Perspectives

When I first heard of Father Joe's Village (FJV), a local homeless non-profit, the descriptions ranged widely between scores of praise and simply unflattering comments. While I didn't have any first hand experience, the negative rumors hinted that the large agency was pushing its weight across the homeless community.

FJV undoubtedly had a substantially larger operating budget than any other program, which it used with great efficiency in serving the homeless. However, since it was an agency competing against the same funding sources as those of the smaller (and usually less efficient) programs, the organization made a few enemies. The method of rewarding funds seemed like a self perpetuating cycle where grants with money get more money and a Catch 22 for those that don't have money. Anyways, that's another topic entirely.

Before I go further, let me give some background information. I work for a homeless non-profit agency (RTFH) that felt the pressure of competing with FJV for the same funding source. We had a homeless management information system (ServicePoint) that was in competition with their database (CSTAR). The problem was that the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) only wanted one report (which would require only one database or a lot of work merging data between multiple databases).

When I first worked at RTFH, I avoided the politics as much as I could simply because I knew I didn't have the stomach for it. I'm not sure exactly what transpired, but whenever my agency would meet with FJV, it seemed physically and emotionally draining on everyone involved. Even though I had never dealt with any of the staff at FJV, I felt for my coworkers, whom looked so exhausted after each meeting. I continued to hear more rumors and a part of me began to build resentment against the giant agency.

My first encounter with some of the FJV staff was at Atlanta, Georgia. After a day of HUD conferences, we happened to run into each other at a bar. I sat down and had my first opportunity to talk with them. I was genuinely surprised. They seemed like very nice people and it dispelled many of the rumors that I initially heard. It's easy to talk about a stranger behind their back, but it's difficult to do when you have a face to a name.

As time passed by and large staff turnover happened, I inevitably worked more and more with FJV's staff. After a couple years of working together, and from what I've personally seen, their staff were always professional, kind, patient, and good natured.

An exemplary example of their character was at a committee hearing that questioned the capabilities of RTFH to complete its contracts in a timely and accurate manner. We had no executive director, a part-time (although very amazing and knowledgable) associate director, and three full time IT staff (with only one that had an IT degree and whom no one had more than two years experience). One of our the IT staff was just hired. Our reports in the past did not have a good reputation. The situation looked very grim.

The smart business move would have been to capitalize on your opponents when they're down on the ground. Without our small agency, FJV's CSTAR database could have taken over all of our city/state/federal grants, received a lot more money, and it would have been a lot less work for them (since no data merging between systems would be required).

However, FJV and their staff did just the opposite; in the spirit of cooperation, they offered to fill in the technical expertise that RTFH lacked, handed over the work that they tediously created, and trained RTFH staff on how to use/modify their reports. At that point, I worked with them long enough to understand that they were genuinely good people, yet I was still slightly shocked at the kindness of their actions.

I'm not here to promote an agency or a program. What does this mean to me personally? When I look back, I can't believe that I believed some of the things I heard. I feel a bit of shame buying into the rumors. Rumors seem to start and usually have just enough of a hint of truthfulness that it becomes dangerous.

I sometimes forget that life is just so different. This isn't the movies. There's no black and white, no good and bad. It's more complicated than that. There's just different perspectives, and sometimes, our perspectives are wrong. I guess that's what makes us human. We all make mistakes and we all try to learn from them.

Never fear, Will is here!

I sat in the middle of a semicircle of people, with all eyes focused on me. I chuckled at the next question, "What's the longest time that you've been car camping or backpacking?"

I replied that I don't think car camping constitutes as 'camping', but answered that the longest I've gone car camping has been two months straight. Some of the interviewers were visibly shocked at the reply, probably expecting an answer closer to a weekend. The guy nearest me joked "That's not car camping, that's being homeless". We all laughed (with me probably laughing the loudest).

I went on and explained some of my backpacking experiences, mainly wilderness hiking in Yosemite and the trips out to various secluded islands in Tonga. After the interview, one of the members told me that they would normally get back to an applicant in a week. For me, they'd get back to me in 2 minutes while I stepped out so they could vote.

