This is Nick, he works in homeless recovery services in a division of the Salvation Army. He is the Lead Housing Navigator/Case Manager. He uses grants to provide services and obtain”long term housing” for folks. Soon he will be woking at a Protective Action Hotel that is closing soon, and needs to find a way to get housing for 70 women in 90 days.
He was houseless for a short while, living in a car, due to his own journey on the path of recovery. A story we can all relate to of being surrounded by folks who care, but not being able to make the decisions to be copacetic with them either through extenuating circumstances, or whatever the fuck else. He has been on a decade-plus-long struggle with drinking, and he has been three years sober. He currently lives in a sober home as well.
We all struggle. I like the way Nick put it too, that sometimes we live in our shadow. I know what I fail to recognize sometimes is that te opposite of addiction is connection. My favorite bar has “Make A Connection” sign in it. And I’ve been trying to live by that recently. Nick had a lot of wisdom, as I believe all people in recovery do. Another gem is that he asks himself “What would cool Nick do.” What would Joe Cool do?
Denver has a “point in time” score of 5,000 homeless people, and that is just counting the truly homeless. Not people who have to spend all of their social security on a hotel every week, or people who live with friends or relatives who could be kicked out at any point. They have no autonomy in their life, and the words of wisdom I’ve heard spread around is that it’s expensive to be poor.
The work that Nick did the past few years has housed 250 people… a drop in the bucket as he said. Since the pandemic people have been more open to new lifeways and to trying out new systems of social organization, like tiny houses and other projects. I asked if he thought the CO government was doing enough, and he thought so, but it’s still a band-aid on a bullet wound.
It was a pleasure to meet Nick, and I wish him luck on his journey. If this can open a dialogue on the homeless predicament that we all face as people who care, than that’s probably the best that could come out of our chance meeting. I don’t know really.
I thought I would halfway commit to doing a sort of “People of Denver” style documentation of the people I meet when I have my camera out. Maaaaybe it should be people of Front Range. I also tend to overwork myself to avoid the feeling of suffocating dread that I feel about ecological decay and ecocide perpetuated by our masters. But like Nick said, we have to follow our passions and be fearless. Maybe I’ll see you around, maybe we’ll talk!
Thanks y’all. Godspeed.