Why not move somewhere more affordable? An income of $960 a month in benefits will go further in many areas outside of coastal California?
39
Although not every homeless person has a drug or alcohol addiction and/or mental illness, the majority of homeless people do. The homeless problem could largely be helped by more drug and alcohol rehabilitation facilities and more mental health facilities. When these facilities were defunded in the Regan era is when the homeless problem began to spiral out of control.
47
Homelessness (for adults), like addiction, is not something that "happens to people". It is a consequence of bad choices and irresponsible behavior.
33
Homelessness (for adults), like addiction, is not something that "happens to people". It is a consequence of bad choices and irresponsible behavior.
6
Homelessness (for adults), like addiction, is not something that "happens to people". It is a consequence of bad choices and irresponsible behavior.
5
Homelessness (for adults), like addiction, is not something that "happens to people". It is a consequence of bad choices and irresponsible behavior.
6
Homelessness (for adults), like addiction, is not something that "happens to people". It is a consequence of bad choices and irresponsible behavior.
4
Homelessness (for adults), like addiction, is not something that "happens to people". It is a consequence of bad choices and irresponsible behavior.
2
It seems obvious that some of the homeless are suffering from mental illness, or other untreated illnesses.
Live-in mental health facilities being restored and used to house and treat these individuals might go a long way to help solve the disgrace of these homeless encampments.
17
Society has always had a percentage of people engaged in substance abuse. I first witnessed this in early teen years working summer farm jobs picking fruit. They worked just enough to support their habits in most cases. But they worked and had a modicum of pride.
Misguided compassion, financial support,allowing anti social behavior merely facilitates the growth of homeless encampments. Zoning laws and yes, open borders, are a big factor. Low skilled Immigrants have taken up cheap housing and bottom rung jobs.
Now we give them money to support their habits.. every homeless encampment is serviced by drug peddlers and a substantial amount of that money ends up in cartel coffers.
This whole situation is a symptom of misguided compassion and the bureaucracy created to maintain it.
21
Homelessness (for adults), like addiction, is not something that "happens to people". It is a consequence of bad choices and irresponsible behavior.
4
My heart goes out to the homeless. Everyone has made bad decisions in their life. Mental illness can plague any of us. Rent is becoming so unaffordable that to many working and middle class, homelessness seems a hovering step away. People can't even afford higher education to better their plight without winning the lottery, only to obtain jobs that hardly yield salaries sufficient to survive? So homeless deserve to endlessly fall into their fate because of their bad decisions? Where is their second chance? Where is the compassion? You or your loved one could be in this position. Many claim it is their own responsibility to 'pull themselves up by their bootstraps'. What if there are no boots? How many people call themselves religious and strive to be 'good Christians' or good pious souls, but can get $4 lattes every morning and never consider adding a couple of bucks towards a shelter charity to help these people?
31
To Ollie: You are already helping this man by paying taxes (which I assume you do) that in turn help him out every month. If you want to help even more, buy him the bottle of Hungarian wine he is looking forward to. As it is not a domestic wine (read Napa valley), you may have to pay a bit more. Bless your heart.
4
I wish Mr. Holys the very best in his effort to bootstrap. Perhaps when he achieves a plateau of recovery, he might consider celebrating the occasion with a non-alcoholic libation.
I say this without a whiff of sarcasm.
23
This guy is charming and had a nice job once so we want to root for him, but the past life he’s led almost guaranteed he’d wind up like this. I have had a few alcoholics and drug addicts in my life and this is eventually what happens. I don’t think giving them a free apartment will help and most of these guys have had many chances at rehab and recovery. He can still fix his situation if he really wants to.
20
Stories of the homeless or almost homeless that we've heard while spending time in the central coast over the past thirty years is horrendous. Living in the impoverished but lovely NM for a large part of my 70 years has always left me speechless as we traveled with our youngsters to swim and surf and hike in gorgeous Cali. A cheaper and more accessible vacation is not to be had by us southwesterners, but the underbelly of homeless working and even professional folks is beyond what I ever thought possible. Staying at a KOA near Santa Cruz we became acquainted with a maintenance crew member who had been homeless until she made the arrangement with the KOA to work in exchange for a campsite. She had been a mortgage broker until one day that company closed shop and she was left without a source for her own maintenance. Our first thoughts over the years was to raise our daughters with extreme resilience and a work ethic to die for. Millennials are finding now how easily any middle class American can fall into homelessness or worse.
24
It is so disappointing to read all the twelve step commenters & others bestowing so much judgement. 12 step recovery is supposed to be a) an anonymous program & b) non judgmental. No one walks in anyone else’s shoes; no one can know what goes on inside another human being. Perhaps this man has an undiagnosed underlying mental illness. The restaurant business has always been rife w/drugs & alcohol, particularly cocaine. Have a little compassion people, the bottom rung of the ladder may not hit you, but a family member, friend, colleague at any time. Falling off that bottom rung is devastating1 $?.
50
To all you heartless people that seem to think anyone deserves a fate like this, I bet many of you are one medical bill from the same fate.
It’s easy to be smug in your heavily mortgaged house with that seven year loan car out front.
It can easily all come crashing down on you, remember how you looked down your nose at this man when you’re living in your car.
76
When I was in high school, my mother was badly injured and unable to work for a number of months. Despite selling our jewelry and what other things of value we owned, we lost our home to foreclosure. Fortunately some relatives took us in and we lived in their unfinished basement. I myself have extensive medical issues and had to stop working last year. My SSDI does not cover all my expenses. If it wasn't for my spouse's job and health insurance and financial support from their family, I'd be homeless and slowly dying from untreated illness (my treatment is expensive.)
Most of us are one illness, diagnosis, or disaster from the streets.
63
Did you all even read this before you commented? What started this - not a low salary, not housing costs, not an accident or a divorce.... It was drugs. Drugs that lead to addiction that lead to crime. Please don't close your eyes to this - we do people who seriously need treatment a grave injustice.
42
California: A sanctuary state that can welcomes illegal aliens and fights fir their inclusion but cannot help its existing citizens. The true liberal Democrat paradox: how do you ignore the financial realities of mass immigration while your homeless segment of society grows?
21
There is no mass influx of immigration and immigration is not the root cause of homelessness in California. The quick call of “immigration” does belie bigotry by the caller though.
33
While I’m pulling for Mr Holys, it’s journalistically irresponsible to say his personal story has anything to do with the wealth gap.
He has personal demons that would leave him homeless anywhere in America regardless of how rich his neighbors are and whether they drink two buck chuck or Petrus.
46
What does ‘there but for the grace of God go I’ mean? God picks certain people to suffer and not others? God has made you lucky but some one else suffers, what relief?
10
Grace is the principle that G_d’s mercy is unearned. In this context, it does not confer judgment on the afflicted party.
14
Not that I want them to, but I wonder how the homeless don’t all commit suicide. They must be very strong to keep going. Way stronger than most of us.
I’ve been close to homeless a few times and it made me want to jump off a bridge.
16
Why does California welcome low-paid immigrants instead of taking care the homeless?
15
Most Americans believe that they can do whatever they wish because the constitution gives them permission....no matter if what they do is moral or immoral, decent or indecent, or right or wrong. With this kind of total freedom the future will have no need of prisons, law enforcement agencies, nor law books. Why? Because if the law allows you to do what you want, then there is no wrong you can do.
Blessed are those who do not see yet believe. To those who believe in His name: who are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
1
Hello, this guy stole money, went to prison, was a drug addict by choice. No one made him do these things. And to top it off, he was a lousy husband and father. Now, at bottom, the big lament for someone who really doesn't deserve our sympathies. There is a huge homeless mess through out this country and this has been true for more than 50 years. There is no easy solution apparently. I'd pay more in taxes to help but... Andrew Yang would pay everyone 1000 bucks a month. Maybe that would help but .....
20
Is there an address or way to help this man ? I would like to participate / give . God bless.
4
At the risk of sounding callous, in my humble opinion, “an addiction to crack cocaine” says it all!
21
This article is about an unfortunate man with many demons who cannot get help with his life, and would be homeless wherever he found himself. This article is not about income inequality as suggested at various points. Homelessness in California is a growing disgrace, do more research... it’s out there.
15
“How a Tuxedoed Sommelier ended up Homeless in California “
Drug Addiction.
There I edited for you. If you want to show that adults end up homeless for any reason other than this ( and mental illness) like housing prices go get that story. Otherwise don’t waste so many words.
45
This is really an adiction story. I've seen people lose everything from drug and alcohol abuse.
29
$960 a month? A room for $300 a month? Some people I know would love that life. A salary with no job to go to every morning that they hate. I feel sorry for these people but it seems like the tax payers are contributing in a substantial way, given the amount of homeless and amounts granted. I am sure the hate comments will rain upon me...
11
One thing not mentioned is the fact that one can live outside in California year round. An obvious advantage when a person for various circumstances cannot get their life together.
16
This story isn't about homelessness. It's about football sized rats....Yikes.
Seriously, it's a tale of a misguided life span, compounded with bad decisions - which ultimately lead to his inevitable circumstances.
Homelessness is the end result of recklessness, in whatever fashion. Specifically the karma associated with; not valuing/fostering personal relationships (i.e.: children); inability to sustain the status quo with professional relationships; living without a spiritual mantra of positive energy; and so on.
As Malcom X so accurately quoted; everyone's chickens will eventually come home to roost. Or as Gladwell wrote; be fully aware of downstream antagonism - Reality.
9
"Many Americans are one medical emergency, one layoff, one family disaster away from bankruptcy or losing the roofs over their heads. "
Add to that list: one eviction, triggered by the infinite avarice and corruption of the real estate market.
12
This is a heartbreaking story, like all the stories of people living on the streets. "There but for the grace of God go I" is also on my lips every morning that I wake up in a comfortable bed and think about the man who has been sleeping at a bustop half a block from my apartment for several years now.
However, the NYT does a disservice to Mr. Holys and others like him, by ending its coverage with Holys' "plan" to celebrate a small victory with a bottle of wine. Really? By his own admission, he's an addict. Eighty years after the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous, some fifty years after the AMA declared alcoholism and drug addiction medical conditions, people still think a "fancy wine" for a drug addict is a good idea, something to be romanticized?
I've had homeless family members, all as a direct result of alcohol and drug addiction. It's a real disease, not a choice. Feeding it to "celebrate" a minor victory in his fight against homelessness is indicative of Mr. Holys' lack of choice. The NYT should know better than to romanticize it.
25
“You can swirl and sip, and five minutes later you were still getting layers.” I never realized that wine tasting was chromatography. Interesting.
3
I honestly feel sorry for this guy. But the article tries to imply that a large part of his problem are socio-economic issues, such as the housing shortage in the SF area. Housing shortages and the high cost of living in California are certainly real concern, but to be clear this man is where he is because of drug addiction and everything that goes with it. He had a valuable skill and knowledge and would not be where he is if he did not have that problem.
34
To Michael:
Your dad is getting a grand a month in cash benefits, and is able to work part time.
There are plenty of places in the country where you can live on that.
Check the map. There are thousand of miles between Brooklyn and Oakland. There are plenty of places in this country where you can live on $1,500 per month. It won't be a luxurious life, for sure, but it would be better than a tent on the freeway ramp, and maybe even an occasional bottle of pinot. (There's plenty under $15).
30
@Garth
There are other barriers some homeless must leap. The barrier of deep seated shame from severe childhood abuse and neglect. Abused children internalize self-hatred from abuse and more than a few unconsciously even consciously believe they are trash and deserve punishment. They sabotage themselves in successful jobs (and relationships) particularly as they gain success because deep down they believe they don’t deserve it. These barriers are the most difficult to overcome and faith might be the bridge for him to move them out if this shame cycle that helps him forgive himself and his abusers.
7
three wives and five children, and no one to take him in? Burned some bridges it seems.
Obvious that his story is not about lack of affordable housing. It is about addiction, alcoholism and mental health issues being the prime reason for these street people. I am in favor of building affordable housing, but the money must also go to addiction and mental health services. Major problem: We cannot force anyone to seek sobriety. A significant piece of this is that many homeless eschew shelters and other forms of already available help because they are not willing to stop drinking/drugging and/or take appropriately prescribed pdychiatric medications. I see this every day on the street in NYC. There is a woman living for many weeks around the street from me. Clearly drugged out. I know she can get medical and mental health help at any NYC city hospital— but she clearly is not ready to give up the drugs.
41
We hear ad nauseam that the US is “the richest country in the world.” Yet a vast majority of Americans culturally sanction an organized hatred of taxes and social spending as fundamental principles animating politics and our personal views of how a “good” society properly works. All while justifying this corrupt, self-serving compact with the patently false notion that we are “the most generous nation on earth,” that we are “Christian,” and that we are “charitable.” The observable outcome is countless cases of individuals like Mr. Holys living on the streets, something I never saw on a comparable scale even in poverty-stricken Afghanistan, combined with a morally vacuous fetishization of oligarchic wealth.
Meanwhile, less wealthy countries have universal healthcare, job retraining programs, quality debt-free public education through the graduate and professionals levels, subsidized mass housing programs, state-funded mental healthcare, and relatively effective social safety nets, all while featuring highly functioning market-based economies (and strict gun control). Managed capitalism based on the existence of a material social contract and strong public sector was what the New Deal set into motion. Now Republicans fight for the extinction of the modern social contract by engineering permanent minoritarian rule through gerrymandering and denying political participation to people whose votes could make the US an actual majoritarian democracy with social democratic policies.
22
You are like an echo chamber for this article. Neither society nor the government caused this man's problems. Unfortunate as his life his, he would very likely find himself in similar circumstances regardless of where he is living. Even if you added several thousand dollars more in support per month, he is likely to be in similar circumstances.
8
I think we should stop calling it a homeless problem and more accurately call it a drug problem. Only by correctly identifying the problem can we hope to address it.
36
Among the tragedies that create the "homeless" crisis is the "drug crisis." As the article indicates, "His struggles with drugs..." Until and unless we recast our thinking that this is as much if not more a DRUG crisis as it is a HOUSING crisis we will never begin to really help the people who need it. Drugs are the root cause of homelessness, not high housing costs.
17
You get it. And to make the point further, I invite anyone who thinks this is really all about a housing crisis to live in public housing (or private for that matter) where there is a large number of residents with drug and alcohol problems. You will not want to live there very long, I assure you.
9
"In this republican country, amid the fluctuating waves of our social life, somebody is always at the drowning point".
Nathanial Hawthorne- House of the Seven Gables.
3
I'm certain tax cuts for the rich and corporations will solve the issue of homelessness across the U.S.
8
Imagine how much misery, crime and expense for security services and treatment of mental illness and addiction we would avoid with affordable housing, affordable healthcare and a living wage.
9
While it's crushing to know that Mr. Holys (or anyone) lives in a tent next to the railroad tracks, his struggles with addiction clearly aren't over, as evidenced by his desire for a bottle of Royal Tokaji once he finds permanent housing. I know firsthand the grip of addiction, and the advantages I had when getting sober. But his "one foot in, one foot out" mentality will continue to be his downfall unless and until he fully accepts his addiction and commits to change. AA meetings are free. They're everywhere. Not only are they a way out of addiction, there are often very successful people in them with long-term sobriety who love helping people like Mr. Holys. He is obviously a very smart guy, and I truly hope he gets honest with himself and faces the roots of his addiction so that he can get on with his life.
21
As a person in recovery I salute your message that without taking personal responsibility there is no solution to addiction.
8
Exactly my thoughts. Also, alcohol is a drug yet positioned as something elegant as apprised to crack. Interesting how the end of the article is the fantasy solution of finding a place to live and a bottle of booze. Maybe the solution is finding a home and long term recovery? If I celebrate any victory with a bottle of booze, the bottom is just around the corner.
9
@James Perhaps Mr. Fuller could have done a better job of covering this tragedy if he'd attended a few Al-Anon meetings before writing it. Instead, he becomes an enabler to the tragedy with coverage in a national newspaper by minimizing Holys' disease.
7
I know someone who has dedicated her life to nursing homeless people in Seattle. She doesn't complain about their needs or what problems brought them to the street. She helps one person at a time. She has never accepted that anyone would be forced to live in these conditions. Once you accept homelessness, for whatever reason you wish to rationalize, you have lost your soul.
12
Wrong. The people who have lost their souls are the people who see this man as a victim of society instead of what he really is: a victim of himself.
4
California is reaping what it sowed for years. Substance abuse is not a victimless crime, and we're now reading about the victims. The state that first legalized marijuana for "medicinal" purposes and now for recreational purposes, is seeing what results from their "do what you want, as long as it doesn't hurt someone else" attitude. NYT glosses over the root cause of homelessness in California while it gushes over fine wines and famous people. People still believe that the high cost of housing is the cause of homelessness. They think that California can legislate its way out of this by creating more housing to reduce the demand (and thereby lower the cost).
This one guy, the sommelier, who now lives in a tent. The real story is that this guy has some undiagnosed mental illness and/or substance abuse issues. But it's so much cooler to talk about the fact that he waited on famous people and now he lives in a tent. How one can be so dense as to miss the real issue here is beyond my comprehension.
California has some waking up to do... as does the New York Times. We won't ever solve homelessness if we continue to see it as the problem rather than a symptom.
26
Regardless of the titles he held, he was always a servant. No more, no less.