Once I was welcomed back into the room, I heard that I passed my initial interview to become part of the San Diego Mountain Search and Rescue group. It was only the first step in becoming part of the volunteer group, but I was excited. The next test is a weekend trip out to an unknown location with other new applicants. It'll test our ability to pack for an unknown place, the ability to work with other potential SAR members, use our survival knowledge in a wilderness setting, and to learn new SAR skills.

After climbing these last couple months, I figure its about time to try to do something productive instead of only crimping progressively smaller plastic holds in a gym (although I definitely won't stop the latter).

[Updated - It costs a LOT for the additional equipment necessary for the Mountain Rescue Team. As much as I would love to join the group, I'm selfish and want to save up my money to travel again.]

Homeless Steve

It's been relatively hot in San Diego. The weather isn't so bad compared to other places in the world, but when you're confined to living inside a small Toyota Tacoma, it gets pretty unbearable. The afternoon heat regularly melts the sticky velcro on my truck's curtains and I'm constantly needing to reassemble it at night when the weather has cooled down a few degrees.

I've been thinking about different solutions to the heat problem and in theory have come up with using Reflectix, a radiant barrier (poor transmitter of infrared waves) that is commonly used in homes. The problem is locating where I can buy a small quantity at a low price (I'm trying to be frugal after all).

I was on the way to Target in search of the material when I spotted a dirty white colored van sitting isolated in the parking lot. The location made perfect sense despite being in the wide open parking lot:

1.) It was far enough from any particular business that normal shoppers wouldn't disturb the person(s) inside the van
2.) Even business owners might think that the van's owner was simply shopping at another location

I pulled around and decided to investigate further. I slowly circled the vehicle and did a quick analysis. The side curtains were drawn, but the windows were open. The back door was cracked to allow ventilation, but not enough to directly see inside. Laying across the roof was a cargo box and an open vent. Even though I couldn't physically see in it, I was confident someone was living in the vehicle.

I stopped a few parking stalls away from the van and approached the vehicle on foot. I wasn't sure how to start off a conversation so I loudly asked "Hi, is anyone in there?". As soon as the words left my mouth, I immediately felt bad; I probably startled the hell out of this person. I heard some faint scrambling noises inside.

I quickly followed it up by saying that I've been living out of my truck for the last month and that I wasn't a guard or a tow truck guy. I continued to have a one way conversation explaining that I came to ask for some advice on escaping the summer heat. After a couple minutes of what felt like talking to a rock, I saw a bearded man in his late 50's pop out into the driver's seat.

The homeless guy was friendly and said, "Hey, I didn't see you there. How's it going? So you're homeless too? Where's your truck?"

I pointed to my truck and explained my setup. He confirmed what I learned in my past month homeless; trucks are good for blending into an environment, but aren't good for extended homeless stays (since you don't have enough room to do anything in it). His opinion was that I wasn't going to last in the truck for long.

We traded notes on how we've been living so far. I told him some of my stories and favorite/worst places to park. He had a good laugh on my 'exploration' of sleeping areas, which included Wal-Marts and near police stations. He commented that parking in Wal-Mart lots would inevitably get your vehicle towed, but that parking at a McDonalds overnight never caused him any trouble.

He was quite frank on how he lived. He said that if he needed to pee, he peed in a giant fast food cup lying around. If he needed to go number two, he just used a plastic bag and threw it into a nearby trash can. He kept constantly moving to make sure that police didn't catch him (since it was illegal to live in a car).

As we continued talking in the blistering heat, I got a better idea about the guy; he had a raw, primal, and sincerely simple energy about him. He seemed like he could live off of practically nothing (which he probably did). There's something about a person that can take a shit into a plastic bag and not worry about things like hand sanitizer. Despite logic, the man had survived five years of van dwelling; even the 'necessities' that I thought I needed weren't really that necessary. (FYI: I respect his living style, but am not anywhere near adopting many of his lifestyle philosophies)

He had bought his vehicle for approximately $2000 about 10 years ago and has lived in it ever since. He was vague about how he got into his 'situation', but as we got deeper into our conversation, he expressed genuine fears about how anxious he was getting. At times he'd lose sleep over whether his car would start up the next day.

