BrokenRoots: Homeless in America

(noon. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

(crossposted at DailyKos on Sunday)

After ten years on the beat, a former San Jose, California, police officer reflects – in poignant pictures and words – on her lifelong experiences with the homeless. Even during her childhood years, when her parents (caring for the needs of a family of 12) had difficulty making ends meet from time to time, Paula Craig Steele learned the importance of giving to those less fortunate.  

Tonight, Steele, disabled since 2005 with skeletal and mental health problems incurred during her years of public service, shares her story. She reports from San Leandro, California, where homelessness is an ever-present reality, highly visible by dozens upon dozens of foreclosures in her middle-class neighborhood.  She fears that if her husband loses his job, it may be a matter of a mere six months before they too become just one more statistic in the alarmingly expanding population of those who are ‘Homeless in America.’

Take it away, Paula.

A Fallen Angel, taken on Howard St. @ 6th St., in the “6th Street Beautification Corridor” of San Francisco, CA, on 11/20/2006. Photo by Paula Craig Steele.

“During my 10 years as a city cop, I saw the best and worst of the homeless, and spent a lot of time in shelters, doing my job, or just hanging out being a human face …”

When I went to college at 17, I noticed a very large homeless population around San Jose State.  This was due to former Governor Ronald Reagan shutting down the majority of the mental institutions in California and transferring patients to halfway houses all over big cities, with large concentrations in San Jose.  

After I moved out of the dorms, and into my own apartment, I started to make bag lunches for a homeless man on a regular basis for about a year.  Later on, after I graduated and became a police officer, my compassion continued.  I did not stop being a goodhearted person just because I wore a uniform.

Whiskey Jeff, taken in San Francisco on 3/21/2008. Photo by Paula Craig Steele.

He asked for a dollar to buy an ice cream. Original. I’ll give him that. We chatted for a bit. He had a great sense of humor. He let me take his picture and post it.

I always go to The City with extra dollar bills and change in my pocket because there is always that certain person or persons that I know will cross my path and will need that dollar, or my change. Whiskey Jeff got a buck. The kid playing “Knocking on Heaven’s Door” down in the Civic Street BART Station got a buck too. Then the guy who tapped on my shoulder and very shyly asked for $1.95 so he could pay for the rest of his BART ticket so he could get home to Pittsburgh (CA), well, I managed to scrounge up exactly enough change to the tee to give him for his ride home, where ever home was for him. He looked homeless, but I am not to judge. He was grateful for the money for his ticket, which I saw him purchase, not run off with the money. Anyway, homeless people often ride the BART all night long until it shuts down at midnight.

I do this not for the oh yeah, I’m so great, but because of the WWJD bracelet I saw years ago (What Would Jesus Do?), and because I was on the brink of total collapse, almost homeless, penniless, and without food on and off in 1997-1999 after I had Patrick, when things were really tough, and again on and off in 2000-2002 during periods of unemployment, and finally because I heard a story once that Jesus could be anyone, in any form, He could be the person next to you in line at the grocery store, or the person on the street who asks for the dollar, and I don’t ever want to think I turned my back on Him. And yes, I think I may have once or twice, if not more, when I was in a bad mood, or not thinking right, and just brushed someone off who asked me for help.

I could write a book on just the stories alone that I have heard in my time that I have been giving handouts, but it’s not my place to judge. I do discuss things with them, and sometimes we have serious discussions about their life on the street, drug & alcohol addiction, etc., but mostly we keep it light and I try to bring a smile to their face, and often I am even allowed to photograph them. But most times I forget to even ask!

I know I can’t give everyone money, but the cases in which I do, have always been the right ones, at the right times. A mom needing diapers, a lady needing meds., but mostly people needing a buck or two for coffee, a drink, food, a ticket for transportation, stuff like that. And I know in my heart, that they are mostly good too, and doing the right thing. Nowadays, the drunks and the druggies tell you straight up what they are going to do with the money.

When I worked in the City, every Friday that I got paid, I would give away $20 in handouts that day. I felt grateful when I was employed, so I would just give a little back, and giving to people on the street helped me breathe easier because I knew how close I had become to being there myself.