His friends in high places had no further use for him, once he was down and out. He had served his purpose to them, and when he no longer could, was simply discarded.
If and when he finds his own place, I offer this advice, don’t celebrate with a bottle, or anything else that will allow you to escape, or you’ll find yourself right back in the mess.
Good travels my fellow addict.
Go well, and be kind to yourself.
Just not too kind
14
I don't know. Maybe I've lived too long and seen too many intelligent people make choices which they know could lead to destruction of their psyches and lives. Drugs, alcohol, addiction. I knew in 1955 never to touch drugs or drink too much. A relative destroyed himself with drugs and alcohol. He wasn't stupid, just enjoyed thumbing his nose at the 'rules.' Well, it cost him in the end. Penury, death as a pauper. His son had his father's DNA and despite numerous examples and warnings and many advantages not available to his father went down the same path with alcohol, but without the drugs. Died in his sleep at age 51. Some people just refuse to learn. Addictions destroy one's id. I knew this at age 15 - in 1957 - why is this new news?
19
As the cockpit of the cultural revolution of the 1960s, it makes sense that California should be the caretaker of its victims.
9
Life often unravels because of drug or alcohol use. Both are equally unforgiving.
5
The 1980s saw deep cuts to mental health care nationally and the introduction of cheap crack cocaine.
3
We need public housing. The free market alone does not work.
2
California also has great weather. When discussing homelessness in California, high housing costs are usually made the culprit. In fact, California is the recipient of the nation's homeless who make their way to California to be able to be comfortable summer and winter. Summer in Florida and other Sunbelt states, without air conditioning, is difficult whereas the summer in coastal California is balmy as is the winter: thus the nation's largest homeless population.
21
I also remember hearing about “Greyhound therapy” back when I was an undergrad at UC Berkeley. Local officials across the country would buy one-way bus tickets to send their homeless to Berkeley, presumably with “Destination: People’s Park” written on them. More important in terms of explaining problem at hand, the state with the largest population by far is, ipso facto, going to have the largest homeless population in the country. It’s highly unlikely to be otherwise when the same failed American institutions responsible for pandemic income inequality, poverty and social dislocation across the country are in full operation there. Relatively mild weather, and relatively high local tolerance for the homeless in many places, simply add to this logically and predictably higher number. Another factor not to forget is the defunding of state mental health institutions when Ronald Reagan was governor half a century ago. There is strong evidence that the homeless population spiked after the closure of facilities in Napa which housed many mentally ill individuals in need of treatment. Apparently a sidewalk is better than a hospital bed for a psychiatric patient when you are a Republican leading a “taxpayers’ revolt.”
5
There is no doubt we are back in a real estate bubble - at least in the big cities.
The opioid epidemic has led to a much bigger homeless problem that is putting huge burden on city/medical/social services.
Our tax code rewards the wealthy and big businesses while the rest of us pay a higher % of taxes. Think about what is happening - by the time we graduate from school at 21 we have incurred a life-long load of debt. It is a form of indentured servitude. Then comes the mortgage/ rent car, health insurance.
Something is wrong with our tax code when there is such destitution and debt at the bottom and outrageous gains at the too.
11
The people who were once just getting by are now homeless. We live in an upscale community near Oakland (for the schools). We bought in ‘08 near the bottom of the market. Our house is now more than double what we paid for it. My salary hasn’t budged in at least 15 years. Our mortgage is now less than a one bedroom apartment in Oakland. I don’t know how people do it.
It’s tragic to see any unused land turned into a homeless encampment. There are Homeless favelas one or two blocks away from multimillion dollar (middle class) homes. There is one place on the freeway where you can see people have pried open a metal gate and they live in a protected area on the freeway. On the literal freeway.
18
How can a balance be found between allowing people to make their personal choices, be free from societal constraints and imposing treatment where mental illness and/or drug addiction are the fundamental problem?
Most Western societies have had to deal (or not) with this question throughout our histories. (The limits of destructive individual freedoms.)
A variety of ways have been tried. Some get better results than others ... but just leaving people to their own demises while sending a check has surely not been a solution anywhere.
8
The answer is an algorithm. There should be a checklist to determine your odds of being able to support yourself. When your chances get too dire, particularly when children are involved, state intervention is warranted. State intervention that includes mental health best practices that won't be optional. If they are not complied with, a structured system will need to be introduced.
Civil libertarians may not like it, but order and pragmatism is what is needed to bring chaos to bay, for those who can't organize their own lives. And, as we've been told by many sources, poverty tends to rot the brain, making it harder to see one's way out of it, so help may well be needed.
4
Thanks to all the honest posts here. My father chooses to live out of his car and sleep at a casino parking lot. His gambling addiction really took our family from lower middle class to eviction notice when I was growing up.
Everyone will always have an opinion about how children must help, but one can't help those who don't want to be helped. tough pill to swallow.
22
@Concerned Citizen
Wall's parents were land rich and wallet poor. A not uncommon situation, where there are no liquid resources and people do their utmost to keep assets like family land, because once its gone, its gone. Wall's was also forthcoming that during her upbringing, those resources still rightfully belonged to her grandmother and implies some real discord between her mother and maternal family. So perhaps there was a good reason the familly could not benefit from that asset. Her dad's family was quite poor.
It also seems Wall's parents came of age in the 60s and were deeply taken with a hippie lifestyle that was widely embraced by many young people who later became disillusioned with it's false promises and untenable reality. While her parents seemed accepting of such a lifestyle, it clearly did not meet the needs of children.
2
A small percentage of the population can afford to buy homes, unlimited medical care and luxury items. The rest of Americans scrape by paycheck to paycheck and while many homeless are drug addicts, alcoholics, and mentally ill I suspect a growing number are just priced out of existence.
The wealthy can either help alleviate the problem through higher taxes to support public housing that doesn't become an instant slum or they can ignore the problem until the homeless camp in their towns.
The police will come and evict people but when their numbers becomes untenable, then what? California's homeless problem began when Ronald Reagan was governor and pushed all the people in mental healthcare facilities out on the street and the problem has only grown worse since.
Why don't we just put them all in prisons and make believe the problem has been solved? Alternatively, why don't we stop the insane level of military spending that's enriching the 1% and spend tax dollars on public health, including homelessness?
16
If the country’s wealthiest state also has an intractable homelessness problem, maybe the problem is structural. Perhaps the system which creates the wealth is incapable of sharing it equitably. If only there was some other way of creating and distributing wealth...
12
I live near downtown Oakland. There are at least five huge new apartment buildings going in on Broadway and Webster alone. Oakland is building like crazy, but it’s difficult to compete with the influx of new wealthy residents drawn from San Francisco and from around the country and the world.
5
Everyone has the right to live happily with their comfortable home even if they are poor. I think your success depends not only on your efforts but also on your fortune or luck. Millionaires should pay more money for homeless people because their positions can interchange in the future by their fortune or luck.
7
It's sad that Mr. Holys is down on his luck, but I worry that the focus on his addiction and criminal history (which would hurt him in applying for new jobs and trying to get back on his feet) has become the focus of these comments.
At no point during the past several decades can I recall major cities in California having problems with homelessness on the scale that they now have. This is incredible to me given that California prides itself on being more liberal, and not the California of Governors Pete Wilson or Ronald Reagan.
8
Drugs are usually the reason a successful person loses everything. Our country should do whatever to stamp out all kinds of drugs, yet we are going in the opposite direction with THC and the problems it leads to. I am not old fashioned. I am wise and see things clearly and I fear for our younger generations' future. "Why did you allow this?", is what they will later cry.
3
When having a neo-feudalist system masked by a democratic facade know that homelessness is far from being an aberration of human failings but an indispensable co-factor to illicitly maintain stratified wealth.
However, Nature's true Democratic Template is Spherical! and thereby holistic and inclusive as all systems should be. Otherwise we are left with the wasting of human and material resources that will ultimately disserve those who presently benefit from the current power matrix.
3
There are plenty of licensed board and cares that would take him in CA. They would take his check but give him 100 or so spending money and supply food, housing, laundry, maid service, medical transportation. Problem is he would not be allowed drugs and alcohol and he would be subject to house rules like a curfew. Many homeless would rather keep the money and live rough. I own one. The funding is poor but we do the best we can.
12
We need no or low-barrier shelters everywhere. Enough with forcing people to quit drugs before getting basic housing. So many would get off the street if they could have free housing that didn’t require them to quit drugs. Stop worrying about enabling. Love people first. Stop moralizing and judging the homeless during outreach.
6
It’s not just a California problem. There are a considerable and growing number of homeless people in Texas as well. Many homeless people abound in Houston. I suspect the reasons are similar. No one should be homeless in America. We need to invest in transitional housing with mental health and addiction services. Even large, clean dormitory housing would be better than what is happening now.
6
Few of the homeless in Oakland are from Oakland. They come from all over the country, attracted by our weather and social services. It will take much more than the resources available in Oakland to solve this problem.
12
I hope Mr. Holys gets to once again drink great wine and share his artistic sensibility with the world. I wish him all the best.
3
I see no mention of yet another root cause for homelessness.
The Trump administration has cut funding for Section 8 Housing Vouchers every year, which can be directly connected to a lack of housing and increased homelessness.
Ben Carson and Trump assert that "Opportunity Zones" will incentivize developers to build $ billions in affordable housing. Maybe, but probably not, and not soon enough to help the thousands like Mr. Holys who need to be stabilized in a reliable residence.
I've been analyzing a friend's proposed development two miles from Mr. Holys in an Opportunity Zone. In 3 years they may complete about 100-150 units, some of which will be affordable. A basic 600 sq ft unit will cost a minimum of $400,000 to create, before any profits or sales costs. Modular housing is bringing down costs and time to build, but they still will need Section 8 to fund housing.
They're exploring a smaller project that is in a much more challenging neighborhood that is literally across the street from the Opportunity Zone dividing line. Those units will cost a bit more to build, but in point of fact the neighborhood risk outweighs any tax break.
I've driven past Mr. Holys' residence several times recently as Waze sends me to avoid traffic to my client. I drove by Friday afternoon as a woman in her 40s wearing a flowered pouf dress rode her bicycle up to the guardrail and stepped over to a tent. She was returning from office work.
We can afford to get people into a residence.
7
Is no one paying attention to the fact that this man spent his life serving the rich, uncorking $600 bottles of rare French wines, catering and performing for the very wealthy, for the 1%?
Perhaps those very wealthy bear a great responsibility here. Those who can afford million dollar studio apartments must give some of their money back. This country is beyond the precipice now; too many of us struggle too long to feed the very rich. They should be feeding and clothing and housing us. As Elizabeth Warren says, 2 cents!
8
Precisely how does an individual who was the author of his own decline have anything to do with evaluating CA’s policies, as poor as they might be. What is clear, is that for the majority of those commenting, personal responsibility accounts for very little, and the government is declared not only to blame but said to owe a debt to this man. Here writ large is a fundamental difference between “progressives” and the rest of us.
10
Where are the five children? Can someone help? Things happen, everybody needs support. We are individuals and individualistic, but should not be alone.
9
@JustWatching
From what I was able to surmise he neglected them and they are now doing the same.
12
Much has been made of the idea that many of us are a pay check or medical disaster away from being on the street. The fact of the matter is this guy was one crack pipe and a robbery from being on the street. While I can sympathize with his plight (forty years ago I had brief stint of homelessness fueled in part by drug abuse), the issue here isn't the scariness and arbitrary nature of homelessness. It is the importance of personal responsibility and maintaining good relationships with family and others.
11
We need a National Policy to make sure everyone
who needs a home can be given a place to stay
that is clean and safe.
That everyone who needs food can be fed a proper meal.
That everyone can receive health care,
2
As I read this i am terrified that I will soon be living on the street. I lost my high paying middle management job four years ago and its hard to find anyone who wants to hire a 60 year old. I freelance and take contract jobs, but recently it's all run dry. I pray for Mr. Holys, but I am praying for me, too. Our society has become rather cruel.
16
@Dcbill
Scary, isn't it? You either need to seek any job outside your field or cut way back on expenses. Don't be ashamed to let friends or colleagues know of your predicament. Good luck.
4
I remain amazed at the degree of denial in this country. The belief that "it can't happen to me because I did everything right" is simply not true nor are you somehow a recipient of divine reward for "right financial decisions". Add no math based financial knowledge at all.
It is a flawed system. You are one medical disaster, one corporate employer decision, one stock market reversal, one GOP tax manipulation, and one GOP attack on Social Security and Medicare away from financial disaster. How much can you plan for or live frugally to compensate for?
9
But for the grace of God there go I.
The article does not mention treatment for substance abuse. I wonder if Mr. Holys has had any treatment for his addiction? The last sentence of this sad story jumped out as concerning. He is dreaming about the expensive wine he'd like to drink once he gets his life back together.
Sounds like he may need treatment and ongoing support to stay away from drugs and alcohol (they are usually related addictions).
Our healthcare 'system' is appalling and a large part of homelessness. Mental illness, addictions, medical problems, bankruptcy due to overwhelning medical bills all contribute to the problem.
I hope Mr. Holys finds peace. I hope he gets ongoing help for the addiction part of his homelessness. 12 step programs are free.
I also hope our society goes to single payor health care soon. There is no excuse for medical care being such a huge problem in this country!
1
something to be also said about social values in our country. In many other countries in Asia and South America where family bonds are much stronger (there are usually three generations living under one room), a daughter that is doing adequately in life would never let her father be homeless!!!
9
I would suggest leaving that gratitude bottle behind and getting to a 12 step meeting;) the homelessness crisis is off the charts here in Seattle too, but I have a feeling it has much to do with the lack of drug arrests that officers can make and also, this city provides every service one could need for free. Honestly, I have thought to myself ‘why am I working so hard to pay all these taxes when I could just live in one of these encampments for free!’ (I’m joking)
Seriously though, I have been sober for 6 years. I lived in my truck for a year and In all kinds of places that I wouldn’t consider a ‘home.’ I know there are mental illnesses that need medication and psychiatric care, but let me be clear- until I put the plug in the jug, there wasn’t any hope for getting my life together. I could have continued to blame ‘the rich’ or my bad genetics or my parents, but really, I just needed to stop putting substances in my body that altered my brain. Good luck to this fella <3
10
He mentions the roots of the tree as a metaphor and then in discussing his life and addiction ignores his own, and the reporter, which is almost always the case, leaves those stones unturned, too.
How we struggle as an adult is not at all about life before 9, or 17, it is just never not at all about life before 4, 9, 17. And sometimes the roots of how we struggle are a lot about when brain and heart are their most sensitive. The trouble with not recognizing that is that we never go to the mat with what we were taught / messaged about our value or lack of it; what we deserved, what we didn’t; how safe the world is or isn’t...
He may not have had access to mental health services decades ago, which might have prevented his addictive and criminal behaviors.
4
Part of the issue here in the US, is we take the approach that the unfortunate soul who has become homeless has to sort out the particular issues that led them there first, before getting more permanent housing. Get off the drugs/alcohol, get mental health treatment, etc and then sort out getting you a home. What should happen is we first get them shelter immediately, then the resources to get their other issues hopefully solved. It is a model used in Finland.
10
Wrong. Until he chooses to take personal responsibility for his addiction nothing will change. End of story.
2
“Fractured family” stands out. Cohesive family units might help in reducing many of our society’s ills. Let’s support strong family units!
4
Folks, no one is living on the streets in Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Finland, etc.
All these countries were once poor, but they realized that they had to work together or die. How did they get their act together with a fraction of the money and brainpower? They all learned to read. The population of these countries are almost 100% literate. As such, they can think clearly, and make rational choices. It's that simple.
One third of Americans are completely illiterate. Another third can barely read on a third grade level. You can't have a democracy and a social safety net with an illiterate electorate. It's just not possible. Moreover, the human potential of the illiterate, by no fault of their own, is tragically going to waste, along with their potential to contribute to society.
Reagan cut education in California, and the Republicans have seen to it that education spending is strangled.
There's no way out of this mess if we as Americans don't have educated voters that can read, elect decent politicians, and cultivate a civilized society.
Otherwise, we will continue to be distracted and misled by disinformation from Fox & "Friends" and their disinformation is truly an insidious form of violence.
It's doesn't have to be like this. We can do better.
9
@lf
If people lived on the street in Nordic Countries during wintertime they'd wake up dead.
I spent a few years living in my car through heat, hurricanes, rain and cold down to 25 degrees. Cold is the worse.
Some of the Dallas Cowboys who played in the NFL Title Game in Greenbay Wis. still haven't thawed out.
1
Why can't our local governments (city level) come up with jobs programs that include room and board. Maybe the mega millionaires and billionaires pouring their money into obscenely expensive homes they never plan to live in could instead contribute to these programs to get people back to work and put a roof over their heads as they regain their dignity.
Instead of looking down on the down and out, let's pull them up.
As others commentators have noted, any one of us could end up in the same predicament.
1
Opioids are highly addictive, whether they're from Purdue Pharma or in the form of crack cocaine.
Let's just be prejudiced when it comes to the disease of addiction.
So your uncle Bob who was addicted to pain meds but had a home, should receive the same compassionate acceptance for recovery that this poor man deserves.
Love thy neighbor, folks. let's not descend into Trumpism by saying he brought it on to himself. We don't know him, and from this article, we cannot say we know his story. A life is much bigger than 2000 words.