As soon as his car can't start up, he'd be dead in the water. He would be towed and wouldn't have the money to bail his car out. He explained that even though he didn't have many material possessions and despite how meager those possessions were, it was still all he had. He said that he was getting too old for living in his car and was finally looking for a place to stay.

I wished him luck in getting a room to rent. Before I walked away, I asked him what his name was. He replied "Steve" and I thanked him for readily sharing his sage advice. I extended my hand, ready to shake his, when both of us glanced at each other. For a second, we shared a telepathic link that said "Oh yeah, Steve shits in plastic bags in his car". I instantly retracted my hand shake and waved goodbye, saying "I'll see you around... maybe at a McDonalds parking lot."

Good luck Steve, I wish you the best.

Parking Lots

Since college, I can count on one hand the number of times that I’ve been to a Wal-mart. I have two main reasons for my limited visits. For one, I remember watching a documentary proclaiming the evil practices of the giant corporation; I refuse to support any grossly unethical businesses. I wish I could say that that was my main and only reason for avoiding Wal-Marts.

Quite frankly, even if the company were entirely altruistic, I would probably still not visit because I never found the appeal of their low quality items. It was a wonder that I found myself heading towards the local Wal-mart at 11pm.

I vaguely remembered hearing that it was acceptable for people to openly park their cars for the night in a Wal-mart parking lot. I’m not sure how I even heard this rumor, maybe it was from the documentary; last night I thought it’d be an interesting theory to test.

I drove in expecting to see a small congregation of vans, trucks, and RVs forming on the outskirts of the parking lot. I imagined a camp filled with dark tinted vans, each with its own colorful history of police stakeouts and/or Amber alert kidnappings.

I wasn’t sure if I was relieved or disappointed when I found only one parked RV. All of the other vehicles looked like they were normal shoppers. I drove in closer to look for the telltale signs of a fellow road hobo; there would be curtains shut, windows wide open for ventilation, and maybe some form of light emitting from the cracks. I circled the parking lot and didn’t find what I was looking for.

However, I did find the security guard. He sat in his SUV and prowled the lot, occasionally driving up and down the lanes with his flashing orange lights. At first I didn’t pay him any notice; I figured I could park far enough away and he would leave me alone. I reasoned that the evil corporation probably didn’t pay him enough to actively look for trouble. On the other hand, I saw the signs that repeatedly stated “No Overnight Parking or You Will Be Towed”.

As much as I believe that ‘Bad Decisions make Great Stories’, there’s a certain line that has be drawn and having your vehicle towed while you’re still sleeping in it is not something that I’d like the pleasure of retelling. So instead of risking it, I simply drove up to the guard and asked him if it was acceptable to sleep in my vehicle.

The guard looked over at me with compassion morso than as a figure of authority. He explained how it was his job to make sure that no one parked overnight, with the exception of RVs (which were allowed a 1 day maximum). He gave a heartfelt apology. I told him no worries and that I didn’t want to make his job difficult (or get towed).

Just as I was leaving he mentioned that the lot further down the street (owned by Petco and Vons) was not guarded by anyone. He said I was more than welcome to stay there until the morning.

I thanked him and parked down the street in the nearly empty lot. It felt uncomfortable to be in such an open area, but I thought it’d be neat to try for at least one night. I wish the story ended here with me getting a good nights sleep, but you’ll be surprised at what goes on in a nearly empty parking lot at night.

My first interruption was what sounded like a drug deal that happened at 12:50 am. The two cars had parked approximately three car lengths away from me, with one car probably thinking that I was the initial buyer/seller. I peeked through my tinted window and lifted one of my blackout curtains just slightly to see what was going on. Since there wasn't much sound proofing in my vehicle, I could clearly hear their conversation, but I wasn't sure exactly what they were buying/selling, though it definitely seemed like a drug deal. After the deal, they surprised me with a quick conversation about the state of politics. Hmm, who would've thought?

I was woken from my sleep a second time by the sound of a nearby heavy engine. It scared me thinking that it was a tow truck. I hastily looked around and luckily it wasn’t. At this point, I started sleeping with my jeans on in case I needed to make a quick escape. It’s barely 2:30 am.

