A True Story.

Finding solutions to complicated problems like homelessness is not impossible. Everyone in society, from householders to healthcare professionals to wealthy business owners, to political leaders, will have to get involved to make an impact according to Finland's “Housing First” approach.

Why is dealing with homelessness a community and social problem? Because it stems from a variety of underlying economic and social issues including poverty, lack of affordable housing, lack of proper mental health support, drug addiction, and abuse.  

A true story that took place in early November of 2018 in SE Portland.

I was taking my friend home who had just come to my house for a relaxing meditative rest session on my healing amethyst crystal Biomat. When she finished her session, I drove her home across the river to NW Portland. 

When I pulled into my driveway in SE around 7 pm after dropping my friend off, I noticed a local homeless man resting himself and his bike against a tree in my yard. I knew this man. My boyfriend and I had offered him cigarettes when he asked, and we gave him fresh fruit and water over the past year. He was generally pleasant and quiet. He didn’t speak English well. Everyone in the neighborhood knew him. Even the local restaurant next door would offer him food whenever he passed.

I got out of my car and walked from my driveway to the sidewalk that linked to the front steps of my house. To get inside, I had to walk past our homeless friend and so decided to say hello.

Immediately upon seeing his eyes, I knew something was off, but it was too late to drop the gaze. He was standing between me and my front door and had dropped a Sapporo beer can on the ground. He looked very disturbed, so I attempted to diffuse the moment by asking him how his day was and if he needed some help. I did my best to make my way around him. He mumbled something. I asked him to repeat, and he did, but I didn't understand him. I was scared and knew I needed to be skillful because he was not in a good mental space this evening. I couldn't get past him without turning my back, but I was playing it cool. I had worked with mentally unwell people in a state home.

At a certain point, I decided to go towards my front door. I said, “I’m sorry, I can’t understand you. I hope you have a good night,” and I skillfully booked it towards my porch. I kept one eye looking over my shoulder. On the third step, I saw him swing from the corner of my eye, and, all of sudden I felt the impact of a blunt object hit my left tricep. Life was in slow motion. I looked at my door and I thought “I hope it’s unlocked” and, luckily it was. Usually, it was not. I got into the house and locked the door quickly behind me. The door had a wooden frame, and the rest was stained glass, an accent the homeowner wanted in the front door to increase the light in the house.

It was so surreal, like right out of a movie. It all happened so fast. I locked the door, screamed for my boyfriend, and looked at Mary Jane, a 75-year-old Canadian woman staying with us as our guest, as I watched the homeless man run up onto the porch and whack the glass. He hit our front door with the same metal pipe he hit me with, and the glass of our front door cracked from top to bottom like a spider web.

There we all were, three of us on one side of the glass and, on the other side, an angry homeless man. For some reason, he decided to walk away. If he had struck the door one more time, he would have been able to walk right into our house. Thank goodness that was not the case. However, he did continue down the neighborhood, smashing our neighbor's cars and car windows.

When the police officer arrived, he had already done damage throughout the neighborhood, and when the young officer tried to detain him, the officer was struck in the temple across the skull with the metal pipe. I thanked the officer later because he didn’t pull a firearm out on the man. The young officer instead detained the mentally unwell homeless man by himself using old-fashioned brute arm strength, with a cracked skull and blood dripping down his face. 

Of course, 36-year-old Tesgay Abraha, went into police custody that night. The police wanted me to press charges and the press and news stations were vicious enough to attack me for a juicy story. Some news stations still dramatized the headlines using terms like “attempted aggravated murder.” They wanted a fear-based story and were expecting me to thrash Abraha on local TV and act like an ordinary victim, who was in fear. However, I refused to do this for many reasons. 

First and foremost the man was clearly mentally unwell. He was sleeping in the streets, it was bitter cold, and he was unmedicated. The reporters were baffled and wondered why I wasn’t angrier and most importantly why I was showing this man who just assaulted me, compassion. 

My response was simple. He is a human being just like me. However, I have a home to go home to that protects me from the elements every day. A place where I feel safe, I can shower, have warmth, make food, call a loved one and share my life to help ease the burdens of carrying the weights of life on my own.

If anyone has ever tried not eating or drinking for 24 hours, they would know how irritated the mind gets without sustenance. I have done this before at a yoga retreat. It was amazing to watch the body and mind respond and experience the sensitivities and cravings that arise. I can’t imagine going on for days like that. Then add the cold temperatures, freezing rain, nowhere to wash, lack of hygiene, smelling like urine, sleeping under bushes or on cement sidewalks, fear of being stolen from, robbed, or beaten, and repeat daily.

Nine times out of ten this man was not a threat in our neighborhood. I couldn’t help but feel bad for him and wished we had more support for those on the streets and particularly for those with mental illnesses. Instead of thrashing Abraha, I thrashed The Man and The System. I told every reporter that this incident was a reflection of our values as a society, as people, and a lack of dedicated support and care from our government systems. So many people threw hatred at this man without ever meeting him in person. 

The point of sharing this story is to show how being without a home and proper support can endanger the community and the well-being of homeless people who are mentally unwell and uncared for. The justice system wanted to treat Abraha like a complete criminal because he had thrashed a police officer over the head. Angry citizens on FB thought  ‘the Officer should have shot him in the face.” Threads of hate speech flooded social media.

I saw a man who was sick, who had been bereft of the proper resources he needed to cognitively function as a human being, and who lashed out in fear and hopelessness. He needed help and a place he could have proper mental care and wouldn’t be an endangerment to others or himself.

I did not press charges. However, I was still subpoenaed to appear in front of a grand jury to make a statement because Abraha had hit a police officer. With the help of my testimony, Abraha was taken to a mental health hospital for further care and evaluation and not to jail. When I saw him again the following year, at the next court hearing, he looked well and very alert. Abraha remained in the state’s mental health system for roughly a year and a half, maybe two years. I got a letter saying he was  released, and I wondered what kind of support systems he would have after being let go.

Would he have access to housing? Would he be homeless again? Would he continue to have access to counselors and medication? I also wondered about the levels of care in the custody of the state. Yet at least there he had a roof over his head, food to eat, and trained staff to support him. Will he end up a repeat offender? The system statistics say more than likely. Why? Because once they are released there are no housing projects or infrastructures in place to provide a place of stability to support basic needs or care for their mental illnesses. In this way, a vicious cycle perpetuates and the root of the issue is left unresolved and they eventually become a part of the criminal justice system. 

Homelessness will not be solved with housing alone. It is a complex matter that needs the expertise and insight of local community members, business owners, NGOs, political leaders, policymakers, health care professionals, drug counselors, volunteers, and caring skilled citizens to come together and make a plan. The combined effort has made other homeless coalitions in other parts of the world succeed in the long term. It will take great skill to change the minds of those who show no mercy for those facing these extreme life challenges.

A.Russell

Read More:

Finland’s Zero Homeless Strategy: Lessons from a Success Story “Housing First” an approach was a well resourced national strategy driven by a team effort in the recovery crisis.

City Portland Get Involved, Homeless Resources:

Homeless Toolkit, City Of Portland 

Homeless Toolkit, Stats, City of Portland 

Blanchet House Portland Ways To Help

Resources:

Man faces attempted aggravated murder, accused of fracturing Portland officer's skull

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