4
Aside from anything else, it is sad to see the man has 5 presumably adult children and not one of them seems willing or able to take him, even temporarily.
8
@winteca
It is sad, but don’t judge them. Having an alcoholic parent is sheer torture for a child, and I see from a post that one child of the subject has problems similar to his dad’s. The kids are perhaps none too prosperous themselves. Think about it—so many people ate economically fragile.
9
Thank you for this, which explains how a high functioning adult ends up on the street: drugs and mental illness. This should be the focus.
6
From a European perspective, it continues to surprise me how few social services are available to Americans. Do we pay a lot of tax? Yes, happily so. But if I get fired, I will be paid 70% of my last income for 2 years after which I will receive social security. If I get sick there is a safety net that will allow me to continue a fairly normal life (i.e. pay my mortgage, get health care). I cannot imagine the stress you must feel if you cannot afford losing a job because your whole life would fall apart. Would be interesting to know if that stress actually makes people sick.
13
Hello. My name is Michael Mark Holys. And this article is about my father. It has come to my attention this morning. I miss my father and i love him very much. There is only so much this article can speak of and although i agree of my dads knowledge of wine is vast, i wish to make it known that my father actually has vast knowledge in many things. Wise beyond 61 years of wisdom. He still has much to offer and this i see because of his bravery in coming forward to speak to the times in hope of helping others and bringing awareness.
I myself have my own struggles, i am always looking for a new job, always fighting to keep what little i have. And searching for acceptance for who and what i am (something i still have yet to define)
Being homeless is something i too have experienced while living in Seattle, WA. It wasn’t due to drugs or crimes, or even lack of a job, it was due to expensive costs and crap wages, having to choose between food, medicine, or shelter, having only enough income to afford one of the three, cutting off a hand to save a foot so to speak....
I hope one day the people, all of us, will come up with a solution. It is surely based on money, how much minimum wage employees earn, and the cost of living, and eating, and being healthy.
I hope my dad finds a little help through this article.
Good luck dad. Love you
1537
@Michael holys. You and your father deserve better from this country as do all hardworking Americans. We need to hold all our politicians accountable and remind them in no uncertain terms, that they work for you and I and not the wealthy.
148
i truly hope you and your dad (and all the others teetering on a knife’s edge) will find your ways - and he to his passion, once again.
104
God bless you both.
117
It’s almost impossible to stop a descent into homelessness that is fueled by drug dependency and crime. It’s very difficult to save someone from themselves. And other than basic catastrophic care and subsidized housing, I don’t think there is much that society can do.
Income inequality does not cause drug dependence or crime. But it is by far the one thing that is causing more difficulty for people. Moreover, it has concrete solutions while the problems leading to this sommeliers troubles do not. I am full of empathy for him. At the same time, we don’t have any solutions for those like him.
12
@Intrepid
Of course we have solutions. This man needs housing, addiction services and social services and as much as feasible, family support. I am beyond tired of the line that people are full of empathy but don't think there is anything constructive to be done. That is just convenient and self-serving for us as people witnessing this degredation with increasing frequency. The answers resides in both collective and personal action and committment.
4
There are many paths to homelessness, but the end result and lack of a cohesive system of support networks is in humane. Living in SF and LA for the better part of 20 years, we’ve seen the disparity widen, the middle class dropping off. Yes, the wealthiest should absolutely be taxed more, and the loopholes which they seem to be able to identify, closed off permanently.
Homelessness doesn’t only affect those afflicted with mental health and/or addiction issues (which we see so often overlapping), but families, and individuals who simply aren’t able to make the ends meet.
How are other countries able to put humanity first, and build societies in which caring for one another and quality of life are priorities? Of course taxes are very high in most of those countries, but then people aren’t fraught with anxiety about issues such as medical bills and housing. Shouldn’t Americans hold ourselves to a higher standard?
17
The article failed to mention that 20% of the homeless in Oakland are not from Oakland. Mr. Holys is originally from Palo Alto, a wealthy community. Many of the homeless come to Oakland from more prosperous Bay Area cities because those cities don't make them welcome. I met one young woman who was asking for money who is from Atlanta. I understand that many of the homeless have mental illnesses, and some have had bad luck and have fallen on hard times, but for some, living on the streets is a lifestyle decision. As someone who works hard and lives responsibly, I have difficulty accepting having some of my local tax money going to support someone who has not lived responsibly, such as using illegal and addictive drugs. Some important Oakland city services, such as tree trimming and brush removal intended to prevent a repeat of the wildfire that we had in 1991, have been cut back to fund the homeless, endangering all of us who live here.
16
@R. Edelman Totally support your statement. Additionally, this man has family, quoted in the article. Where are they???
3
The zoning laws in California have created an artificial housing shortage. There is a great need for vertical high density development, but the zoning laws prohibit this. California is the epicenter of urban sprawl. It has the same population as the metropolitan area of Tokyo (about 36M), but it also has a much larger footprint. There is very little room for housing development, except vertically. The laws need to change—especially in San Francisco. Also, no conversation about homelessness can happen without a discussion of the role drugs play. Very often, there is a very high correlation between drug and alcohol abuse and homelessness.
7
@William
You would seem to live in Kansas. As someone who actually lives in San Francisco, I can assure you that the population density is sufficiently high here. It's second only to NYC, and I for one reject your plan to turn my hometown into Tokyo. The zoning laws do indeed prohibit that from happening; FOR GOOD REASON.
Too many people are trying to move here, that is the problem that creates the illusion of not enough housing. How about if they all move to KC until the population density there approaches that of NYC? I'd be fine with that.
2
@Concerned Citizen. Tokyo is in an earthquake zone, and they build vertically. Modern building techniques can overcome this problem.
1
@SB. Sorry, but California is where the jobs are. The states decision to build with sprawl has led to the housing shortage. It also leads to increased carbon emissions. The time has come for California to change its policy. Re Kansas City: we would love to have your companies move here, but they are not coming.
One way to reduce homelessness would be to make at least basic medical care available to everyone, and not be something that every individual has to personally budget and scheme for. This will require making U.S. healthcare delivery more efficient than it is today.
18
I lived in San Francisco for five years, and quite frankly this seems to be the result of a dismantled safety net coupled with the culture's absolutely appalling stance towards matters of addiction and mental health. (None are part of the national conversation, save for the occasional cover on People Magazine). Who do people turn to in moments of crisis, when there isn't a sort of backstop at the end? I don't like taxes anymore than the next person, but the American obsession with lowering the taxes on the very wealthy (disguised as across-the-board cuts that benefit everyone) has adversely affected public welfare, but this, too, goes largely unmentioned. Perhaps, deep down, the public suspect that these people deserve their fate?
21
Back where I grew up in India, the parents are supported by kids (and kids are financially supported by parents even after they are in college). The article states he has 5 kids from three marriages, perhaps a culture where those 5 kids will chip in to support their father is a more sustainable system than depending on government to change. It goes both ways though, parents have to save enough to also support kids when they need help for college or after.
40
Most people are barely getting by. It is particularly true in places with high paying jobs.
The core problem is inequality. A small fraction of the population with access to good jobs and financing are setting the price for home purchases. For rent, most new developed complex are chasing the google engineer, facebook marketer,... [at least on the mid peninsula]. Free market is failing affordable housing development because every one is trying to maximize extracting "rent".
30
This is he problem: $960 a month, with which apparently you can’t afford a place to rent. I have a relative in Germany, who earns that much in pension (social security) and is able to rent a small apartment and live modestly. And that in one of the major cities, not in a rural area. Health care is covered for which she has to make a small monthly payment. How is this financed? You pay around $6 per gallon at the pump (2/3 are taxes), there’s a 19% sales tax on everything you buy and a host of other taxes on everything you can think of. It is better this way than having people one paycheck away from homelessness, but it is a myth that taxes on the wealthy will pay it for it. It is taxes on everyone that pays for it.
53
@Kcin
The same is especially true in the all the Scandinavian countries where races are high for all from working class up.
It is not Socialism (the rich pay, go after business rhetoric) and it is not Consumerism, it is an insurance based system where everyone pays into their system so that all can be covered in case of need.
The other emphasis is in government supporting businesses, especially manufacturing, through collaborations in education (what skills businesses will need) and may other means simply because good paying jobs are what keeps a country's economy going.
Germany and others have kept their manufacturing base while the US has lost theirs because of these negotiations of shared responsibility.
27
@Kcin
Let's take a different look at what you say. Your country was instrumental in starting and losing two World Wars and cruelly wiping out six million people of the Jewish faith. If it had not been for the Marshall Plan I doubt your country would have ever recovered.
Germany is a small country and also cars were designed to be economical on gas whereas the US is large and we have a wide variety of cars to choose from (mostly imports). However I do believe if we did raise our federal and state taxes on all fuels we could provide more services to all of our citizens. But our politicians are deathly afraid to raise gas or jet fuel taxes.
It's good that most American pay some taxes although large corporations that pay NO taxes should be shamed into doing so. They and their executives are making an obscene amount of money and enjoy too many perks.
Doing away with the loopholes should be the major agenda of the Congress we elect in 2020.
Even though I have never been to Europe I realize Ger. is a industrious country with a somewhat stratified culture. Not too happy about taking refugees. Something that the US shares as well. I'm retired, at
70 I receive less than Mr. Holys but I get by. Sales tax here is nearly 9%. Doubling it would knock my budget to pieces.
My Jewish grandfather fled Lithuania before the first WW and I'm glad he got to Ellis Island. While he and my father both lived into their 80's I'll be gone by 75.
Forgive my rambling it's 4 A.M. here.
6
My son became homeless in Oregon after a divorce, low paying jobs in call centers, and some difficult circumstances. He was never on drugs or alcohol and earned his B.A. degree from the University of Oregon. Fortunately, he did receive help from the Mission and lived there for two years while working, taking classes, getting assistance.
Since then he remarried, earned an MA Degree, and now has two lovely children. Finally, he is taking Dave Ramsay's Course, "Financial Peace" at his local church to get himself out of debt with a $100,000 student loan. And, to tell the truth, he is one or two months away from being homeless again if he should ever lose his job.
Ever since Reagan and the Republicans came to office in the 1980's, this country has become a divided nation where the rich become richer and the middle class is rapidly disappearing. How can we spend billions on two wars that no one wants except corporate leaders and politicians who prosper from death, guns, and wars? Homelessness is one symptom of a country not working. Never ending war is another.
113
I want to say, that reading several (certainly, not all) of the posts here, that I appreciate how deeply we are touched by this story and by how is evokes our own stories of pain and challenge. If you wrote here or if you relate to what you see here, I appreciate your correspondence.
33
Maybe it is time for corporate salaries to be increased, with bigger salaries The middle class might survive when we are hit with bigger taxes for programs that will not solve the problems. But, higher salaries might allow one spouse to be the homemaker and be available to help out the aging members of families.
4
What has happened to family units that take in relatives to try to help them get back on their feet? The drug addiction and mental health issues that make helping street people extremely difficult if not impossible, even with increasing taxes to create programs and Mental health facilities that many refuse to avail them selves off maybe make this an impossible situation. If you speak to some of the social organizations that try to encourage street people to except their help or county social service departments,It seems that many refused to help.
15
This American worship of family is toxic. Most families try repeatedly to help their troubled members; but after a certain point, they have to move on. Why do we consider it “compassionate” for entire families to wreck themselves trying to save a damaged member? Keeping a toxic family member in the circle is highly damaging to every other family member, and it lasts for generations. That’s not compassionate to them.
13
It’s easy to feel sorry for these folks. This is exactly the story of my own brother, just a different name and geography. To say this was a long spiral is certainly true. But some people just make bad, selfish decisions over and over an over again, all while ignoring the advice of colleagues, friends, and family. Like my own brother, he could have made common sense decisions at a thousand points in time to avoid this fate. My own brother had a great career, money to spend, and he just told everyone else to stick it. Now we all pay for them with SSI and other more subtle ways. My brother once asked me, when he was homeless and hungry and after not only wasting his own savings but thousands of my own, “Why can’t I just get a break?” Give me a break. This was utterly and completely preventable by just acting like a semi-responsible adult.
168
This man may be similar to your brother- or not at all. The simplistic conclusions that you have reached without knowledge of the facts i.e., that he brought it all down on himself and can pull and should be able to pull himself up by his bootstraps demonstrates your lack of empathy and compassion. But what is more startling and disappointing is the number of supporters of your comment. The people who are homeless, the poor, the mentally ill, the people who you perhaps rightly claim made a “ bad decision” - anyone of these traits or problems could befall any of us. Our society has a choice to make as well: to see these people as our brothers and sisters and to understand we are all one, that we are our brothers keeper, or like you recommend, we can turn our back on them and deprive them of the resources, support and yes, love, that is needed to heal one’s life. I wonder if you and your supporters identify as “ Christian”?
7
@VIKTOR You are making the mistake of painting everyone with the same brush. Your brother was your brother, whatever mental turbulence was causing his bad decisions was apparently not obvious. But regardless, there are a million other reasons, aside from choices and decisions, that people can become homeless and destitute.
5
I appreciate the telling of this man’s story. I remember the countless black men and women who had equally valuable, full, human lives, who fell victim to crack cocaine and homelessness in the 1980s, some of whom also turned to a life of crime.
I am glad that this news organization is, for now, turning a humanizing, compassionate eye to those in need.
23
@Human Being A crack addict isn't a "victim". Using crack cocaine and other illegal drugs is a choice, a bad and selfish choice with predictable bad consequences that extend to others, such as the victims of crimes committed by drug addicts and the families and taxpayers who end up paying for it. Those are the victims, not the users.
1
Here in the New Hampshire Seacoast Region we are teetering on homeless disaster. It's hard to watch the affluent buy a dumpy $175,000 house, put $80,000 in to it, and flip it for $375,000 - $400,000. I know that isn't California real estate but here that is out of the range for most people. We've become a Boston suburb. One and two bedroom apartments can easily range from $1,200 - $2,000, respectively. The planning boards try to create affordable housing with little success, the developers have no interest in it. It's despicable. Here in Strafford County people take to the woods. We have plenty of them. While alcoholism, addiction, and mental illness play no small part, a significant contributor is people who were one uninsured medical bill, one car repair, one broken washing machine away from financial disaster. Usually single and young or single and aged. Meanwhile we have brick and mortar stores empty for months and years on end that could be converted in to some kind of temporary shelter but no one wants that n their neighborhood. Something has got to give.
76
What I see in the SF area daily is addiction and it’s tie to homelessness. People are afraid to acknowledge that but how do people get help if we keep pretending that it is all one ER visit that leads to homelessness? Talking about addiction and severe mental health to help people isn’t judgmental. It’s the only chance to solve the problem.
47
Often we hear that high housing pricing in California and other places result in homelessness. Of course, the high cost of housing is a factor. But, like the protagonist of this story, many if not most people on the streets are there because of a combination of drug or alcohol abuse or mental illness--or all of those things.
41
@Jeff
You are correct. While the cost of housing is certainly an issue, substance abuse and mental illness are, too. Many of our homeless come/stay here for the climate. No one sets out to be homeless, though.
I find the story subject’s nostalgia for the days when he waited on the rich and powerful very sad.
5
As in Australia, one wonders if some subtle dilution of capitalism by socialism is the best compromise. Unfettered Capitalism has wrought us intolerable inequality; pure socialism results in the same.
Perhaps all we need is the status quo bolstered by freely elected, but stronger and more inclusive governments providing more support and employment via state-run utilities, healthcare, education, and the big one - food production and distribution.
Sure, I'll be howled down, but the current system has passed the use-by date, and everything is going rotten.
30
Though I think both alcohol and drugs are very harmful, I increasingly believe that total legalization and free distribution (in a medical clinic) of all addictive drugs, including heroin and meth, is the only solution to street homelessness caused by substance abuse. When people receive their drugs in a safe clinic setting, they no longer need resort to crime or aggressive panhandling , are not subject to toxic overdoses, and can be gradually 'nudged' into healthier lives. Most importantly, it devastates the drug dealers, who need illegality for their profits. Without customers, they dry up. Governments are trying this approach in Spain, and it seems to be working. We've had a hundred years of prohibition and drug addiction is huge.
24
@Cyntha
Agree with you except for Meth, a very dangerous drug which creates aggressive personality problems. Alcoholism and Heroin have treatment histories; Cocaine treatment is available, stats not in. Meth should never be made legal.
2
The prison industrial complex relies on the illegality of drugs to exist. Until we decide that incarceration is not the best use of taxpayer dollars, the situation will never change.
2
It doesn’t help that the state taxes everything at a much higher level than anywhere else. Living in Texas I save more than 50K in income tax.
I think a more impactful story would be one of a person who was homeless and not addicted to drugs and alcohol. People addicted to drugs and alcohol will end up broke on the streets no matter what state they are in and being in a California doesn’t change much of that except that there are more sympathizers in Cali
I’m not trying to be insensitive because addiction is very tragic and does not discriminate across all walks of life- we do need programs to help them
19
This man’s story seems to be less about the housing crisis in California than the dangers of drug use, it’s effect on his failed marriages, and his consequent larceny when he needed money as well as the absence of effective drug addiction treatment. I don’t think any of these are unique to California.
50
Under similar circumstances, most people would move to a less expensive area where housing is within reach and there are decent social programs. Rural Minnesota, Utah, Montana, Nebraska to name a few.