The third time I woke up hearing an engine rev loudly. This time I woke up more annoyed than frightened, thinking “Are you serious?” I looked through the back window to find someone working on his car just a few feet from my tailgate bumper. I look over at my cell phone and wonder who works on their car at 4 am in an empty parking lot?! After a few minutes, I hear his car revving away into the night (or what was left of it).

I've decided that I’m done with parking lots. I head back to my favorite spot, an apartment complex that sits inconspicuously a block away from the police station. I need whatever sleep I can get; I have work at 8:00 am.

Do Your Ethics Correlate to Your Debt + Standard of Living?

Let's say that tomorrow, the company you work for does a legal, but unethical thing. Although it really depends on what the situation is, I'd like to ask this main question for tonight's blog post, "What's the extent that you as a person, are willing to do based on your personal morals and societies' laws?"

If a legal, but unethical situation happens, I would assume that most people would try to fix the issue, say through a manager or their human resources department. Now what if nothing is done about the complaint? Do you bring the issue up again? Maybe. Would you quit or even risk your job? Probably not. People have credit card debt, student loans, car payments, cell phone bills, electric, and rent/mortgage payments.

This got me thinking about what I would personally do. I find that the higher my standard of living and the larger my debt, the higher chances that I have of compromising who I am, what I believe in, and what I do. For example, I know that right now if I ran into an unethical situation at work, I have no qualms about quitting. Its hard to imagine, but if I had a house payment (or was trying to support a wife and 3 kids), that even if something grossly unethical happened at work, I would be a lot less inclined to quit or risk my job. Some would say that given the latter scenario of a dependent household, I would not have the freedom or the luxury.

Now let's take it a step further.  What if an illegal and unethical situation happens? Would we still look the other way? Would you quit? Some people may say to look for another job, but what if taking another job means making less money and not being able to support your current standard of living? We all talk big, but who would really lower their standard of living if the unethical/illegal situation does not affect them directly?

These are just some thoughts going through my head right now. Today I woke up with a sick feeling in my stomach. I was scheduled to help interview 7 people for a new job posting in my company. I had time to glance over all of the resumes and knew that everyone was older and had much more experience than me; some of the people being interviewed were easily twice my age. None of that bothered me in the slightest because I knew my database.

What bothered me was that the job was posted with a vague description and it was designed without consulting the current staff. I'm still not sure who posted it, but with all due respect, they had no idea what they were writing. It pretty much asked for a Technical Program Manager position without stating the actual duties involved.

As a nerd, let me just say that a nerd is not just a nerd. I could break it down thoroughly, but for the most part a hardware nerd is much different than a software nerd. Hardware nerds are knowledgeable about subjects like servers, routers, firewalls, switches, and network infrastructure. The software nerds are knowledgeable about different programs and it also gets really specific; for example, there's a world of difference between high level programming and low level programming. Today we were looking at who could do queries, report design, database migrations, and database merges.

The list can go on for both categories, but needless to say we were looking for a very specific skill set (even though the posting didn't specify it). It'd be the equivalent of hiring for a restaurant at an upscale French restaurant saying "Need good chef" without mentioning whether they're seeking a sous-chef or pastry chef.

It's difficult to explain how this even happened. I heard that the position was posted last week (by an unknown person to me). Interviews were then scheduled immediately by the Executive Director. Since learning about the posting, I've asked for the job description (since I'm helping with the interviews), but did not get any straight answers. Since the ED has only been here for a month, I asked quite frankly if the ED knew what the current staff even did (much less try to hire new staff).

The ED finally responded back to me with a list of the duties that everyone in the team was responsible for. We looked at the list for a few minutes and could tell that the ED didn't even know what we were doing. I got the list yesterday and replied, but have not heard anything about it yet. It gets a lot more complicated with the history of the organization, but let's say that its provoked me to think about the state of affairs here.

I have mixed feelings about this whole situation. For the most part, I laugh at how absurd everything is. What I can tell you about this whole situation is that I am VERY thankful that I do not have anymore debt (including student loans). Without debt, I feel like I have my freedom. I do not need to stay at this company if I disagree with how it is run. I do not create a situation where I need the money in order for me to maintain my standard of living (however low that is). I cannot be happier with how I'm living (even if I am living in my truck). I can't take a shower whenever I want, but I never need to compromise who I am.