Disparity. Taken at Union Square, across from Tiffany’s, Post and Stockton Streets, San Francisco, CA, on 1/12/2007. Photo by Paula Craig Steele.

I have always treated homeless people as normal people and given them the time of day for a really important reason, because I have almost been homeless at least a dozen times.  The first time when I was in college in the mid-80’s, the last time in 2005, when I became so disabled I could no longer work, and I was not married to my husband yet.  

There were also the times when I was such a complete alcoholic and drug addict, yes, me, that I could not pay the bills, could not pay the rent, I was evicted from my condo with my two sons in tow.  My substance abuse left me in dire straights many times before I got clean and sober 10 years ago.

Poverty, Homelessness in front, taken on Van Ness Avenue near the San Francisco Civic Center, San Francisco, CA, on 10/13/2006. Photo by Paula Craig Steele.

“Homeless shopping cart on Van Ness near Civic Center Plaza and City Hall,

parked while the owner panhandled openly in the middle of Van Ness Avenue…

no surprise, this has been going on for decades… Care Not Cash works for

those that work the program, like 12 steps.”

Often times, when I stop and talk with them,  homeless people, I share my story with them too.  How I lost my jobs, over and over, how I got arrested, how I was so close to living on the streets many times, but I refused to wind up there, and I kept on fighting and I got my life back on track so I would not become homeless and live in a cardboard box with my kids.

Life in a Bag, taken in San Jose 1/8/2009 Someone’s entire life in bags and a cart parked at St. James Park in downtown San Jose. Photo by Paula Craig Steele.

I have befriended a number of the homeless men that frequently hang around the neighborhood markets, liquor store, and park.  They are nice men, very down on their luck, alcoholics, and not dangerous at all.   They are what I call the “substance abuser/ mentally ill” (dual diagnosis) homeless population.

Then there are the newly “middle class homeless”, as I have across the street, and down the street, from me.  My neighbor took in two of his family members as they lost their homes due to foreclosure.  

Further down the street, I suspect the same thing is going on as I see someone living out of a travel trailer, and is also going on another street, my cross street, a young family is living in a travel trailer that appears to be on their parents property.

A Hot Meal on a Cold Day, taken at St. James Park, 55 E. Julian Street, San Jose, CA (South 1st St. @ E. Julian St.), taken on 1/8/2009. Photo by Paula Craig Steele.

“Homeless persons line up for a hot meal served by a unknown woman at St. James Park in downtown San Jose. I was sitting on a park bench with a park regular, Salvatore, and he was filling me in with all the ins and outs about the life at St. James Park since I last worked here as a San Jose cop in the 90’s. Mostly it was still the same. Sal did not want his photo taken, but we talked for about an hour, until I had to leave for my new photo class at local college.”

I have made it my job, as part of my local “Neighborhood Watch”, to keep and eye on these homes, and I photograph and report to the police, any home that appears to be vandalized or being used by squatters, as was the case in one of the finest homes on our block that was foreclosed on last year.  

Vandals, squatters, and even the former homeowners trashed the home, breaking out windows, spraying graffiti, dumping trash, and leaving the backyard pool to become a cesspool.  I went in and took a dozen photographs and reported it to my councilwoman.  She took action immediately, and within two days, the bank came in and completely cleaned up the property and the pool.  The squatters were locked out, windows boarded up.  It has since sold and is returning to its old glory.

All photographs by Paula Craig Steele (pixieclipx)

Upcoming Diaries Homeless in America:

1. An interview with Bob Ballard, founder of the Hearts of Fire Program about their successful projects designed to redefine what it means to be homeless and to promote the role of artistic expression in self-empowerment for homeless communities.

2. Nan Roman, President of the National Alliance to End Homelessness in America discusses early signals that the Federal Stimulus monies allocated to the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP) just might be showing signs of success. (date tentative)

Background Listening: NPR Some Stimulus Money Preventing Homelessness by Pam Fessler

“Homeless programs are about to get a big push in a new direction. They used to focus on providing food and shelter. Now, the economic stimulus package is providing $1.5 billion to prevent people from becoming homeless and to quickly re-house those who do.”