22
Except the person whose life is chronicled here is incapable of making rational decisions, due to his addiction problems.
5
New York City will not be far behind if it keeps building apartments that cost multi millions. And allowing “developers” ( like Nita Lowey’s daughter & son-in-law) convert rent control brownstones into single family homes.
10
People like Mr. Holys exist everywhere. To me, the real story of the California homeless crisis is the group of people with stable jobs who cannot afford a studio apartment. There is almost nowhere else in our nation where someone with a job cannot find a place to live. Why can’t middle-class Californians in major cities afford an apartment? The reason is because housing is too expensive to build in California. If those costs were reduced and some restrictions on building were lifted, the homeless population in California would plunge due a surge in the housing stock.
15
Unfortunately, the bulk of the costs are in the land values—the exorbitant asking prices of which are driven up by speculation. Reducing building fees, permitting costs, etc., will not solve the issue.
8
Prop 13, when I lived in CA, resulted in people staying in homes for years (or transferring title to relatives), as property tax wasn't based on the market assessed value of the home, but as an increment of the house value *at time of purchase*.
6
If the climate of coastal California weren't so salubrious, demand for housing would lessen. Climate is the main reason California is an expensive place to live.
4
We have always had mentally ill people. We have always had disabled people. We have always had drug addicts and alcoholics. But we haven't always had the extreme disparities in wealth that have paralleled the growth of homelessness. We have broken the safety net and gutted the supports that used to protect poeope when heath emergencies, illness and joblessness strike.
54
Someone once said this, and I never forgot it, we are all one or two bad decisions away from being homeless. It can happen to anyone, and we need to look out for each other.
50
Homelessness is not cause it is the effect. The effect of untreated mental illness, addiction, and criminal choices. The idea that shelter alone will “solve” the problem is both naive and absurd. Jail is the effect. Early death is the effect. When do we address the causes?
20
Sitting idly by in the cool shade at the edge of San Francisco Bay with the Golden Gate beyond next to the railroad tracks watching the trains go by while allowing that last layer of flavor of the grape to finally realize itself, sure sounds like it beats El Salvador. There are “homeless” parked outside my school in East Los Angeles living in a big RV with a boat and trailer hitched behind it. Upkeep requires every couple days moving it all to the other side of the street and back. No grass to cut, no leaking pipes to fix, no house to paint, no roof to leak . . . Sometimes I wonder who the cursed ones are.
14
It sounds like you might be going through a tough time yourself, and I wish you well. But as a person who works with the homeless in my own community, I can assure you nobody in that position feels it’s easy. I live in an affluent beach side community, and sure, some of these guys wake up to ocean views. But I know they’d take secure housing out of the city in a heartbeat. It’s hard to appreciate the view when you have slept outside.
5
Am I correct that at age 18, a foster child is no longer supported by the government. That age 18, a child without parents must be able to take care of himself/herself, get a job that will pay rent and go to school? Wouldn’t that right there contribute to homelessness?
26
Speaking from having worked with foster youth in California, there are many specific programs to assist “transition age” youth who are aging out of the child welfare system. That said, there are absolutely numerous young adults who were previously child welfare dependents, who end up homeless. A serious tragedy.
4
Mark was married to my mother for many years. No one can live on $960 a month. Pay you cell phone bill and your insurance then $400 for food what do you have left? So now what do you do with 300? Pay rent? Where? Many older people who can’t work are in this situation. There is no other financial help available. Millions of tax dollars are being wasted on things like trying to deport permanent residents (which costs hundreds of thousands of dollars each in legal fees and detainee programs-I know this from personal experience as my mom is from Scotland.) If we really looked into government spending I am certain there are ample funds that could be used for more humane and relevant needs in this country. This could happen to anyone especially if the market crashed and crucified people financially. So please before you judge a person based only on what you read look deeper into the cause which most of the time is MONEY and the ability to earn it. Many people over the age 62 cannot work so what do they do? An even bigger problem is our lack of resources for helping people with mental illness. We need to re-evaluate government spending, where we donate money, and what is really important to us. We are losing touch with humanity over all because it’s easier. Many people do drugs and that does not make people bad. Don’t judge someone who is less fortunate than you are.
55
@Heather Something doesn't add up. I agree that you can't live in the Bay Area on $960 a month, but a skilled sommelier should be able to make considerably more.
6
The majority of our homeless population suffers from mental illness and severe depression exacerbated by alcohol and or drugs. Our town is filled with services and treatment for the homeless and those in need but we to finance and build mental hospitals and specialized rehab facilities. This homeless epidemic is not about lack of housing. It's about helping those who cannot help themselves.
Do you want your college aged daughter living in the same "affordable" apartment building with a man who lives there on Section 8 but belongs in a mental hospital? The current system is a bandaid on a heartbreaking wound.
26
While it's absolutely true that California has some of the most obscene Housing policies in the country, it's also true that most homeless suffer from addiction and other forms of mental illness.
I see homeless encampments close to my home. It breaks my heart to see fellow humans suffer like this. However, I don't see a concerted effort to solve this problem. Just a lot of failed policies and lip service. If we are serious about solving this humanitarian tragedy then we must get serious about drug and mental health treatment as well as fixing our failed housing policy.
19
Nothing holds any commenter here from donating to any one of many organizations in every major city (and most minor cities) with devoted members dedicated specifically to helping the homeless. Why complain that taxes should be on others when you can do it yourself? Each of these organizations is underfunded.
14
I have three new neighbors that are mortgaged to the hilt that I’m sure that they think this will never happen to them. Guess again.
I bought my $500,000 house in 2010 for $75,000 cash. Somebody paid the difference but it wasn’t me.
6
The story about Mr. Holys and the increasing tragedy of homelessness and the comcomitant disaster of futility and despari over the effort to save resoures to pull yourself back up from the streets rngs true when I see the lives of people at the two homeless shelters where I committ a too small bit of my time and resources. But I see great numbers of fellow old folks doing what they can do and feel something may come from our efforts.
7
And the underlying thread in stories like this one is: drugs. I counsel men in prison, trying to nudge them toward clean-and-sober. The hardest part of the job is getting them to at least consider that drugs had some part of their being incarcerated. And the second hardest part is the unending battle to keep drugs out of prison, a battle it looks like the authorities are losing.
What few realize is that once someone crosses the line to true addicition, there's no cure: only day-at-a-time remission. This requires work on the part of the addict and, as important, support from government agencies while the addict gets his/her feet down. Any solution to the homeless problem--I would say "scourge"--has to take into account and deal with the reality of drug addiction in the homeless population.
23
If we take drugs and mental illness into account we would be over half of the people that are homeless. I have a brother who was way more successful than me and descended into bipolar mental illness. He lost it all, was arrested, and was psychotic in custody. I intervened and was able to get a mental health diversion and took custody of him. He is functional with his meds. He can't work but he is no trouble. No drugs were involved. The point is that a lot of people could be helped with just a little push. The daughter seems to have moved on. In reading her bio she was adopted at 10 by other people. She may not have had much contact with him. For those that are in addiction it is time to get them help with the money that these drug companies made getting them addicted. And they knew what they were doing.
15
Drugs, the illegal kind, are mentioned here as part of the cause of homelessness, but it's very unclear how much of the problem is the illegal drugs themselves and how much of it is caused by their black market price.
No one seems to have any confidence in our current approach to hard drugs, but few people are willing to consider radical change, like letting addicts have their drugs, distributed by public health authorities, if in return they maintain some standard of conduct.
Hard drugs are too dangerous to allow the black market to control their distribution, creating addict crime and fighting over the black market crime to a fantastic extent, and refugee flows as well. History seems to have well proven that prohibition and interdiction of supply is a catastrophically failed strategy.
5
This man grew up in the Bay Area, so the constant refrain of “They should go back home” Thrown at homeless people in California rings hollow. In fact most homeless people in California were born there. Yes they usually have addiction issues, but the fact is that a stumble that would land someone in a studio apartment or a trailer in say, Ohio, leads to the streets in a California. That $1,000 in disability might cover rent somewhere cheaper but he lacks family and connections to those cheaper places, and therefore he’s basically stuck. Perhaps we should consider a cost of living adjustment for disability payments for more expensive areas of the country.
10
He mentions breaking into a car and stealing the change. I had my car broken into by somebody like that I assume. He precisely took my change, chewing gum, and older wallet with various older cards and other information, plus 60 dollars I was keeping there just for an emergency. I don’t make anywhere near a lot of money. I work hard at an hourly job just above the minimum wage and rely on the overtime to to make my rent and pay for other things, service some of my debt etc. I don’t do drugs, have never done so. I feel sorry for folks like the one discussed here and don’t judge them. I understand they’re perhaps not in control of themselves etc. I had a friend who died of drugs, an overdose I assume, learned about it through Facebook almost a year later. However, I also wonder whether there’s a bit of entitlement on their part. It always strikes me how you often don’t see too many women or people of color amongst them. There’re certainly some, I see some often. But it’s often overwhelmingly white men you see at the corners of streets begging etc. I think there’s certainly a sense of entitlement, the people who camp out there and beg on the streets feel a sense that they can go and ask other people for money and impose their misfortune on others one way or another, begging in the streets, eyesore camps, or stealing. We’re all struggling, but some of us don’t have the privilege to fail and impose our failure on society because we wouldn’t be seen as kindly! So we make do!!
18
I live in Brooklyn. When I go into Manhattan for a haircut, or to drop off a donation at Housing Works, or attend a performance at Lincoln Center, I frequently encounter a homeless person sleeping on a subway car, sleeping on the steps leading out of the subway, sleeping on the floor on the mezzanine of the subway, sitting on cardboard on the street, begging, sleeping outside of a store, etc. My rides into and out of the city are interrupted by people moving slowly through the car, reciting monologues of homelessness, severe illness, hunger and despair. There is something desperately wrong. People glide by, turning their heads and holding their breath as they pass these unfortunates. The whole process of landing a job that pays a living wage has become so difficult. The impossibility of finding a clean apartment in the city that does not cost a fortune is near impossible. The Mayor is off on a Quixotic quest to be the next President....a folly only recently abandoned. In my neighborhood, he has given the go-ahead for seven big, expensive apartment buildings in the past three years....buildings that will make street parking impossible. This is a terrible situation!
29
The comments about "when he was on -- he was awesome" combined with his history of substance abuse reminds me of how a medical school textbook describes what untreated ADD looks in adults.
19
Okay - look at this article. Find the paragraph, some way in, where it becomes apparent that he was/is an addict who stole to support his habit. I have talked to some of the medical staff at a couple of Sacramento hospitals that are tasked with taking in the homeless injured and ill people, and they say to a person that 99 percent of these patients are addicts. Here is where we as a society have to start. With addiction. He is not just a great person down on his luck. He is an addict and at this point we have no idea how to make him better. You'd have done better starting out there rather than trying for the "there but for the grace of the gods . . ." This is not a hard-luck story. It is the story of an illness - fatal illness, it seems.
25
Oakland recently opened a newly refurbished SRO, Single Room Only place that sound like it is near this this guy.
Small steps, but they are steps.
7
This article is misleading. It conflates the housing crisis with the disease of drug addiction. Mr. Holys had/has a severe dependency on crack/cocaine, probably other drugs and alcoholism. This is not the story of a person who lost his job, was unable to get another one, got evicted, and had no friends, family, or shelter. Nor is it the story of a person with a job whose rent was raised, and they were unable to find a place to live, which wound up costing them their job. Rather, this is the tragic story of a person who became impossibly addicted to drugs, which clouded his judgment and destroyed his life. The high cost of living in the Bay Area has nothing to do with his homelessness. This article should be a call for government-funded rehab and therapy centers to address the heartbreaking issues impacting the chemically-dependent. Instead it tries to tie together two national issues, which, in this case, is off the mark.
35
There are no doubt some homeless people who simply fell off the tightrope of living paycheck to paycheck with no reserves; all it took was an illness or accident, lost job or family breakup and they had no place to live but the street. But Mr. Holys isn't one of them; his downfall was crack cocaine use, theft to pay for it and a resulting eight years in prison. There is more than a little bit of personal responsibility for his current situation.
21
It will behove the New YorkTimes to investigate the phenomenon of warehoused vacant houses and condos that investors hold but do not rent out.
9
I often travel to India where tens of millions live a step above the pavement dwellers in dense tin and brick and mud slums so entrenched that they have their own temples and markets and repair shops, even their own governing bodies, etc. Sometimes I wonder when this kind of living arrangement will become an ubiquitous sight in the U.S.- somewhat inferior to a ghetto but better than being homeless. Maybe sooner than later.
7
Like so many, this man’s troubles started with addiction. What are we doing about that, besides yelling about homelessness?
11
You need to elect Andrew Yang. $1000/month for all Americans goes a long way.
4
Let's all blame someone for some bad choices so we don't have to talk about the larger issues of our slavish devotion to corporate welfare and the almighty buck or our viciously punitive attitude to those who mess up. At least then we won't challenge a system that is eating us alive.
15
A lot of comments propose that people in his situation move.
Why should they move?
Why not address the housing situation in the Bay area? More complicated that moving I guess... So go the simple solution. Do not move.
1
We are headed for some dark times. So depressing.
5
Bring back the poorhouses, bring back the workhouses, bring back the the vendue system that allowed cities to auction off poor individuals to private bidders. Get rid of the expensive, snowflake child labor laws that let poor kids avoid good, old-fashioned hard work. Or better yet, put these pesky poor youngsters in reformatories - good old-fashioned institutions that built character.
What about capital punishment for vagrancy? It would reduce the homeless situation pretty darn fast.
Make America Great Again !
2
@Impedimentus
You make excellent points, but satire is not generally understood here.
1
Mr. Fuller:
You wrote, “An ex-Marine sleeps nearby.”
I have it on good authority that there’s no such thing as an ex-Marine. Once a Marine, always a Marine. Semper Fi.
12
@Deborah Griesbach
I noticed that too. I would say 'retired Marine'.
1
How do you help people who choose a life of drugs and alcohol and don't want to change?
12
It shows you the 2 sides of the USA: the extreme success and the extreme NOTHING! Where is the social net?
5
Very sad.
But there is a lesson here: Be normal. Those who are make it almost all of the time. Those who want to choose their own paths, in whatever direction, run the risk of being a Mr. Holys.
9
"Mr. Holys has a plan for when he finds permanent shelter. He will get a bottle of Royal Tokaji, the Hungarian dessert wine."
See there you go. A plan that is far above the aspirations of the hoi polloi in Red state flyover country.
BTW Beachy, what's your point?
3
@Jp That will probably be about $20.
@SB: Wow, so he has lowered his standards. Tragic story indeed.
1
It's easy to say lay off the crack but, really, one should lay off the crack and similarly disabling habits. Also, what is the point of having all of those children by all of those different women if none of them step up in your time of need? And to make it a trifecta: Let me suggest getting out of the tent to look for a job rather than reminiscing with a reporter and fantasizing about intoxicants.
15
Why do some people faced with lots of adversity end up okay while others don’t ?
4
In America, who you are and how important and valued you are is based on your net worth. That is the essence of America - value and worth = money. Rich people are hard working solid citizens and poor people are lazy indolent malingerers. Nice country, America.
8
And Trump wants to arrest the homeless and do what? Put them in camps?
Will these be the same camps that hold immigrants?
Who is the next group to go into the camps?
10
Great article, I'm pulling for him. I imagine addiction is a huge part of the homeless crisis, but I also think California just doesn't have enough to accommodate all. Living in San Francisco is like walking on for Alabama's Crimson Tide, when you could have a free ride starting job at another, less prestigious football program. Agreed, the income inequality is high, but you also having to be realistic in the face of it. Maybe the rich will give up some money when they run out of service workers in the restaurants they frequent, because nobody would afford to live near enough to work at their Chipotle.
10
Mr. Holys's comments are very articulate, and his story is very compelling. I wonder whether he might be able to write a memoir. I wish him Godspeed and good luck.
11
thanks Mimi! I do enjoy writing and am an avid poet. thank you for the comment
1
Poignant story and compassionate comments. Lesson? Vote out the Republicans. Elizabeth Warren can do great things for our country. But even she will need a Democratic majority in the Congress.
37
@Sprogita while i support voting out the Republicans nor sure how it will help the homeless in Calif - most - not all - of whom have severe mental health problems or drug/alcohol addictions. Mentally ill need to go back in to isome kind of n-patient care. The grand experiment in opening the doors of mental health hospitals has failed. Too many on the street. We must find a better solution. So far Democrats - like Republicans - have come up short on this
3
This article brought back floods of memories of my own loss. I had a very good, much sought after well-paying job and wound up living in a SRO (single room occupancy hotel room). My situation is better now but I very often look back at what I lost and with that all the regrets that go with it.
58
A relative said at the time it is sad. He also acknowledged that it was a combination of circumstances, which it was. Looking back I have to say if I had to go through the past 21 years since the loss, I would not go through it all again. I knew of two other people who lost that job and they simply took their lives. Perhaps, looking at things in retrospect that was the more humane thing to do. Will I do that now? No, I have only another 10 - 15 years to live.
3
@S Sm. Please ask for help so that you can learn to forgive yourself and live peacefully in the present.
2
It is easy to talk about a problem. It is not much harder to do something about that problem.
One person, or an agency, or a government program won't cure this problem.
Until most people realize we all breath the same air, we all are in this together, and we all leave the same way, our society will continue to have a homeless problem.