The People You Meet!

Trying to find cover from San Diego's harsh afternoon sunlight, I situated myself under a tree in a secluded section of the park. After reading for a couple of hours, I decided to take a nap. Despite finding a nice area, beams of searing light still passed through the thin branches. Improvising, I shielded my eyes with a book before falling asleep.

I woke up to hear the grass rustling heavily around me. The noises that woke me weren't from the surrounding sounds in the park, but instead came from something very close; it sounded almost at arms reach away. Being incredibly lazy, I peaked through the book to see what was causing the sounds.

There stood an ugly pit bull, panting from the heat and sniffing the grass at an uncomfortable distance; the dog's nose was literally an inch from me. I removed the book and saw that the pit-bull wore a chain leash. Holding the other end of the leash was the owner, who was letting his dog sniff me as if I had somehow farted sweet cinnamon rolls in my sleep and it was only natural for them to come investigate.

Not only did it seem creepy enough to wake up having a strange dog smelling you, but the pet owner was even creepier. He looked around my age, but dirtier; that says a lot about someone when you're dirtier than a homeless person. He looked directly at me when I glanced at him. I wondered for a moment, how long he stood staring at me before I woke up. I quickly brushed the thought away and scanned the area, finding that the rest of the park had plenty of other trees with shade.

I looked back at the owner with an expression of "WTF" written across my face. Common sense dictates that taking a nap at a public park is normal. However, it’s not normal (and it seems downright rude) to purposely let your dog sniff someone whose napping. Besides that, you do not just stand there and stare at people sleeping! Having just woken up, the best I could manage was saying "Ummmm... hi, what are you doing?" while giving my best scowl.

The slow witted pet owner misinterpreted my hostility and instead got the impression that I wanted a casual conversation with him. He asked if the book I was reading (Gregory Maguire's 'Wicked') was anything like Stephen King books. Hoping to end our conversation there, I bluntly replied no.

He continued onto a rant about how his parents tell him not to read Stephen King books, but he does it anyway because he's a ‘rebel’. I tried to switch the subject by mentioning that his dog is too close to me, but he magically hears something different. I guess people hear what they want to hear.

What I say: “Why did you let your dog get that close to me when I’m sleeping?”
He seems to hear something different and replies: “Don’t worry, he’s a good dog. He’s a mix between a chow and a pit bull. I’ve had him for two years and he's so energetic, etc…”

This goes on for a couple minutes where whenever I hint for him to get lost, he believes I'm thoroughly enjoying his company and would like nothing more than to continue our exciting dialogue. I resist the urge to outright tell the crazy guy and his dog to leave so I can nap in peace.

As I'm trying to find a polite way of ending our 'conversation', he tells me how he lives with his parents and how he's bored all the time, but doesn't want to get a job or go to school. A weird feeling comes over me and I start to feel compassion for the guy. Maybe he has serious brain damage and I’m the closest thing to a friend he has. I start to feel like an ass for being the rude one.

After listening to 10 more minutes of his ranting about various subjects and after dispensing some of my own heartfelt advice (get a job), the compassion I felt is officially gone. I decide that he is either really crazy or really stoned. I tell him that I need to go.

Before I leave, he asks for my number and says that we should hang out to play video games, which he assumes that I’m a gamer (I'm sure his parents would have loved to have their unemployed son bring home a homeless person to play video games with him).

Normally I don't lie, but I don't have the heart to tell him I'm not interested; I tell him that I don't have a cell phone and that I don't really like to play video games. I'm a terrible liar and even if he did believe me, my cell phone (which was sitting inside my yoga bag nearby) began to ring. We looked at each other in silence while my cell phone continued to ring until finally the call was forwarded to voice mail. At this point, I'm pretty confident that the guy was stoned beyond belief or seriously messed up in the head because he didn't seem to register that I just received a call.

I quickly and awkwardly said my goodbye. I walked away pretending like I had a place to go, but as soon as he seemed far away, I resettled down to the nearest sturdy tree and started reading again.

