today I am moving on from tents because I am being forced by zombie laws that have no room to actually look outside and see the reality on the ground. People are going to be sleeping in the dirt in your city tonight. That’s not right.
Did we not ever read the story of the Good Samaritan? Or do we just think that’s a cute story to tell our kids?
The Good Samaritan is needed more than ever in America right now.
We need to be able to feed, clothe and shelter the poorest among us if we so choose.
There is no imaginable form of justice, humanity or civility where it is acceptable to be forced to leave these people shunned on the street alone because it is illegal to help them.
If you’ve got a better idea than tents that is as cheap, instant and effective I’m all ears.
Otherwise, my position is that private citizens with private money on private land should be able to help the most in need in the United States of America.
The image for this article came from here: War On The Homeless: Cities All Over America Are Passing Laws Making It Illegal To Feed And Shelter Those In Need | CSGlobe – It’s another good story about the illegality of helping the homeless in America.