If you have ever spoken to a homeless person you will hear stories not unlike yours. Not many choose to be homeless. Most have a slow decent into homelessness.
Periodically I take sandwiches, wipes, and socks to the homeless camping in downtown Cincinnati. They, to a person, are very thankful and polite. Some people fear the homeless because of their plight. The overwhelming majority are not violent, they are just struggling to survive.
A small amount of compassion goes a long way. Being realistic as to success you need to be aware you are not going to change most folks long term. Providing them with feeling like a human being for a little while helps all of us.
42
My dad, now pushing 70, has repeatedly said that until the Reagan era, there was no mass homelessness like we see now in every nook and cranny of society, including my small NH city.
Whether or not that's true is beside the point. Since that time, we have seen taxes cut repeatedly for the wealthy while the rest of us get scraps. These cuts eliminate money for mental health, treatment, and programs for people on the margins. What did anyone expect would happen?
221
The other thing that changed in the 80s was the introduction of trickle down economics, which has been shown to massively benefit a few at the very top.
99
That is exactly what cmcxc was describing.
9
What started in the 1980’s was the closing of state hospitals. The mentally ill were sent into the streets with an inadequate support system. Show me someone who is chronically homeless and I’ll bet they are chronically mentally ill. They are unable to make it through their daily life without someone being there to make them take their medication. They then act out and are habitually evicted from any shelter they were placed in. These wretched souls are everywhere.
27
I remember when Reagan was governor of California, and he cut off funding for those who were mentally ill, resulting in the beginning of California's more recent phase of homelessness. These folks were left without any social safety nets. From there, homelessness has sky-rocketed in the state. I don't know of all the possible solutions, but I do know that we have reached a tipping point. California, often in the forefront of innovation, has the opportunity to set an example by tackling a serious and sad situation for the rest of the country. The time is now, not off in some distant future, and it is quite clear that we can't rely on the federal government to do anything positive about it under the current regime, so it will require state and local solutions and the desire to take action.
65
@birdygirl
That’s truly Regan’s legacy. His failed economic policies and mean spirited approach to the mentally ill. Those that worship at the alter of Saint Ronald are just as mean and selfish as he was. For the life of me I can’t understand the worship, unless you’re part of the GOP keep us rich crowd.
13
@Birdygirl
You’re right, the time is now but NIMBYs don’t want shelters built in their towns or neighborhoods.
Just like they don’t want dense housing built. It’s always “too tall” or will create “too much traffic” or “ruins the character of the neighborhood.”
Often these folks call themselves “progressives” or “liberal” and will gladly vote for Warren or Sanders or Harris or Newsom. But housing? Shelters? In their backyard? No way, that’s someone else’s problem.
The left can be just as hypocritical as the right.
7
@Birdygirl
Cuts to mental health got rid of mental hospitals. Both parties considered those to be improper because that's what activists told them.
The mass closing of mental hospitals happened all over Canada and the Western world, at the behest of activists who insisted an unstructured, unmonitored environment was best.
6
I was homeless for a week or two, decades ago, I remember I slept on a park bench in the rain and it was late December, in New York. When you are young you have reserves of fortitude and when you are old it all diminishes. And yet whether we are in a plush armchair , or sleeping on concrete, life’s wonders still remain, within and without.
26
I don't know about others, but these stories really make me think, there go I by the grace of sheer dumb luck that all the stupid stuff I've done in life didn't result in this. A health crisis. An expensive divorce. Losing a job while living paycheck to paycheck as so many Americans do. I wish we, as a society, had the compassion to as least house folks so they don't have to live on the street with the rats. We have the money to do this but there seems to be a deficit of political will to address this problem.
1102
Yes this country has housing and health care issues (which is an understatement), but I have noticed many of these homeless stories hinge on willing illegal drug use and the resulting criminal activity. I think we need compassion but we cannot ignore the need for support to encourage personal responsibility.
27
@FXQ
Absolutely. Yours is a thoughtful, humble response. Thank you for bringing this humanistic perspective to the comments section.
39
@FXQ
I agree that there but for the grace of luck and the compassion of others go I. And also for the grace of getting sober.
No one wants to see other human beings suffer. And all homeless people are someone's child sibling parent etc.
All of the good intentions and love cannot get them sober or sane. You are not going to have any better result than the love and care of families have when a loved one is mentally ill/chemically altered. I have a cousin who is schizophrenic and we are concerned he will be homeless. He is likely to require institutionalization but unlikely to receive the intervention he needs. Some much emphasis is on empowering the mentally ill and we see the result. Housing without institutional intervention already exists it's called a crack house.
11
Everyone in the Bay Area witnesses the human cost of tech advancement without tech responsibilty. Oakland is a city of 400,000. So does that mean 10% of the city is homeless? Add to that number the numbers in San Leandro, Hayward, Alameda, Berkeley, Emeryville - unicorporated areas, train tracks. I think the number is underestimated. I live here and see it every day. Those of us in homes are stressed, hanging on ...
And the only housing being build is for projected gentrifiers who'll pay $4000 for a one bedroom "apartment home." I am embarrassed to say how much I pay. Can't buy a home, I have student debt.
Elizabeth Warren just crossed my mind.
72
@Tasha 4,000 is 1% of 400,000.
4
@TashaIf
If 4,000 of 400,000 people are homeless, that would be 1%, not 10%.
3
And Tasha, do you know how quickly all of that changed? I lived in Oakland near the happening Piedmont Ave. just 7
Years ago and paid $1500 for a newly renovated one room apartment. That’s the issue. So quickly woooosh the money moved in and in a space of a few years transformed the fabric of the society.
9
The perpetual discard of our most vulnerable citizens will be our societal undoing. For decades we have relegated mental health issues to the Criminal Justice System and turned our backs to homelessness in favor of growth. The enormity of the homelessness pandemic that we are just begging to witness will continue to grow unless we address its root causes.
As the wealthiest nation in the world, we lack basic healthcare for all our citizens which simply amplifies poverty and lack of productivity.
Mental Health has yet to become a medical insurance basic coverage benefit. We are years away from developing drugs to combat mental health as we do for other illnesses that affect an equivalent percentage of our population.
According to a Department of Justice study over 50 percent of prisoners have serious mental health illnesses. According to the Census Bureau over 50 Million Americans live on or below the poverty line and almost half the population is living from paycheck to paycheck.
As we are experiencing the greatest economic boom of this century, we as a nation fail miserably in the simplest of all moral laws that unite a nation, we fail to take care of our most vulnerable citizens. We fail to preempt the collapse of our society by simply taking care of our citizens.
The solution to our dilemma is simple we need to unite and change our failed lawmaker both Republicans and Democrats with those who care.
38
So MUCH judgment, so little understanding -- of addiction, of mental illness, of differences in people's abilities to cope and move past stressful life events and to make wise choices.
Grateful I work in a psychiatric hospital where our patients keep me mindful of the things I learned as a kid: it's not our place to judge others, but to love them; we're all different, we're all the same; never underestimate the role luck plays in life; you never know what you'll do until you're tested.
Seems to me like a lot of the commenters have never been truly tested. Lucky them.
64
@PfT
When I was a little kid, in Philly, in not the best part of town, a few things were drilled into me:
1. Don’t borrow money from the local guys, you will be paying them forever
2. Don’t fight unless you have to, but if you have to, get the first one in and make it your best
3. Don’t take drugs, especially not heroin, not even once
When I was 19 or so one of the older guys in the nabe asked me if I wanted to try heroin and told me “...you can’t get addicted the first time....”
I declined, pretty firmly. We didn’t talk much thereafter. 15 years later, I went to his funeral-dead from an Overdose.
I have zero sympathy for addicts. Zero
5
Bravo! Excellent, compassionate piece full of feeling and understanding.
Thank you very much. We all fall down. Sometimes the higher we go the harder the fall.
Little sad to hear his daughter's abstract removal from his life. There are so many who have given all they could to children who later do nothing for the parent who becomes homeless.
No father or mother is throw-away: whatever the circumstance.
Cocaine is such a bummer.
16
I doubt she removed herself from his life. It is more likely that, with his Cocaine addiction and time spent in jail, he removed himself from her life.
7
@Discernie Don't know how much he did for this daughter considering he had 5 children among 3 women, that he did prison stints, that he had years-long history of drug abuse, and so on. Very likely he's just too difficult to live with, and I can imagine why. Can you? Please don't judge the kids like that . They know things about their parents that you wouldn't care to imagine. But yeah, I know, it's so much fun to criticize kids.
@Kimetta
Thank you. I stand corrected. You saw better than I. My personals got in the way.
Barracks-style housing and at least one hot meal a day. Addiction treatment and health services. It is the very least the government can do for the homeless.
63
@Retired Fed But would most of them accept that solution?
7
I recognise this strip of pavement where the picture of the homeless encampment from the article. It is very near the Ghost Ship whose burnt out hull is still visible from the Subway. It is also near where Home Depot has received permission to close off a street so people from the nearby tent city cannot shoplift and break into customer cars. Employees have had guns pulled on them.
What is the answer to homelessness? What are we going to do about it?
15
Just curious if this is one of the homeless that Mr. Trump wants to "crack down" on.
10
Just goes to show you how fragile life really is.
31
I suspect that if I start doing crack cocaine, my life will unravel. I think I'll leave that alone.
54
Yes, I sense it was not his jobs or even the cost of housing but the crack that propelled him to homelessness.
3
These stories, while sad, are stupid. This persons story has nothing to do with the underlying causes of true homelessness. Is he homeless because he took lots of drugs, failed marriages, failing to save for the future, treating his job like a toilet? Or is he homeless because of growing up and living in poverty? Or did he suffer from mental illness? We cant solve this homeless crisis if we don’t understand what are the systemic causes of homelessness besides wanting to do cocaine and not showing up for work.
21
He went to school at Pally, one of the most prestigious public high schools in the Bay area. I don't think he grew up with poverty.
3
Wow, this is an eye opener. I will say this - there are thousands of people in San Francisco who by their efforts produce virtually nothing that the world wants - one by one - to consume: yet they are employed at handsome salaries, though they are nothing but naïve sell-outs to the military/commercial/political empire through universities and google/msn/firefox/yahoo empires. What has the world come to? As Jehovahs witnesses come to my door querying, Is the end of the world nigh? They wave the bible, a silly book ,in my face, and their interpretations are laughable, yet-if you THINK about it, who can deny them?
8
My sister, who went to NYU on a scholarship, was homeless for two years in NJ. Through it we tried, as a family, to help. but her problems became too much for us to handle. Thankfully she got treatment and is on a good path. That said, NYC is becoming a homeless haven in the summer. Not everyone I talk to is on the streets due to drugs. Some were priced out of apartments, had health issues and the bills took over, or were let go from jobs. It’s a big issue that everyone ignores. My 10 bucks is not going to do much. It saddens me. I write to my local reps. No one wants a shelter in their neighborhood. I can go on...
472
@Lola
I hear you. My sister, who has struggled with substance abuse and serious mental illness for 20-something years, has been homeless despite so much help thrown her way. It is heartbreaking, frustrating, and so complex. Far too many of us can relate to this issue.
37
@Lola, Sad to say, but some people are beyond help. I sympathize with someone who loses a job, but drug addicts and the mentally ill is another story. Society can spend more than $1 million on each such person. Often they never Give back.
5
@Fatso Proof for your allegation about that $1 million? Let's have the affluent and the ultra rich give back some of their tax cuts. Over and over and over again in NYC there are NYT comments about the lack of affordable housing, and gentrification pushing out long-time residents who unlike the newcomers don't have much choice where to live. The well-off flippantly tell them to move because they shouldn't feel "entitled". The irony is staggering.
26
The unfortunate thing about AA and society at large is the concept that you can't control addiction. Yet, when someone who is bipolar takes their meds, often they can avoid a relapse. Dual diagnosis is increasingly difficult to diagnose because many rehabs don't have psychiatrists (crucial to diagnose the mental health conditions and prescribe the meds). I've heard many social workers say "well mental health can mimic alcoholism" and so won't aid a person in getting diagnosed as bipolar. It takes an extended period of observation by a doctor (when a person is sober) for them to feel confident diagnosing a person with a severe mental illness. If ever there was a man and a god that loved him, it would be a homeless mentally ill person. I pass them each morning sleeping at the ferry terminal on my way to work, there is something childlike about a sleeping person. I wonder how much their mothers would cry to see them that way, had they known when they were babies, how their lives would turn out. I imagine them as babies sleeping, curled up, and their innocence is clear. It makes me sad. I fought to save my mentally ill boyfriend. I ignored AA. I got him to the best rehab I could, with a mental health facility. He's been sober over a year, for the first time in his adult life. He's 53. Love saved him. The love of the doctor who diagnosed him. And I watched him while he slept, and saw his innocence, and never stopped seeing it. He's alive because of love.
32
@Temp attorney
In October 1987 I walked into a church basement where a bunch of people were sitting around a table and haven't taken a drink since.
6
You express a response to this facet of human existence that is wise and reasoned and compassionate. Thank you.
4
I live in Wenatchee, WA where even here, in this small central Washington community housing has gotten out of reach for most. I make a good salary and consider myself middle-class but live paycheck to paycheck as I work to pay off student loans and the ever increasing price of food, rent, utilities, healthcare, etc...and forget about buying a home here where the median price is pushing 300k and a starter home is even out of reach. Something has got to give. How can so many people in this country afford the prices they pay for mortgages?
422
@Raydeohed
And the government says there's no inflation. Their figures are manipulated.
29
@Peter
The common inflation index excludes home and gas prices, the latter because it fluctuates too much and would throw off the statistics. There’s some logic to that but it means that inflation as usually discussed by govt and in the media is not accurate to our actual lives.
34
@Peter on Sundays, I read the NYT Real Estate section first. That people will pay a million dollars to live in a closet along with 'maintenance fees' of thousands more disturbs me. Other listings reveal hideously overpriced homes and ludicrous real estate taxes always make me ask, "WHAT is the income stream of the people that they can afford such costs?" I suspect many live WAY above their means and therefore will indeed be homeless if their jobs go away. Of course, when banks continue to give APR mortgages on $500K homes to Target cashiers, the collapse is imminent as that balloon payment looms. These lending practices should never have been made legal - and this is way people are just one emergency away from the streets.
31
I must have missed the part where one of his five children offered to take him in. Or where they pooled their resources with his to provide him with shelter.
This article leaves unanswered so many questions about Mr. Holys, and those questions are mostly the awkward ones.
62
@Hugh///// excellent point. was wondering the same thing myself
2
@Hugh See my story above. And also the son of this man featured in the article. I’m sure they all took him in at one time.
1
@Hugh His children may be insecurely housed themselves. I had a sibling at my door one night when I was living in one shared bedroom. My roommates put up with the sibling for two nights on the couch but at some point, roommates want the apartment they're paying for, not a flophouse.
2
I have seen this homelessness problem in all five states I’ve lived in over the past 35 years. It never seems to get better - only worse.
It is the story of the addicted and the mentally ill. It is also the story of the unemployed, other illnesses, poor wages, and bad choices in marriage and career.
Some families are able to support one another - they take in and provide for their homeless kin. Not all families are equipped - both financially and psychologically - to do this.
At one time counties had “poor farms.” Places for folks like this to go until they got back on their feet or live out their days with some dignity. Sad counties don’t do this. Especially in an area where homes start in the millions. This county must be fairly rich in property taxes.
We have lived with this problem a long time because it has been so easy to hide - in a tent, a forest, or under a highway. Maybe now that there are so many things will change.
I don’t share the smugness of some of these comments. I am more of a ‘there, but for the grace of God, go I’ kind of person.
18
Why so many tears for homeless children in the comments? These homeless kids should have made better choices and chosen wealthy parents. If we would only give a few more tax cuts to the rich they will have more rich children and those children are not likely to choose homelessness - hence the percentage of homeless children would decrease. Thank God the GOP understands this. Democrats just want to give "free stuff" to homeless children, children who made bad choices.
25
In many ways, these touching, troubling stories are a universal story. Here in British Columbia where housing costs are so great, that many people even with 2 salaries ( and good ones ) have a hard time making ends meet.
What is Western Europe doing that we in North American haven't caught on to.
Many times I am informed by my friends that if they miss 3 paychecks they would be on the street.
10
Great article, raises many good questions. Is there some essential flaw in this man, that is the reason he’s homeless? Or is the flaw more in our safety net? Maybe both. Or maybe it’s our culture - why can’t he live with one of his kids?
Is the assumption that everyone should have comfortable, good quality housing flawed to begin with? Is there a way we could instead provide dignified yet free shelter for transients? Sorta like a tent city designed by the burning man folks?
2
@Frank M/// there has to be some serious issue when not one, let alone 5, kids won't help him.
2
Mr. Hoyls is very observant and can turn a phrase.
He likely would make a very good writer as well.
I hope his fortunes turn around.
11
gated communities and toll roads to cities with credit checks at every entrance and exit; if your credit and net assets fall below a certain level, you are expelled.
it's already happening.
nyc used to have flop houses and halfway houses; there are condo towers now there for the 1%
6
If you do not plan for yourself in the free world, no one will take care of you. With freedom comes tremendous responsibility, and not everyone is capable of handling it. The machine leaves you at the wayside, literally.
14
Nice job illustrating how little we value work in the service industry and our lack of a social safety net.