Note: Although this was a weird stranger, I've bumped into many friendly strangers as well. Just a week ago at midnight, I was parked in a residential zone sitting in the back of the hobotruck folding my laundry neatly into my storage compartments. I had my camping light turned on, but didn't bother to put down the blackout curtains yet since street lighting provided some additional lighting and I didn't want to use my precious batteries.

My activities caught the attention of a cute girl who had just parked nearby. She walked over asking "Are you camping?". I looked over and saw someone a few years younger than me straddling a long board under her small arms. She seemed to have the stereotypical mellow surfer vibe so after being prompted, I explained my story of being homeless by personal choice and how I wanted this personal experience. We talked for a while before she said the board was getting heavy. She pointed out her house nearby and said to knock if I ever needed anything. I thought that was cool of her to offer.

Ever been interviewed by a homeless guy?

I've been homeless for about two weeks now. This week I've been reviewing resumes and next week I'll start interviewing people for a new position in the company. What has this world come to? Homeless people are interviewing people for jobs!

Its such a strange feeling to be on the other side filtering the resumes instead of submitting them. For the position that we'll start interviewing next week, many of the applicants have their masters degree. We're also hiring a junior position that will mirror my job. I'm looking at my qualifications and I don't think even I meet the posted qualifications for my own job.

The hobotruck

I've had the hobotruck since 2003, although back then it was just a regular truck. When I first bought it, it was a tan colored 2003 Toyota Tacoma with a regular cab. For years its been a reliable vehicle that I've taken on many camping trips.

I considered buying a Volkswagon Vanagon, but couldn't find one that was reasonably priced and nearby. So instead I went and modifed my Tacoma. Here's what was done:

Camper shell - The camper shell is the same tan color as the original truck. It has 9 inches of lift over the regular height. This allows more vertical room so I can sit up straight and not bump my head into the wall. Windows slide open on the side for ventilation. The original glass window in the back of the truck has been taken out so I can crawl through from the driver's side to the truckbed if I wanted to. Black tubing connects the two spaces so that its rainproof.

Curtains - For curtains I went to Ikea and bought some blackout curtains. I cut the fabric to match the windows and installed them using velcro. I can have my lights on inside and there's no residue light that spills to the outside of the vehicle. On one of the sides I have a tension rod mounted and the curtains are hung.

Bed - For bedding, I use a self-inflating ThermaRest DreamTime camping mattress that I picked up at REI. Its 3 inches of cushioning with a foam pillow top and fleece lining. It lays lengthwise across my truck bed and fits perfectly. For a pillow I use my memory foam pillow from Costco.

Road Trip

On Saturday I took the hobotruck out to Arroyo Grande and back. I was meeting up with some friends who I hadn't seen in a while. My weeks have been really packed and it happened to be the only day that I could visit. However, I had to be back in San Diego by Sunday since I had tickets to Comic Con.

It was the first time traveling in my hobotruck and for over 600 miles, every mile felt like home. 600 miles is a long distance to travel in 24 hours, but as soon as I was tired, I pulled over. I didn't have to worry about making it to the next rest stop or finding an affordable place with vacancy. Within minutes I was setup and happily sleeping. It didn't matter the environment, I was able to adapt to it.

I met up with a few Peace Corps friends that I haven't seen in a while. Good times :)

Pre-Homeless Adventure Thoughts

I put in my 30 day rent notice; my last day as a tenant is August 1, 2009. Although I've joked about it a lot, I honestly don't think its fair to call my 'situation' homeless; I think it'd be an insult to those that are really homeless.

First of all, its my choice to not rent housing. Personally, I think the system is inherently flawed when people are sinking in a quarter to over half their monthly income on rent alone. Let's do some napkin math. The median income for the City of San Diego is $36,637 (2000 US Census bureau). This comes out to making roughly $3,000 a month. After all the taxes, medicare, social security, etc. and you take home about $2200 a month.

I currently make approximately that amount and am a relatively fresh out of college student. Housing costs approximately $550 to $1000+, depending on the number of roommates and the location. That's anywhere from a quarter of my income to almost half of what I make being spent on rent alone. If you make less than the median income, you'd be spending more than half your income on rent. If you make more, you probably have more bills (student loans anyone?).

