A Measure of Success

Two Guest Stories — Two Kinds of Success

A while back I did the top 10 reasons that people become homeless.
#1 - housing is just too expensive. I’d like to share with you a success story, but one that highlights that fact.

Brad (not his real name), came to the Salem Mission from a rehab program for substance abuse. He was handsome and bright, very committed to his recovery and highly motivated to get his life back on track. Despite several years of drinking and drugging, he had managed to maintain a fairly good work record and was a skilled carpenter. He had a lot going for him. From day one he was out looking for work and landed a good paying job in the first week. During his years of substance abuse he had lost everything – his job, his home and wracked up a pretty substantial debt. He worked hard and started digging himself out of the financial chasm his drug abuse had created. He worked all day and went to “meetings” every night. He saved his money and paid down his debt.

After about 6 months, he finally achieved a level of financial solvency so that he could save to get a place to live. As he began to look at what was available, he realized he would need about $3,000 in order to move out of the shelter. He saved every penny he could and after 9 months in the shelter he was ready. He still couldn’t afford an apartment but found a room for “only” $700 a month. He worked hard at staying clean and sober and got lots of support from the staff. He was stable in his recovery and continued to work, had reestablished credit and after another 6 months was able to buy a truck. We saw a lot of Brad the first year after he moved out, he came back to volunteer and to visit. He was very grateful to have his life back and for the support and help he got at the Mission. He has since moved to Florida and with a friend started his own construction business.

Brad is a success by anyone’s measure. Yet with job skills, education, motivation and determination it still took him 9 months to be able to move out of the shelter. Due, in large part, to the high cost of housing, homelessness is measured in months not days or weeks. Even for the most capable and motivated guest, it can be a long road back from homelessness to permanent housing.

Many of our guests don’t have as much going for them as Brad. Many are disabled and on fixed incomes, that won’t support them in housing at the market rates. (SSI disability income pays $695 a month). Whether it is a mental illness or physical disability, the wait for subsidized housing is years for those who qualify.

A Different Measure of Success

The shelter has become home for some. While it was never intended to be a permanent solution, most people when they come to the shelter have burnt all their bridges, exhausted all other options and truly have nowhere else to go. Here’s a story of another kind of success.

I was speaking to a church group and when I had finished my presentation, I asked, as I always do, if there were questions or comments. A woman, very nicely dressed – designer suit, fur coat, lots of jewelry, who I would have thought had never seen a homeless person, let alone met one, raised her hand. (That will teach me to make judgments based on appearance) As she began to speak her voice cracked a bit as she fought back tears. She said I just want to thank you for all you do. She continued, “My brother died at the Mission shelter. You took him in when no one else would”.

People often ask where the families of our guests are and why they can’t help out. Here’s one example of where the family was.

She went on to say her brother had been seriously mentally ill and they had tried to help him. He had lived with her family for a time but he became paranoid and thought they were trying to hurt him. He got violent and abusive to the point she feared for herself and her children. He stole money from them and finally it was impacting her marriage and family life and they had to insist he leave. They tried to get him services, to have him hospitalized, to have him referred for specialized housing. He either wasn’t eligible or refused services. They had no choice.

He found his way to the Mission and once they knew he was here and safe they checked on him because they cared, but he was more than they could handle. The staff got him somewhat stabilized and on medication for his mental illness.

He got primary health care and a medical referral that resulted in a diagnosis of cancer. Unable to care for himself independently and ineligible for nursing home services, he stayed at the shelter until he died of cancer - 6 months from diagnosis to death. There was no other place for this man. With tears in her eyes and at this point mine too, she said “I am so grateful to all of you that he had a place to be, a community of support, and he didn’t die alone!”

A success story?