15
Governor Gavin Newsom has proclaimed that the State of California is running a $21.4 billion surplus. Funny that they can't come up with enough money to help the homeless. What are the plans for all that extra money anyway and how is that more important than helping the homeless?
15
@Kurt Pickard///you can give each homeless $10,000 cash and 99.99999999% will blow it all on their bad habits, rather than to straighten their situation out. I've given it and seen it.
2
The wealthy do the same. Even worse.
@Rufus
I don't think people are suggesting cash handouts.
Wealthiest nation in the world by far for decades, yet we're being led to believe for over a decade now by "conservatives" that we are too broke to help the neediest so must reduce taxes to only help the wealthiest, all while deceiving that this will Make us a Christian nation Again.
18
Homelessness, joblessness, substance abuse, and mental illness all go together: any one circumstance can lead eventually to any or all of the others.
Although there are support programs available to help people, frighteningly, the system we resort to is the criminal justice system. Collectively, we don't seem to know what to do until the homeless commit a crime. Then, unfortunately, we know exactly what to do. Throwing people in jail gets them off the street and out of sight, but only compounds the problem with criminal records.
We need wrap-around, comprehensive care services and earlier interventions.
The solution can't be local or state, as raising taxes will just force families and businesses over the border. (Texas has built it's economy on luring businesses with tax breaks.) The funding solution has to be national, while the implementation solution has to be local.
8
@Peer Gynt
Implementation has to have standards met by all 50 States. We have a national hwy system; we have a national public health system; we have a national public school system; we have the EPA for clean air and water; we have national parks and so on.
Just returned from Berkeley/Oakland after visiting family.
It was astounding to see the changes to the area these last ten years.
Small, nothing special houses are now worth millions. At the same time crime is rampant, house and car break ins have become the norm and violent crime has increased and spread to all areas.
Some criminal activity has been decriminalized to misdemeanor status.
It is amazing what citizens are willing to put up with.
The homeless problem is part of the much bigger problems in the area and politics is largely responsible.
11
still, this article makes it sound like it's drugs and poor choices that lead to homelessness. actually, it's not being able to pay the rent and not having family/friends/socal services to help you during a bad time.
11
For many, it is drugs and poor choices. For others, it's bad employment situations and lack of a safety net. For those in the latter category, moving to a place with employment opportunities and a lower cost of living is a reasonable solution.
As a member of a recovery community, it saddens me to read that he thinks that he may still be able to drink wine again, once he gets his life together. Drugs and alcohol, as self-abusers intertwined, are like the running on a hamster wheel; chasing an intellectual fantasy of control that gets a person no where. Until he chooses complete,100% abstinence, he's probably going to stay on his demon treadmill, chasing the illusion of control.
18
I’m glad that the Times ran this article. I think that middle class people think of The Homeless as Other. This couldn’t happen to us. Except when it does.
To those who lament the celebratory bottle of wine Holts dreams of at the end of homelessness: Get off your “moral” high horse. He’s not exactly planning a life of debauchery. Many experts think the absolutist American approach to drinking actually creates more alcoholics than European controlled drinking approaches.
“Move someplace cheaper.” Generally this is disastrous advice which has caused homelessness. Even a homeless person typically has some support system in their home city/region. In a new city they have nothing but the hostility of the authorities, and local homeless people who have a prior claim to services.
It wasn’t always like this. When Holys and I were young, there weren’t these encampments. You didn’t need to have a perfect substance use record to have a home. If there were a genuine commitment to housing everyone, we could end this scourge.
13
@Walker 77//// why should there be a genuine commitment to house everyone?????? Me and countless millions of other people struggle and break our back to keep a safe roof over our head. And it ain't easy.
5
Forget about the politicians on Washington. Where are the local politicians from these areas, most of whom are liberal Democrats? This is a local issue as much as it is a national disgrace. The rich can be taxed locally to defray costs for needed resources. So what are the local mayors and politicians doing? Just blame shifting to the GOP? Let’s have some leadership!
8
@Romeo Salta
Liberals are NIMBYs too. They don’t want homeless shelters in their backyard. Or dense housing. I loathe the Bay Area hypocrites who fight dense apartment developments atop mass transit stations. Or Navigation Centers to provide social services to these folks.
1
Keep these stories coming. A place to sleep, shower, use the bathroom is a human need; few people can live a life of dignity without them. A visit by a social worker, or another well meaning individual can make a day tolerable for a homeless person but without public and political will the relief is minuscule.
13
For al the Neoliberal, libertarian, moralists out there who feel the need to submit comments that view this as an individual instead of a systemic social problem, and blame the victim for his "bad choices":
Just wait until they automate or outsource your work (of course, after you've locked into a huge mortgage, incurred credit card debt, have a car payment, and student loans).
Then your wife leaves you and you have no healthcare or savings and are unemployable in your field,, except as a minimum wage Walmart worker. You get foreclosed on the home. The car is repossessed. You can't get credit. You can't find 3 months security payment on the cheapest rental.
What will you do?
18
@Bill Wolfe
This story is not about a guy to whom that happened. This story is about a guy who got addicted to crack., broke up his marriages, stole from his family and friends and did 8 years in prison.
The guy whose job disappears? Yeah, we should socialize that suffering? This guy and the other millions of addicts?
No. Just NO.
3
This guy needs to step away from the booze. It will pull him down again. One of the earmarks of alcoholism is denial --- denial that there is a problem in the first place, denial that life is getting worse, denial that things will get better without the sauce.
It is drugs and alcohol that put a person on the street. Which is very sad, because alcohol and drug addiction are very difficult maladies to treat.
19
Oakland has the worst city government I’ve experienced.
They can’t even fill pot-holes
let alone handle the city-wide
misery that our unhoused
citizens endure, many of whom
are ELDERLY, ill, and unable to
care for themselves. Seven years
ago when we arrived here everyone was talking about the
homeless crisis, the homeless
emergency. They’re still talking
and now we face the kind of
NIMBYism I’ve never seen before.
It’s rock solid—these folks are
actually afraid their property values will decline or their view of
the Bay will be obstructed if
a building of affordable or supportive housing goes up in
their neighborhood. They tsk-tsk
but in reality they’re totally fine
walking by people suffering in
squalor; lacking food, water,
and sanitary conditions.
Berkeley is just as bad, though
they have a bit more concern for
sanitary conditions in some of
the encampments. Oh and there’s
a big banner over the entrance to
city hall smugly declaring themselves a sanctuary city—but
for whom?
16
The bottle of wine he proposes to buy when he finds housing, Tokaji Aszu 6 Puttonyos, costs about $80.
I am also a wine lover and I know it's possible that I will become homeless. Unless you are from a wealthy family, in the US we are all only one medical catastrophe away from being destitute.
But I won't slip into homelessness like this guy. I won't waste my money on crack. And if I do become homeless, and I manage to get shelter again, I'll surely celebrate with wine. Surely. But ...
You can have a lot of delicious wines for $20 or so. A good sommelier would know that.
I am never going to criticize someone for spending money they have on a splurge wine. That's what money is for.
But at the end of this guy's story, you find a reason he's homeless. It's not just addiction. It's a poor relationship with money.
13
@Wolf How about the 2.99 from your local Trader Joe?
2
@Wolf In America today, we need to blame somebody else for our problems. It is never our responsibility.
2
@Wolf//// excellent post. it appears he had a lot of opportunity and good fortune and could have continued on an upward tragectory, but for whatever reasons it went in the opposite direction- a lot of it self-induced.
2
I would strongly recommend that Mr. Holys skip the wine or any other mind altering substances. As an addict, Mr. Holys will not thrive if he starts drinking.
18
Good luck to him. Everyone has a story, or, at least one they made up... Thing is, do we just let people stay under bridges and on freeway ramps until the rats get them? Actual rats, human rats, personal rats...? Supervised housing, supervised reentry into society - no choice to be "on the bum" for years... It's not easy living in a tent, under cardboard, out of a shopping cart.... It does NO ONE any good to be like that. So, if you "can't help it" you get assigned to a system that gets you a roof, access to a bathroom and a bed, a phone, a counselor. The more you "can't help it" the more supervision and the less freedom to decide for yourself what you will do with the rest of your life. I try to think this is a positive thing, but nothing will be perfect. First thought, however: "You don't have to like it, but you can't stay here. You have some place to go, start going. No place to go, come with me." I'd hate to be in his situation. I'd hate worse to have no ladder out of it. Give them a way out, not a way to stay there. "Down and out" shouldn't be where you "can" stay.
9
I could like this guy. Best wishes Mr. Holys.
6
After reading about Mr. Holys' various addictions I think the article's title is a bit misleading in suggesting how even those with affluent careers can end up among the ranks of California's homeless. Plenty of people work hard as sommeliers in the Bay Area and don't end up in tents surrounded by rats. Crack addiction and thievery were Mark-Steven's own chosen roads.
18
There is something deeply, structurally wrong with the USA.
12
Sorry CA, you did it to yourself when you passed the the Lanterman-Petris-Short (LPS) Act, which virtually abolished involuntary hospitalization except in extreme cases.
10
Cunning, baffling and powerful. I hope he decides to celebrate with a cup of tea and a soft bed instead.
14
If crack cocaine had been legal, Mr. Holys could have bought it unadulterated and cheap, and kept his job.
We need to apply the alcohol model to all drugs.
6
Holy cow - a NYTimes article on homelessness that doesn’t simply blame high housing costs (although they couldn’t quite resist it entirely). What’s happening?
4
For those compassionate commentators who mention the social worker as the angel who responds to the homeless under duress, please note the following stark reality we face going forward with projected salary cuts in 2020 and 2021:
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has proposed two reductions in reimbursement for clinical social workers (CSWs) who are Medicare providers. These proposed cuts include a four (4) percent cut in 2020 for code revisions or a seven (7) percent cut in 2021 to increase reimbursement for evaluation and management (E/M) services which are provided by physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants.
The proposed reductions are included in the proposed rule issued by CMS, "File Code CMS-1715-P; CY 2020 Revisions to Payment Policies under the Physician Payment Schedule and Other Changes to Part B Payment Policies."
If CSWs cannot afford to remain in Medicare, then millions of Medicare beneficiaries, including older adults and persons with disabilities, will lose access to essential mental health services. The nation can ill afford to implement these disincentives to CSW participation in this major federal program.
Medicare provides services to homeless seniors in need and that includes the dilemma Mr. Holys faces, in addition to his widening circle of homeless peers barely surviving on outskirts of freeway.
Please Google CMS on this proposed rule and add your voice to this critically important advocacy effort.
14
This is what happens when rent stability is voted on way pass the time it should have been voted on. Instead of tearing down one behemoth building only to erect another maybe the city could house homeless. These are human beings, it’s time to treat them as one.
1
Is a roof over your head, despite personal adversity, a basic human right like health care? Or do we condemn these unfortunates to living like ferrel animals as “punishment “ for their failings? We can do better.
4
Republican America:
Survival of the fittest.
8
Troll me if you want, but we live in a capitalistic society that enjoys putting people on the street because our politicians refuse to build affordable housing or have apartments priced that people can afford. College you dont deserve to go to college so it is overpriced
Politicians tell us we dont deserve health care so please just go die and leave us alone the CEO needs to buy another private jet.
Certain zip codes dont need books because we have charter schools who are listed on the Stock exchange and the management of them who have no education background deserve to take tax payers money and make millions.
Why people don't want to have children, it is very simple because no one wants to live on the street, and yes we have many varieties of cancer, dementia,Parkinson that is not being cured so why would anyone in America bring a child into such a mess.
A mess that we have created by an indifference to anyone who isn't them and if you are smart this country and tis corruption across the world is not a nurturing environment for anyone
We refuse to elect politicians who will do anything so since we are all at risk people would rather go without children vs living on the street because they can not pay their child's ,parents medical bills
7
@Tony Here's the rub. Where does the money to subsidize affordable housing come from? It comes from tax payers, many of whom work very hard just to make ends meet paycheck to paycheck. Why should they be on the hook for people who have made poor choices in their lives? Because that IS how many people view homeless people like Mr. Holys. How much of a drop in their living standards do you think should be imposed upon them so that we can house all substance abusers who can't support themselves? It's a complicated issue. Giving everyone a home, or college, or health care is Democratic Socialism, and as of now, MOST Americans do not support that. Politicians are not elected in a vacuum. People elect them to represent them. If we want a different system, WE have to demand it, and even then, if enough people DON'T demand it, changes won't happen.
2
There is always someone willing to pick up men who have gotten themselves into trouble. Why does the same not happen with women?
3
@Inveterate
Just the opposite is true.
3
I can just hear the snarky judgements. If you are at all tempted to make one of those, look deep in your heart and you might see fear.
13
I hope he’ll be ok.
5
I had to move back in with my parents after my divorce. It was either that or living on the street. I am handicapped. It took me two years to receive State and Federal help to get my life back on track. All I needed was a little help. I was then gainfully employed for over 40 years, able to buy a house. Sometimes a little help goes a long way.
695
Wow same job for 40 years?
9
@Bompa Wow, "gainfully employed" does not necessarily mean same job for one's entire career, though that is possible. Gainfully employed can mean one or more jobs.
12
@Sharon Conway:"I had to move back in with my parents after my divorce. "
Our society should look upon a move like that with admiration for you and your parents.
Instead it is a point of derision by people throughout the political spectrum.
20
So many of us, as this article so correctly and chillingly notes, are just one medical emergency away from homeless. Yet judging from the great percentage of homeless people in the wealthiest state in the wealthiest nation, it seems that all too many no longer care to acknowledge that "there but for the grace of god go I."
388
@Christopher
Actually I think this is our greatest fear
39
@FerCry'nTears
I learned that phrase on the East Coast where people were more likely to hand out change, or dollars to beggars in doorways and sitting on sidewalks than I had ever seen in my hometown, S.F. I grew up on a ranch in the Central Valley; no one in the family was a rancher; however, my father kept two horses there. My grandfather, owner of said ranch, built a gas station and a motel adjacent to Hwy. 99. Hobos rode the Southern Pacific, and often appeared at the backdoor asking for food. No beggar was ever turned away; on Thanksgiving and Christmas tables were set up on a side porch; my cousin and I were allowed to bring home any hobo found for a holiday dinner. This was because of the Great Depression when so many were on the road with nothing. There were no shelters, food kitchens, or charities in the country. The Catholic churches in Manteca and Stockton might have done something to help the poor.
35
@Christopher
San Francisco spends a quarter of a billion (with a b) dollars a year trying to address homelessness, so it’s a little too easy to blame a want of caring. Every neighborhood needs to allow shelters and low income/subsidized housing as part of the mix. There’s a lot of nimby-ism, for sure.
24
The article states that many American families are one crisis away from homelessness and living in an encampment such as the one described here. I would like to read an article about that. Instead, the focus is on a drug addict and criminal, in other words the typical stereotype of a homeless person, no matter his background. Not too enlightening....
55
There are a lot of invisible homeless people who are living in their cars or living temporarily with friends and family or living in shelters. They often move from place to place and don't always want to be identified.
20
@Ellie
Yes, anaticle about the many Americans who are one medical emergency away from economic disaster would be interesting.
A thought provoking article. As someone who lives in LA and is well aware of the homeless crisis in this state, I can appreciate there is not one solution to this problem. High cost of housing and living in this state is often mentioned as a factor. Why can’t we have a program to assist those who would be willing to live and work elsewhere in the country find jobs and housing in those areas? Most parts of the country are considerably cheaper than SF and LA. I have often moved to other parts of the country to find work, and I will be moving from CA when I retire, as I will no longer be able to afford to live here.
20
@Cincin89 - If you do that then the only people who will be able to afford the city would be billionaires and people making 6 figures.
Try and imagine a city where one could not just dash in and get a cup of coffee. Or hit a drive-thru on the way home from work. Imagine no grocery stores or big box stores because the employees can't afford to live in the city. Imagine no staff at the doctor's desk to manage calls and set up appointments.
If a society if not willing to pay a living wage then it will wind up without all of the perks that we take for granted and that make our cities great.
35
@tom harrison
The problem is that billionaires need the servant class. They need dry cleaning shops, coffee shops, grocery stores, etc.
There's a reason that in ye olden days, rich people's homes had servants quarters.
It's far cheaper to give them a place to live in your home than to pay them more so they can afford to live in your neighborhood.
352
California’s housing situation needs attention but is not going to be fixed overnight. For homeless individuals whose main obstacle is the high cost of housing, I am sure there are some who would welcome the opportunity for a fresh start where there are jobs and affordable housing.
4
I’m addicted to water, food and caffeine. I’m not sure what laws I would break to fulfill those addictions if I had to.
29
@Michael
You are trivializing the effects of addiction to cocaine and heroin. It is really not the same thing,
3
@Michael
Calling those an addiction is a misleading misuse of the word. You might as well say that you're addicted to video games.
3
My intended point is that when you are beholden to an intense need you might break a law to fulfill it. Under certain circumstances tons of these moralizers who condemn drug addicts woulsteal to eat. Upon rereading what I wrote I see that it was unclear.
1
Between layoffs and stagnant wages on the part of greedy corporations and the GOP’s best efforts to destroy the social safety net, the number of homeless is sure to swell even further.