People are spending anywhere from $18 to $33 a night and that's not factoring in any utility costs. Some people are willing to pay that cost, but I think a lot of people don't even realize how much they're paying. My thoughts are that I don't think its worth it. I understand everyone's situation is different; I definitely would not have even considered this a few months back when I was still in a relationship. However, at this point in my life, I think car camping compliments my nomadic lifestyle so I've chosen not to rent.

Another common response I get is that people think I've fallen on hard times. I am not destitute; far from it, I don't even have any debt. (And who can say that in this day and age?) I still have stable income and even have a little savings. While some might not consider this a factor in whether I'm considered homeless, I think it greatly affects my ability to find housing should I choose to. I know that at any time, I can easily check into a hotel without it hurting me much financially. I can rent again should I decide to. I've been fortunate that I've never had to do anything for just the money and hopefully my luck will continue.

Now let's talk about the definition of "homeless". According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), people living in a car are considered homeless because its a "place not meant for habitation". Contrary to HUD, I think I still have shelter. My camper shell with all weather carpet still provides adequate cover and protection from the weather. Am I roughing it? Hardly. I'm laying on a $200 Thermarest Dreamtime mattress wrapped inside a nice 3 season sleeping bag. I've roughed it more camping in Yosemite.

Is it different than how most people live? Yeah, I suppose so. I don't think I can say whether its better or worse. All I can say is that at this moment, this is what I want to try and there's nothing more and nothing less.

Some people frown on this and I think that's great too; society as we know it cannot handle everyone living this type of lifestyle. What would happen if everyone looked around themselves and decided "Hey, I don't really need this..."? The economy as we know it would probably collapse. Streets and parks would be crowded and houses would be empty. Its a good thing that we all have different perspectives, different lifestyles, and different priorities.

Who needs a home?

I look around my apartment room and its barren except for a plain mattress and a desk with my computer. Lately it's been making me think about living out of my truck. Besides, I'm outdoors most of the time. I could totally make it work. Here's my current thought process:

Pros:

• I need a camper shell. I can pick one up on craigslist for pretty cheap once I get paid next week. The cost of a camper shell is a flat investment and maybe one month's rent if it's new.
• My truck is small, but I can make a makeshift bed inside the camper shell and sleep in there at nights. A buddy and I slept in the back without a camper shell in Yosemite and it was comfy enough, even when it was freezing outside. San Diego doesn't get that cold outside and after studying homelessness, I know that the times where you can possibly die while sleeping outside are the times when the city opens the winter shelters (that's how the winter shelters started, with a homeless person dying while sleeping outside and city officials responding by calculating exactly when the temperatures fall from 'discomfort' level to 'possible death' levels)
  
• Since my truck is small, I can blend in well by parking on the streets. I'm also familiar with most of San Diego now since I've driven to practically every homeless shelter here
  
• I'm in San Diego and there's homeless everywhere. I doubt a cop would take the time to give me a ticket for sleeping in my vehicle when there's people obviously sleeping on the curb.
• I have all my camping equipment including sleeping bag and a mini camping stove.
• I have one weeks worth of clothes, which means I can easily fit everything into a small box.
• I'm paying about $600 a month on utilities and rent. While its relatively cheap, that's still like $20 a night. That's how much sleeping in a hostel costs.
• Worst case scenario is that I crash with friends / family in the area if it doesn't work out.
• My work has showers and since its a stereotypical non-profit, its mainly women working there. Except for one other guy, no one else really uses the guys' showers.
• Freedom to roam wherever! When I go climbing or hiking, I don't have to drive 'home'.

Cons:

• Problem: Nowhere to use the facilities at nights and on weekends
• Possible Solution: Walmart or 24 hour fitness gym membership?
  
  
• Problem: Personal Hygiene
• Possible Solution: Keep 1 gallon of clean water at all times with a mini sink built-in that flushes into an empty 5 gallon tank?
  
  
• Problem: Nowhere to store my surfboard safely and I'd have to return my friend's rock climbing crashpad
• Possible Solution: ???
  
