Street roots., March 31, 2017, Page 11, Image 11

Street Roots • March 31-April 6, 2017
FINDING HOME, fro m page 10
be housed. It would be an easier life, easier
than walking daytime and nighttime, not
achieving anything, not going anywhere.
‘God, hello? I’m just
another human down
here.’”
A 90-day Salvation
" I t w a s a lw a y s 1st th e b a c k
Army residential
of say B tiad to b e ItoasedL
treatment program gave
It w o u ld b e a n e a s ie r life?
him some insight, and a
e a s ie r t h a n w a lk in g d a y tim e foothold to think
differently about his life.
a n d n ig h ttim e , n o t acblev«
At 63, Randall was
in g a n y th in g ? n o t g o in g a n y ­
eligible for Social Security
w h e re , ^Ood? h e llo ? I 'm ju s t
benefits. Emily Nelson at
a n o th e r h u m a n d o w n h e r e / " JOIN helped him file and
RANDALL MCKEE connected him with
Central City Concern,
where Crystal McIntyre
and Race Hebrard
connected him to housing.
“They went to bat for me,” he said. “They
do a whole background thing: how long
clean and sober, prison, homeless years,
etc.”
In October, Randall moved into his
apartment, for which he pays 30 percent of
his income. He checks in with Central City
Concern staff every month and picks up his
bus pass.
Page 11
News
When Randall learned that he had an
apartment, he was scared.
“I was accustomed to another life,” he
said. “How do I accustom myself to be a
human being again? Will people think ‘Oh,
you’re one of them, one of those homeless
people’? I was happy, but I thought, ‘I’m
indoors; this is heavy.’”
But when he walked into his apartment
for the first time, he fell in love with his
stove and refrigerator. “Look at that - I
have a freezer. Milk will last longer than
three days. Wow, I’ve got ice cubes! Wow,
look at this running water! It’s right there at
the turn of a knob. A stove with an oven! I
don’t have to keep my silverware on the
ground. Or clean them with sand. I spent 25
to 30 minutes inside the kitchen at first, just
looking at everything.”
And the challenges of being housed?
“Funny question! I can answer you in only
one way.” He handed me a yellow sheet
from a legal pad on which he’d written a list
of things he needs: air freshener, paper
towels, carpet cleaner. “Indoors, you have
needs that you did not have before. It’s the
trial and error of living inside.”
We talked about how to clean coffee
stains out of carpet and when not to use
bleach. He has skills most of us don’t and
knows how to live outdoors in the middle of
a big city. The everyday work of keeping
house inside is a new, but not unwelcome,
challenge.
Old friends sometimes want to stay at his
place or otherwise impose on his new life,
but he is careful.
“I’m not homeless anymore. I think of
others who are still out there. They’ve
chosen their lives, and I’ve chosen mine. I
put my foot down. I don’t mind you coming
over. I’ll feed you, let you hop in the shower.
But this is my space. I jumped through the
hoops to get what I have. It’s an ordeal. If
you abuse your situation, you can’t keep it.”
Randall walked the path out of
homelessness one step at a time, jumping
through those necessary hoops. He was
successful because he took it seriously and
kept a clear mind.
“You’re not going to skate through these
doors if you’ve been drinking or doing
dope.”
He likes, his apartment and his neighbors:
it’s a quiet, family-oriented complex, with
children playing outside. “It is a big turn
from being homeless to housing like this. I
like the security - the utmost is security. I
can lock my door. In a tent, of course, you
can’t.”
When we finished our conversation,
Randall walked me out to the parking lot,
then turned to go back inside and closed his
apartment door with a gentle click.
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