24
First we must throw billions at our addiction and mental health crisis, because it’s a crisis and we simply cannot let this happen a second longer it’s cruel. Secondly we need to stop living in these states and cities. Companies also need to leave them. The only way these cities will become affordable is if people leave them so costs go down. We need to stop staying in these cities that rob us blind and companies need to also shift to other cities. This country is massive we need to start leaving to send a strong and clear message that we’re tried of these policies and the concentration of wealth on coasts. It’s draining our savings and causing the average person massive stress.
12
It is amazing what you can learn about someone when you start talking with him. Thank you for this great article.
20
I'm Mr. Holys's age.
My working life began in the early 1980s and during it I never made more than $25,000 a year but since my late twenties I've always had enough money or credit to live on for at least a year. I saved. I knew I'd like cocaine so I never tried it. I didn't marry or have kids because I didn't earn enough to appeal to women with my level of education and I practiced safe sex. I was on time for work, I prepared my own meals, got books and videos out of the library, commuted by bicycle, bought clothes at thrift shops, took care of my health, vacationed in my home city, never stole a dime from anyone, and never gambled.
I didn't live a luxurious lifestyle but the only times I've slept in a tent were by choice.
My level of sympathy for Mr. Holys is about zero.
57
Aaron luna was a sommelier in san Francisco and now is homeless in Sacramento. I miss that cat. We need to make a change.
7
Why the awe over his knowledge of fine wines? His main addiction, and the root of his many problems, is likely alcohol. “I think I can drink,” said Phillip Seymour Hoffman after years of complete sobriety, and in a short time he was dead of a heroin overdose. In Utah, their “housing first” program stabilizes people’s lives, so they can get sober. They’ve had a lot of success.
23
I don't want my tax dollars funding this guy buying a $70 bottle of wine, which is what Royal Tokaji costs.
23
@David - And how much do both Republicans and Democrats spend of your tax dollars on fine wines and underage women?
1
So why do none of these people who find him an extraordinary human being offer him a leg up and a way out? From the sound of things more than a few of them are very wealthy.
14
A disgrace. Local governments ought to work together to get rid of NIMBYism so prevalent in this area.
5
I think he will make it back better than ever.
11
I live in Oakland, and see this every day, as I struggle to survive on my tiny Social Security checks, glad that I get them and glad that I am old.
To the mayor of Oakland - and all mayors - support significant tax increases on the rich and on corporations. All homeless people should have 24 hour a day access to restrooms and to mental and physical health support, as well as job training to be funded by those tax increases.
This situation is going to get worse as climate change shifts the balance of society around the world. Please put in place the needed resources, now!
699
@dark brown ink
Exactly how much of a tax increase would satisfy your wishes?
Right now, someone making $200,000 per year in CA would have to pay 35% Federal, 9% CA, and 4% Net Investment Income Taxes.
Imagine that...If someone worked hard and stashed enough money to be earning interest and dividends, their reward is having 48% of their investment earnings confiscated per year.
But yes, please ask your mayors to support ever more tax increases. If you can't make do with stealing nearly 50% of someone's hard earned work, then maybe you're just not entitled to it.
17
@dark brown ink
Unfortunately, I don't think us humans have the capacity to put enough og our differences aside to get to that point.
Too many will forgo any agreements to continue enriching themselves while too many living in poverty will continue to outstrip their resources which, without the help of the unwilling rich, will ultimately collapse.
As you mention, all this will get exasperated by climate change and may lead to something akin one of those post apocalyptic movies ... if we, as a species, even make it that far.
I feel for the generation on the cusp, even though so many seem indifferent. But hey, you go Youtube star!
Be glad you're old and enjoy this amazing world as long as you can.
12
@Jason W
I worked in a corporate office, East Coast, for 22 yrs. Anyone making $200,000 per year would have a tax accountant to prepare taxes, and all loopholes etc. would be applied. I never heard of anyone at that level paying 50% in taxes. The corporation had corporate tax accountants in house, and access to outside tax experts.
30
I don't know how much this has to do with anything, but Oakland has some of the best weather in a state blessed with a pleasant climate. During my days of homelessness during the '80's, the weather, as I divided my time between rural Southern Oregon and rural Northern California, was the least of my problems. But then I considered myself a hobo. I worked in the woods and in construction to feed myself, never took public assistance, and wasn't a substance abuser; I was just poor.
273
@Bob - I ended up homeless in Los Angeles once due to weather. A bad divorce left me in debt, literally without anything from 8 years of marriage, and I was living in a broken down van. When the police slapped a tow away notice on it, I decided that I was not going to spend a winter in Seattle in 38 degree rain so I took my last $100 and took Amtrak to L.A. I read tarot cards on the Venice Boardwalk for a year till I could dig my wait out. The issue wasn't trying to make money. The issue was that since I had just lost my three kids (I never saw them again), I could not find a single reason to continue living. It was a very dark, bleak year in sunny L.A.
397
@Bob You describe the dilemma of the 21st century to a "T".
22
@Bob It's been very hot this past summer in Oakland, and I worry about those living outside with no relief from the heat, not even a fan. I visited Oakland during one of the heat spells recently and my heart went out to those living along the freeways and other tent cities. And even middle class non-homeless people can barely afford the rents and mortgages. We need affordable housing!
16
Follow the money. The housing crisis is making a lot of people very rich, anything that causes property values to decrease, like increasing the supply of affordable homes, will be opposed by them. Also our State and local governments are funded by the ever increasing property tax revenue, so governments are also opposed to reducing the cost of housing. Housing should be shelter, not an economic bonanza that benefits the few.
33
@JohnP
The Founding Fathers gave voting rights to property holders only; that changed over time. Women did not have the right to vote for decades. The right to vote for all is fairly recent, e.g. Black citizens in the deep South got the right to register to vote in the 60's.
A dear friend, who has the same income that I do, said recently "I am afraid that I will end up homeless." My reply to her was what are you doing to prevent it? I let her know the many steps I have taken over the last two decades to be sure that I am secure. She is living beyond her means and takes on more debt every month. She lives in a house she can not afford, but does not try to get one that is less expensive. Her plan for retirement is thin at best. Spending can be an addiction, but you can't change if you don't have the motivation. Amazingly fear of being homeless is not enough of a motivation to live within your means and save for retirement. Only she can save herself by changing long habits.
33
@Sutter We are all in this together. Surely some people may live beyond their means, but by your measure, it is personally irresponsible to pay for: college tuition, graduate school tuition, health insurance premiums, deductibles, and co-pays, skyrocketing rent, car expenses mandated pathetic public transportation, healthy food such as fruits and vegetables (which are not subsidized, unlike deadly processed junk food, which is cheaper). Meanwhile, billionaires just got massive tax breaks under Trump, huge corporations pay nothing and hedge fund managers/real estate moguls get preferential treatment in the tax code. All hot on the heels of Bush II's tax breaks.
5
The homeless problem exploded when the late mayor of SF gave tax breaks to tech companies to move to SF( like they needed the extra money). Next came the flood of big money that resulted in the elimination of the lowest rung of housing. Land prices rose and landlords sold their buildings to developers who built high priced condos for the incoming tech workers. It happened relatively quickly. With only dollar signs in their eyes, no one thought about the consequences to ordinary residents of selling out to tech giants. All of this because a Mayor wanted to lure tech giants from Silicon Valley.
39
@Sasha
Definitely part of the problem. And our poorly designed rent control ordinance, the result of bad compromises between bad actors, set the stage for mass evictions when there was money to be made doing so.
The City's leaders basically created a jobs program not for San Francisco residents, but for the best and the brightest of the country's computer science graduates. They're not the folks who needed help.
15
@Sasha - Sounds like you are describing Seattle after Amazon arrived on the scene. So much affordable housing got torn down and replaced with luxury condos that only Chinese billionaires and the Amazonian hipsters can afford them.
It seemed like rents doubled overnight and neighborhoods got gentrified real quick. The last mayor went so far as to paint some rainbow stripes at a couple of intersections in what had been the gay neighborhood. More and more it looks like it is trying to be Manhattan and gays are feeling squeezed out.
Our city has a law that if you want to build apartments and the building is 4 stories or more, the first floor of the building has to be retail. This was to build neighborhoods. Perhaps in addition to that, a law needs to be passed that any apartment/condo building has to have an assortment of various priced housing so rich people don't just drive the poor out onto the streets because they have decided they like the view.
There is a fair amount of housing sitting vacant today in Seattle because it was bought up by Chinese billionaires speculating.
If we can get a rover to Mars, we can become better city planners. I don't see much planning, just a lot of reacting.
5
@Sasha
Don’t forget San Francisco’s professional class NIMBYs who fight every new development, even 100% affordable (in the Mission) and Navigation Centers, tooth and nail.
Just remember, every floor you succeed in eliminating from a new building represents 4-10 homes in the general supply of housing. Homes that will never, ever get built.
Any then you wonder why homes are so expensive. You can’t wish people away, all you’ll end up with are $4000 per mo 1 BR apartment.
4
Beautiful, thanks for writing that. We are all so fortunate, many of us by luck alone, not to be on the storm drain.
24
My mother is a medical social worker at a DC area hospital. Many of her patients are homeless and share their stories of lives before, much like the man mentioned in this article. She is always overwhelmed by the tragic circumstances of some, many of whom had previous stability, but had life take a turn for the worst. Many have family members or friends who want nothing more to do with them or unfortunately can’t help. My mom does her best to find them shelter and adequate medical care, and in cases of substance abuse issues, treatment programs. She then must hope the best for them and go back to work to help hundreds of others. She relays these stories to me and they have a very sobering effect on how I view poverty and social issues. It breaks my heart that the wealthiest country in the world has such a weak social support network. What can we do and how can we improve this? I hope the next administration has some solutions.
50
Fascinating man. He has served some of the wealthiest, most powerful people of one the wealthiest cities in America, and now he is having to claw his way back from rock bottom. It seems his memories of tasting some of the world's finest wines, with their sublime layering of flavors, have sustained him through rat-infested nights. And now that he is beginning to pull out of the streets, he dreams of celebrating with a high-end dessert wine. A true sommelier.
16
As the State with the highest population and growing, we also have unique problems. We are larger than many countries put together. Affordable housing, public transportation, are just a couple. I remember a few years ago, the mayor of San Jose couldn’t afford to live in his own district, which made news but fell off the radar. Personally, I drive a 50 mile round trip in my own city, to and from work. The little, luxury community I’m employed in, is far from where it is somewhat affordable to live. That’s what we do. I think we all live in fear of something random happening and taking us from employed to homeless. I totally get this guys story.
31
There is a lot of focus in the comments about Mr. Holys' bad choices. People at all social levels make bad choices, have mental illness, lose their jobs, struggle with overwhelming medical bills etc. If you are lucky to be well off or have family that is, you may have a safety net. The problem isn't bad luck or personal failings. It's lack of affordable housing, period. Our city governments have failed us by allowing developers to build for the wealthy at the expense of the poor.
39
Astonishing to see the view outside my window in the New York Times. What this photograph doesn't show, however, is how long the road lined with tents really is. It doesn't show the piles of garbage sprawling onto that road--the ongoing danger to resident and passerby alike. It doesn't address the fires that keep happening either. While this story is poignant, I wish the New York Times could also address how the Bay Area is/is NOT responding to this crisis. In the past two years, I've watched my entire neighborhood transform into tent cities, and it's only getting worse. If you don't see or live this reality everyday, it's far too easy to pretend it's not there. Something needs to be done, and the country's scrutinizing and compassionate eye on this very serious crisis would surely help those in need of housing and services.
47
That’s the underbelly of free market capitalism. There are people, for one reason or another, that can’t sustain themselves in that system and need socialist solutions paid for by tax dollars. When you take those tax dollars and give them back to corporations and the wealthy, as was done by Trump, you are exacerbating the homeless problem and other social ills.
27
I've stopped reading comments on US stories about the homeless after reading one too many cruel comment placing all the blame on the down and out for all their problems. As if we don't live in a country with essentially no safety net for anyone. But I'm poking my head in here to say I hope Mr. Holys is able to finally find a stable roof over his head and I wish him success.
51
Where is our compassion? We progressives are eager to admit the foreign poor and the worlds’ refugees while our own citizens live on the streets. I know it’s difficult to manage peoples’ personal struggles but surely we can do better. These encampments are unhealthy and dangerous to those who resort to living there. At the very least it affects the quality of life of those of us who live in these cities while being lucky enough to have what we need.
14
@treisja
I am only interested in admitting the most brilliant, and those who absolutely, positively have no where else to go.
I think we need to put a squeeze on the capitalists so they have to hire and even compete for American workers. Exporting jobs and/or importing workers needs to be made a lot more difficult.
Charity begins at home as a matter of necessity, it's not just a saying.
8
@SB
Ironically, the US is one the best countries for protecting domestic worker rights against foreigners.
Just imagine if American trade representatives abroad marketed America as the place for your business because labor is 40% cheaper yet the top tier educated.
That's what Canada does now, and suffers no blow back in the legitimate press.
1
One of those valley titans needs to get Mr. Holys into a place where he can do his unique work and apply his very rare skills to people who want good wine. Then, Mr. Holys needs to take a drug test EVERY single day and go to a meeting EVERY single day.
We need him.
But not just because he knows about pinot and Hungarian sweet wine, but because he's a human being who has fallen on hard times and needs help.
Step up, titans.
27
@MG
I don’t want a lottery ticket for this one man.
I want a 5% tax on those titans and on the financial transactions on Wall Street so we can help prevent more Mr. Holys’.
3
Mr. Holy's story also has important warnings. Make wise choices. Be it whom to marry, to knowing the value of living within ones means, and below ones means, so that one socks away savings for down times. Even knowing how many children one can morally, ethically and legally afford on ones own sans ANY government program.
As for the San Francisco bay area. From San Francisco, down to Silicon Valley and over to Oakland NOTHING is being done to tackle the affordable housing CRISIS. KQED FM's Forum show 9-11 am M-F have done so many segments on the issue I swear they could simply rebroadcast past shows since these places just talk talk talk, never do do do!
My family has been in California since the 1950's Gold Rush and the hard fact is, throughout the country people have moved, migrated to where they could afford to live and where there were jobs. Thankfully our clan has always been rooted in the rough and ready hot in summer, snow up to the roof line in winter Sierra area where you have to have a rugged survival mindset and no desire to keep up with the Jones.
7
While they may be linked, the article is about addiction, not homelessness. Housing an addict solves nothing.
13
I grant you that some degree of mental illness contributed to this mans situation. But making that observation alone in this situation seems reductive - as if that explains the totality of this story.
I would suggest it does not. Perhaps it helps our perspective to note that mental illness exists along a spectrum. Many people function in some environments and not in others. It is not really useful to simply say a situation is due to mental illness without considering the specifics of that situation. For example repeated water boarding might make me, a critical care physician used to high stress on a regular basis, into a nonfunctional person. While “mental illness” would not be a wrong label for part of the cause of my dysfunction it surely communicates very little useful
about how to approach that situation.
As the homeless problem grows it is surely reasonable to examine people who have been previously functional to see what can be done to help them.
What should we as a society do about our mental heath problem?
Do you really want to help address this issue or come up a with a reason not to engage?
7
@Daniel B Addiction is a mental health issue. I am sorry you begrudge someone some relief from the pain and suffering of addiction. Housing is the first step to dealing with addiction issues. Suffering from an addiction is punishment enough.
3
Housing an addict is a good start. Having a warm and dry place to lay your head gives one hope and that is what addicts need to seek recovery.
6
It easy to blame mental illness, drugs, personal choices, etc. as reasons for homelessness.....and it makes for good copy. But the reality is that only a small percentage of homeless people fit that category. The truth is far too many working people are victims of the vile destructive and abusive Republican policies that promote income inequality and needless suffering. Adding insult to injury, they turn around and blame the poor themselves. I had a good life once too. Highly educated, succesful career, owned my own home, had financial security, donated to charities, etc. I have never been addicted to drugs, do not suffer from debilitating mental illness and have strong family support. And due to no fault of my own, but to the filthy greed of the GOP and their 1%ers backers, I lost everything. Being middle aged and facing pervasive and unconscionable age discrimination, I now work at the local college for 17k per year with no benefits. Like any hard working person, I am entitled to decent life including pay parity, health care, financial security and productive career opportunities. I don't care if the rich - individuals or corporations have to be taxed at 90%, if every single noxious tax loophole is permanently removed and we throw every foul mouthed GOP criminal behind bars....including the treasonous one in the White House. I want the life I deserve again along with every other deserving American. And at this point, I don't care what it takes to get it back.
23
I work in LA with a first responder agency that has seen a huge increase in homeless related incidents. We don’t have a homeless crisis, we have a drug addiction crisis, a mental health crisis and a public safety crisis brought on by a lack of leadership and funding and an outrageous tolerance in the richest communities in America allowing people in crisis to have the “right” to sleep on the streets. It’s a giant disgrace.
28
@HK....Thank you, well said. And thank you again for being on the front-line.
2
My heart aches for this apparently accomplished man. One of my sisters faced similar consequences because of her addiction to cocaine, and lost everything she had, including a wildly successful business. She was never homeless but only for the grace and kindness of my mother who always provided shelter.
Isn't there someone out there from Mr. Holys' sommelier past that would give this gentleman another chance? It's clear he would take the opportunity and run with it. Please, anyone?!!?
5
At the moment I have good healthcare coverage with a small retirement check. The healthcare is probably worth at least as much as the retirement checks in my case.