  
• Problem: My smell... (Sure, I'll just blame this one on being homeless...)

Overall, I think the pros are outweighing the cons more and more. I think this will be the start of another great adventure!!! :)

Project Homeless Connect - We do what we can...

Project Homeless Connect is a one day event where homeless persons can receive a wide range of free services. It's held all over the country at different times, whether its once a year or once every few months. Services include food, clothing, dental check ups, hiv/aids testing, id cards, massages, foot washes, haircuts, childcare, phone home, and a list of other services that are not necessarily accessible in emergency shelters.

San Diego held its third Project Homeless Connect (PHC) on December 5th and I had the opportunity to help in this year's planning. The San Diego community came together in the form of organizations and volunteers who offered their time, donations, and services.

As with any event, there was a lot to organize. Unlike an ordinary event, we couldn't anticipate the number of people who would show up since our target audience were the homeless, a rather tough demographic to peg. With over 2000 homeless individuals in San Diego City alone, how many would show up? It's not like we can have people preregister.

Two years ago, the first PHC brought in a little less than 100 homeless. Last year, PHC brought in a total of 195 homeless clients. Since the numbers were seemingly doubling, this year we expected the number to double to 400 clients. Two hours after opening, there were 300+ clients already inside Golden Hall and more than another 300 lined up outside. At the end of the day, there were approximately 1000 homeless people that came and received services.

Although the event went extremely well, people ranging from homeless clients to volunteer agencies have asked a lot of questions including "Well, why didn't you plan for more people?", "Do you think we have all day to wait in line since we're homeless?", "Why didn't intake move faster?", etc.

Well, here's my point of view from the setup and organization perspective.

1.) Volunteers - This event is run entirely by individual volunteers and volunteer organizations. No agency or person has to be here to fulfill any obligations. These people are donating their time and they would not be here unless they cared. We appreciate constructive criticism on how to improve for next year, but if you're receiving free services, you have nothing to unconstructively complain about.

2.) Money - We don't have any. Our budget for this event is $0. Please understand this. We need everything to work within our budget and this includes the big costs of a location (normally $3000-$5000 per day - this year's place was donated by San Diego Golden Hall - thank you) down to the small costs of making copies or buying diapers (thanks to everyone that shelled money out of their own pockets).

3.) Intake Process - During the event I helped manage intake and our problem was that we weren't ready for 1000+ people. Yes, we had a massive line outside that stretched around a city block. However, the problem couldn't be solved by letting everyone immediately in. If we let everyone in, then there would just be long lines inside!!! If I let everyone in at the same time, we would not get the statistical information we need to apply for grants next year. More importantly, we would create chaos inside. Some booths (like food) were already overwhelmed with the rate of people coming in.

4.) Don't tell us your sob story while waiting in line. I'm not cold hearted, I'm fair. If you have a valid complaint like the lady who said she was diabetic and needed food while waiting in line, then we can accomodate. There is no disability where you have to be first in line. We're also dealing with the homeless population, quite frankly (and sadly) most of them are disabled.

5.) Why can't you get more of X service (food)? - It's a one day event; if we overestimate the number for X service (perishable), then we have a lot wasted. We took a good guess on the number of expected attendees, then went with that number for the perishables. We restocked as much as we could while at the event. We stocked as many non perishables as we could before the event. (See Number 2 - $0 Budget) If we didn't have enough, I'm sorry, but that's all we could do.

At the end of the event, an adult couple stormed out of the place crying. The woman was crying because they heard about the event late. At that moment, almost all the agencies had left already, and she matter of factly stated that it was just their luck. The woman had a visible limp to her walk and the remaining volunteers paused to watch this surreal event.

As volunteers, there was nothing we could have done since we had no food or other services left to provide. However, as soon as they left, a group of doctors and nurses chased after the couple. One of the doctors shouted that she was in no medical condition to go back onto the streets. They chased her across the street and helped her get medical care.

That last scene reminded me that we did what we could, but sometimes we must accept that we can only do so much. I'm glad that we are able to do something though; over 800 clients received the services they were looking for that day. It's tangible events like these that make me love nonprofit work.