Homeless is a series of diaries I have been writing since August 20, 2015, several weeks after I became homeless. PADS is the organization that is in charge of the homeless shelters where I stay nearly every night, and provides assistance signing up for available services, job searches, etc.
Homeless 50 is a compilation of information that might make understanding various acronyms and recognize some of the people a little better. You are welcome to start with Homeless Now and work through the other diaries, but starting with Homeless 50 may give you a jump start.
This diary continues on from my past few previous diaries without re-introducing people or situations.
Friday, October 24 was the last time that either Cheryl or I – or anyone else we’ve aked, so far – saw Candy. As of Thursday, October 29, she’s still missing, after 6 nights in different shelters, and tonight we return to First United Methodist Church of West Chicago – the last interim housing site any of us saw her. (The last place both Cheryl and I saw her was the PADS center in Wheaton, IL last Friday.)
A couple of things have happened, or changed since then.
On Tuesday night as I sat next to my pad at the First Presbyterian Church of Itasca, Linebacker Harpy (one of the people I least like to see at a site) was talking to a woman named Phoebe. Phoebe is another woman who has her ups and downs (who doesn’t), and who doesn’t hide her emotions – but in general, she’s a supportive, helpful person to be around.
LH loudly brought up how “all of Becky’s stuff” had been stolen. And then said that it had been done either by the Hispanic woman, or Candy.
Well F&ck me.
So I said to the room (fortunately, not a huge room), “Candy didn’t take anything. I was there, and yeah, I believe that the Hispanic woman took the bag, but …”
Cheryl was on the pad next to me “… Candy was sleeping in the room where I was. She didn’t do anything.”
Phoebe said, “Yeah, Candy’s a good Catholic girl, and she’s been around here nearly a year, and we’ve never had an issue with stuff going missing. I can’t see her stealing anything.”
LH backed off slightly, muttering something about how Candy had confronted Becky.
“Candy was feeling threatened because of something that was said,” I tried to clarify to the woman who could care less – she hates Candy about as much as she hates me.
And why does she hate me? Phoebe explained the infraction as LH had just described it to her: It’s because I was on her pad and refused to move. (Please see the diary named Homeless 11 if you’re interested in what had really happened. Note that the events reported were from Friday, September 4 – nearly 2 months ago.)
My claim that that Candy had felt threatened was met with loud derision from LH. I pointed out that I was there, and she’d not been there. A couple more times, Cheryl and I stood up for Cathy, and LH pretty much backed off accusing her, but now was pretending that we were attacking Becky because she’s short and she has a large belly (possibly because she has tumors, but then again, her uncle is possibly the driver for AC/DC. It’s kind of difficult to know what about Becky is true, and what’s a lie – and I just don’t care enough to figure it out. She’s been nice to me, I’m nice to her – but I’m not going to drive her to any concerts involving imaginary relatives.)
LH then told me, “Barbara, you were not part of this conversation.” (That was started at full voice in a small room of women.)
I rolled my eyes over toward Cheryl, who whispered, “Oh. My. God. The woman is mentally unbalanced.”
Unless Cathy was mentioned again after that (and I kind of forget how the conversation rambled), I stayed out of it. And LH said to Phoebe probably half a dozen more times, “Barbara was not part of this conversation.” Phoebe stood up for me, told LH that she has to learn to let go of grudges, that she and I were discussing Candy, and even tried to text Candy, once she understood that Cheryl and I were still concerned about her.
Unfortunately, Candy had mentioned to me that her Net 10 phone would not re-load, and that Net 10 told her that the phone number no longer existed. (One more thing I was trying to get her to resolve, along with that dentist appointment for her abscessed tooth.)
The Linebacker Harpy then slept the sleep of the innocent (if the innocent snore like a freight train.) It was not a restful night for many of us. During my sleepless period, I decided that my procedure for dealing with LH will continue as it had before – I will ignore her as much as possible. If she’s ignorant enough to bring up the theft again, or to talk derisively of someone undeserving, I have this stored away:
Look, (LH’s name). I know you get your jollies by being a bully, and by encouraging discord between PADS clients, hoping that they will become as miserable as you. In spite of that, you are not going to keep me from having and expressing my own opinions. I do not go around jumping into other people’s private, quiet conversations, but loud conversations shared with the room are another matter. If you do not care for my opinion – or in many cases, the truth – that’s fine. Speak quietly, and don’t include the entire room in your private conversations, even the ones based completely on lies. Or, since you KNOW I have to go to locations that allow vehicles, and you don’t have a vehicle, go to no-vehicle-sites. It’s VERY simple to avoid me and my opinions.
Besides all of that, I attended a “Planning Ahead” meeting at the center on Tuesday, and I finally said, “I do not know what to do. I have attended almost every Employment Group meeting since I joined PADS (I missed the week I stayed in Frankfort). I have been on time for every group meeting (a big requirement). I apply for jobs, I follow up, I send thank you notes for interviews. I don’t have a job yet, but caseworkers and coordinators have told me I’m doing the right things. But I can’t get a guaranteed pad because I don’t have a full time job. If I’d have taken a full time job at Burger King, I could get a guaranteed pad and get help getting housing in a few months. A few months after that, I’d be back here, because it isn’t a job that could sustain my living alone.
The Planning Ahead leader mentioned the subsidized housing – which sounds like an ok option for PEOPLE WITHOUT DOGS.
A little while later Will (the PADS guy in charge of housing) asked me to complete a guaranteed pad application. I don’t think he was around when I made my speech… but this timing was weird. I said, “But I don’t have a full time job – the thing I need to be able to get out in 90 days…” he said he didn’t care – just work with my caseworker and complete the form for medical – did any of the ongoing medical issues apply to me? Yeah… Depression, high blood pressure, maybe others. Just fill out the form.
I’m a little worried, because if I get caught into a 90 day trap, I’m going to have problems. Even if I get a job in the next 90 days, I’ll need time to save up some of my pay checks to create a cushion. I do NOT want to come back to PADS as a client, once I leave.
And then continuing with the weird timing: The people with guaranteed pads stay in the family sites, because – at least at the start of October – there just weren’t enough families to make it worth keeping them open, otherwise. But then the families with 5, 6 and 7 children started to arrive. Last night, the Family Site (which allows up to 40 clients) had 41 family members – so those with “guaranteed” pads for medical issues or full time employment were S.O.L.
(How could someone with a guaranteed pad place lower in a food chain than family members?)
So, the overflow was sent to Our Savior’s in Carol Stream – where I was staying. Boy, were other clients PISSED OFF about this – since those with guaranteed pads WILL place above people in a lottery for pads.
My friend with the walker was one of the people displaced. She told me that Will had informed her that he based his numbers for family sites on how many families had participated over the summer… I do not understand that.
Wouldn’t you compile the average number of family members for each week of each month for as many years as available – and the same average for individuals? And if every year the number of family members doubles or triples or quadruples, month to month, extrapolate accordingly? When you saw family sizes have gotten huge, wouldn’t you start to set up new back up family/guaranteed pads sites for the nights with the least number of pads available? I mean, 4 other nights have limits of 50 for the family sites. If two more big families arrive before Thanksgiving, that’s 5 nights that the family sites are over-full.
It wouldn’t be a difficult to set up a spreadsheet compiling the historical data and applying it to current numbers using Excel and a little bit of creativity. Then again, maybe they hope to place most of the families in housing in a month or two, and open everything back up. I guess anything is possible.
That’s the news from the homeless at the library in Woodridge, IL.
© 2015 sheddhead – not to be used without written consent of the author, unless quoting portions of this diary on DailyKos, with links back to the original quotation