If I had to give advice to a younger person I’d say get vested in a retirement system that has decent healthcare coverage. In this country no one but the very rich can afford to get sick.
I can work a part-time job to supplement my small retirement, but I could never work enough to pay for my own healthcare.
11
@meritocracy now
In case you don't know, health care is one of the first benefits to be cut back, or entirely ended unless mandated by State law. Not sure if the figure still applies to health care, cut I recall the mandate did not kick in until a business employed 50 or more people.
I love human interest stories such as this one. It helps to show how issues like homelessness are complicated. Should there be more affordable housing? Sure but if you have a drug problem or mental illness, it's going to be hard to maintain housing, no matter the cost.
14
California's problem has many facets. There are no easy fixes. Drug/alcohol addiction and mental illness play a big part. High housing cost is another.
We need to create tens of thousands of new jobs for social workers/probation officers so they have caseloads that are low enough they can provide the assistance needed.
We need low income housing. Studies have shown that housing the homeless, even if they are drug addicted and mentally ill, is economically less than leaving them on the streets.
Putting them in villages of mobile homes and converted container carriers is a disaster waiting to happen. There needs to be rational, well thought out planning for additional housing. Maybe a real Economic Opportunity Zone that is designed to help low income folks, rather than exist as a tax haven for the rich.
NIMBY fears (which are justified in CA) need to be addressed. Fifty years of real estate developers excesses have left their mark. People see new development as automatic degradation of infrastructure.
8
@Sharon/// 'Putting them in villages of mobile homes and converted container carriers is a disaster waiting to happen' - so living under a tarp or in a sewer tunnel is better?
Very interesting and well written story. I am surprise that California has not built more affordable housing and created more addiction treatment centers.
9
@Pryor
Have you met a California NIMBY? They’re the best in the business.
3
NYC spends $3.2 billion per year on homeless programs including about $2 billion to shelter 60,000 per night, for a total cost of more than $50,000 per person (or $200,000 for a family of four). The cost of these programs is exacerbated by the fact that generous benefits attract more homeless people to the city. By the time people become homeless their problems are often extraordinarily difficult and expensive to solve. More spending to prevent and treat early stage addiction and mental health issues might be dollars well spent.
38
@Brian
As countless interviews and statistics with shelter workers have demonstrated, most people do not wind up homeless because of mental illness or addiction. They wind up homeless because the lose income, and get evicted from their homes.
The welfare payment are not enough to keep people in a home and feed them, period.
Once homeless, of course mental health problems emerge. How sane would you be if you didn't know where you next pair of clean underwear was going to come from?
How sane would you be if you couldn't get 6 to 8 hours of sleep a night, and had to routinely fight bugs, drug addicts and people who try to rob you?
People who insist on the mental health shtick have no idea what it's like to be homeless, and don't actually talk to homeless people.
The vast majority of homeless people don't talk to journalists, and don't have their stories heard because it's not a story journalists want to tell.
The obvious solution of giving people a place to live with that $50K/year, backed up homeless researchers for decades, is something that nobody wants to hear. Switzerland is the only country that has doubled their welfare payments to the poor and in a total coincidence, got rid of their homelessness problem.
19
@Brian
The last statistic I heard in SF was $250m per year. Much of that went to subsidize housing to keep people off the streets. With the cost of housing so high (because there isn’t enough), those dollars don’t go far. What we need to do is shut the NIMBYs down and build tens of thousands of apartments so those subsidies go farther.
2
@LEM Developers don't want to build units for low or no income people.
1
So this guy has a guaranteed income of $960/month for the rest of his life. None of his kids have a spare bedroom for Dad, who can help substantially with expenses? Maybe he's burned those bridges.
Well $960/month might not be survival-level in the Bay Area but how about Houston or Kansas? He gets that money wherever he lives in this country. Why battle it out in this increasingly-inhospitable place? A record and his age might cut him off from the job market indefinitely, no sense depending on that.
42
@nerdrage
If he moves from Houston or Kansas, he is not getting that $960/month.
6
Where in the US can a fully formed adult live for $960 a month? Is La La Land accepting new tenants?
9
@Brooklyn Dog Geek
If you read my comment under “Readers Picks” I already tell about my friend who lives on $900 in the Bay Area. Yes—with Section 8 and other support. But actually I met a man in Elk Bend Idaho just this summer who lives in a trailer park on $1000 a month and seems very happy. He hunts and fishes for fun and food.
The sommelier could have been afforded treatment under a rational correctional system. Instead he did eight years hard time. That seldom benefits anyone. But liberal California, as elsewhere, can't bring itself to pay for such a system, now all the more vital since the resources to pay are so much more concentrated as they are vast. Even if some class traitor were to assume power, those tech companies would pack up and leave in a trice to some alternate headquarters elsewhere, established in a city willing to humbly provide generous tax breaks and labor waivers, as Cuomo and De Blasio enthusiastically did for the sake of the attempted Amazon HQ2 1/2 swindle here.
9
We have known for a very long time that addiction to drugs can ruin lives. I have little sympathy for people who willingly start experimenting with these drugs when they know the consequences.
20
I’ve done drugs frequently including cocaine and have never had a problem with addiction. Addiction is a mental illness that exists before the drug use starts. It’s just lying in wait for anything—disordered eating, workaholism, sex, substances—to trigger it. It’s this outdated and inaccurate understanding of mental illness that prevents this country from really dealing with it.
3
Mr. Holys needs help with his addiction and his mental health. He would still be homeless, even with more housing in the Bay Area. I have visited every homeless shelter in San Francisco and spoken with countless homeless. The pattern is the same...addiction and mental illness were the driving forces. NOT housing costs. Even in the article...there's a strained attempt to correlate housing costs with the plight of Mr. Holys. But that's false. He needs help. Homelessness is a crisis of addiction and mental health that requires a national solution.
74
@Michael Further to your "what struck me" about his $960 monthly, I see similar situations here in Miami. The article quoted him as trying to control his substance abuse. That's fantasy and self-delusion. It controls you; you don't control it. He could have double or more of that money and still remain homeless or scrambling for the basics. Therefore, my guess is he's still on crack and there's no coming back. So, no amount of money, housing, other assistance or family/friends/samaritans will do the trick until....... until what?
7
Hopefully, someone in the restaurant or wine world make an effort to reach out to him, offer him a real job and change his circumstances. This is so sad and so American at the same time. Painful story....
11
Five children (with at least one adult child) with three women and still homeless? There is a lot missing from this story regarding the sad state of affairs for the sommelier.
102
I expected this story to be about society's role in pushing this guy to the fringe. But it was his own bad choices---to do drugs, to do enough drugs to get addicted, to steal to support his habit---that ruined his life. If he's determined to reform his life and find his way back, that's fine. But does he deserve unquestioning sympathy for his current plight? I'm not so sure.
28
Ok Zuckerberg, Google boys, etc. Step up.
Whats 100 million to you guys. Zippo.
Build and maintain 1. A mental hospital.2. Public housing for 100,000.
Problem solved.
It is outrageous that the lack of taxation has so starved the public coffers.
41
@scientella. Lack of taxation? Where?
4
@Jackson. Not on normal working people somewhere within range of the median income--who are taxed a lot. We're talking about corporations, hedge fund managers, billionaires, real estate moguls, etc. The tax breaks that allow the very wealthy to pay less than those considered "rich" but who are really working class, living in a big house.
4
@Jackson - I don't think Amazon paid much tax last year. And as I remember, Amazon got all kinds of tax incentives to open in the first place. And, we don't have a state income tax which is probably why the two richest men on earth live here. In ain't the weather. Those two geeks won't even buy a bag of weed and pay the tax on that which goes to education in this state:)
4
I've read some of the comments below. Where does it say this person has an alcohol problem? It clearly says he has a CRACK problem that he is trying to control.
To the writer, you fail to explain how he got his crack problem. Was it due to opioids after his surgeries?
6
Nobody turns to crack as a substitute for opioid addiction. They have little in common. I think you are thinking of heroine here.
1
This is the state that leads the "resistance” to President Trump in the name of “social justice.” How disgraceful.
6
A recommendation for Mr. Holys
1st of all get sober. If you look at the photo of him there's a bottle of liquor on his nightstand. His decline was long and fraught with addiction. AA works if you work it. Start by getting sober. You'll be shocked how your life will start working for you.
15
Read the infamous Gilded Age novel "Sister Carrie" about a character whose downard trajectory is similar to this. America really hasn't changed much in spirit in 100+ years. We could have solved these problems many times over but choose not to.
29
Such a complex heartbreaking problem. Perhaps a wealth tax can be put towards building a better safety net for those down on their luck.
9
Sorry to say but the homelessness would have tapped to Mr Holys regardless California’s housing situation. His drug addiction and mental health issues make that inevitable. I don’t find that his story so the right example of preventable homelessness. I know several personal examples of this of people livinng paycheck to paycheck with minimal savings and lives upended by one event like divorce or a new health crisis and poor social safety net to catch them. This story of addiction is not same as their stories, which deserves telling, even if they are more mundane.
25
@Sunnysandiegan if an addict can afford both drugs and housing they will obtain both. There is nothing intrinsically about addiction that makes one prone to homelessness, except that it’s a large expense. You might be surprised at how many people are put out by non-narcotic prescriptions. There’s only one bottom line in any budget whether or not you like what’s being bought. If not buying it makes a person sick they will choose it over keys, but no one wants to, and most addicts do live indoors.
I'm not sure about the unique properties of the homeless population in Oakland. In Los Angeles, the most recent study of our unhoused neighbors found that 71% of them were neither mentally ill nor abusing substances. The big problem in their lives is something that happened to them -- housing grew unaffordable and they fell off altogether that last hard, metal rung that we're promised will take us to the land of upward mobility.
I really wish we would get more stories about the families and singletons who were bumped off the ladder by a sudden layoff or a major unavoidable expense or a rent increase that, at last, could not be endured. Those are the majority of the homeless. Their stories are important. Through them we much more clearly see how fragile our own hold is on a workable life in the U.S.
I guess it's natural to want to make people without a place to live "other," to outline their life mistakes in rough crayon that helps us breathe because *we* would never start up with crack. But the truth is many people without homes are very much like us, and they are part of the whole we also inhabit. They are our responsibility. We need to get to know them.
31
@raph101 This deserves to be the top comment. I used to live in Sierra Madre, and over about six years, my rent went from $450 to $600 to $1000 a month for a studio apartment, after which I took a job across the country seeking more affordability. I found it doesn't exist - in places where rent is less, so are salaries. The real estate and development lobby work together now to keep housing prices high and rentals in short supply. Air BnB worsened the situation dramatically but has bought off politicians who think it will bring in tourism. Foreign cash buyers are the kicker in the housing market.
We do need better reporting but those of us who are housing-unstable because of an illness or layoff or housing manipulations are often too afraid to be interviewed because we are busy trying to keep our jobs. American stigmatizes "losers" whose lives hang by a thread. Notice how many here think that this man's frayed family relations must be his fault! This is one reason so many live beyond their means. You can't show up to your corporate job or your legal office in shoes bought at Payless lest someone decide you don't "fit" and here comes the layoff. Staying housed is now a full-time job in America, even for those of us fortunate enough to be still working full-time.
3
I feel so sorry for this man; but addiction is not destiny, and 61 is not too late to start again: Who has this wealth of knowledge of wines? Very few.
That is a great skill in the restaurant of the 1 %; do not forget it.
27
@Dr. Ricardo Garres Valdez
Very true.
I was struck by his eloquence.
If he is able to remain sober, I can imagine his knowledge of wine and poetic way of speaking, and thinking, carrying him back to a mainstream life, if that is what he wants.
3
There is no doubt a huge income disparity and affordable services and Medical care. However, in many homeless cases, the demon is the drug / alcohol addiction or mental health issue, or sometimes both. In LA, many people feel uncomfortable giving spare change to the homeless because there is this worry you are helping them buy more drugs. We give food.
In LA, many homeless from other parts of the country come here for our beautiful weather, which can be deceptive in winter.
Even with affordable housing, how does one solve the mental health and addiction and income inequality issues? Its not just finding a roof over their heads, they have no ability to sustain themselves. I think crack down on drugs and zero tolerance on experimenting on drugs, and drug education would be a great start.
9
Not to sound cruel but why the emphasis on homelessness and not on the consequences of drug addiction and criminality? Seems a bit misleading given recent commentary on the very real problem of lack of affordable housing. Sure we need safety nets in place to assist people in need but this gentleman’s choices resulted for the most part in this outcome.
25
I have a friend whose son is homeless. He has had housing n the past, but his paranoia and inability to follow house rules make a life camping under a bridge more comfortable. Schizophrenia medicated by alcohol and whatever else is available on the street will keep him homeless probably forever.
When djt rolls into town and declares that he has a simple solution to a problem that has bedeviled those who have actually worked with the homeless and are deeply aware of the complexity of this problem, he shows himself a fool (again). The real question is how we, as a society, will care for our mentally ill and addicts. It will not be inexpensive and will require taxpayer-provided housing in proximity to someone's backyard. I submit that the top 1% yielding 0.1% of their income in taxes would be an excellent start.
30
@LaLa. Why doesn’t your governor have a plan?
1
I struggle with understanding how personal choices become a public problem.
Yes, we need affordable housing.
Yes, we need more mental illness treatment.
And yes, people need to understand that poor decision making leads to a host of probelms others are not equiped to solve for them.
13
@Robbie
In four sentences, I think you summarized how many commenters feel. As to your last point, I don’t feel it is necessarily a public responsibility to pay for the effects of alcoholism and additction, and yet who can travel through some of the Native American reservations without understanding that addiction has complex ingredients, including such factors as victimization, cultural destruction and alienation, genetic predisposition to a disease, child abuse and sexual abuse, economic hopelessness (real or imagined), lack of emotional preparation for adulthood, etc. I don’t know any comprehensive solutions. But I do wish more doors were open to a sober Mark-Steven Holys, if he can get and stay sober. I, for one, am willing to see the military budget shrunk and taxes on corporations and the top 10% increased, if those taxes revenues are put to affordable housing, mental health, addiction, and other social services. I’m not sure whose fault it is there are so many walking wounded, but I believe we should try to help.
7
As a social worker, I disagree. The U.S.A. is the wealthiest country in the world. And we're brutal towards our most vulnerable. Let us be kinder, more gentle.
14
I have spent years living, working, and traveling throughout developing countries - particularly in Latin America. The homeless camp photo could easily have been taken in Lima or Sao Paulo. My feelings of American exceptionalism died a long time ago...
33
5 grown kids and the father is living in the streets. This is a fairly unique American problem. In most other countries, especially one as rich as the USA, somehow a family solution would have been found by now. But the social fabric is so weak here. Because the responsibility doesn’t get taken in by the family, it becomes the government’s responsibility. But then again, people don’t want to pay increased taxes to help pay for it all.
11
@SP "5 grown kids and the father is living in the streets". Unless you have dealt with an addict, you have no idea what it means to let an addict into your home. They lie and steal, even from their own kids. They will hock all your belongings while you are out working, then cuss you out or hit you, when you won't give them more money. Please, by the time an addict has become homeless, the family has tried everything to help him or her and it hasn't worked.
11
It’s not out of the question that many former state psychiatric hospitals could be partially or fully reopened as safe havens for the homeless now living on the street.
It was the mistaken closing of state hospitals around the country that have placed so many dual diagnosed people suffering from both drug addiction and mental illness as homeless.
It was a tragedy that the hospitals were not simply redesigned to accommodate this new group of desperate individuals without the old fashioned and illegal court commitment.
The new community mental health centers were never built that were promised.
It’s time for someone reading this comment to take steps to remedy the homeless debacle.
How about it Governor Newsome in Sacramento and other governors around the country?
44
This article shows how little we understand about addiction. It looks like a liquor bottle on the table in his tent, and I suspect alcohol has everything to do with this.
So the drugs are perhaps out of the picture and he used to pour fancy glasses of wine. Planning on celebrating with a nice bottle shows the delusion of alcoholism: drugs and alcohol got him here, and they will keep him here.
We need treatment, but it has to be voluntary. It’s not that easy.
20
@Law Student - just wait until they automate and outsource your legal work (of course, after you've locked into a huge mortgage, incurred credit card debt, have a car payment, and student loans).
Then your wife leaves you and you have no healthcare or savings and are unemployable. You get foreclosed on the home. The car is repossessed. You can't get credit.
What will you do?
2
Only confirms what I've heard from those involved with combatting homelessness: 99 times out a 100, it's drugs and/or mentally illness.
14
California also has the nation’s highest poverty rate.
8
I hope that some restaurant owner or manager will give this man a second chance. Everyone makes mistakes - sometimes more than one - but it sounds like this man has learned from his. I truly hope he gets a second chance.
18
Really? Even though he plans to buy a bottle of wine?
5
I’m sure he was fired from his jobs for theft. With margins razor thin, no owner is going to take that chance.
13
Would you hire an addict and thief to work with exceptional bottles of wine in your restaurant? Would you truly take that leap of faith after someone had been to jail? Just wondering...
4
This is a public problem that requires a public solution. My grandparents worked all their lives, but the Great Depression hit them hard in their prime earning years. My carpenter grandpa was lucky to get a city job driving truck. But by the ‘70s, that city pension didn’t go far. They moved into a public housing project. His unit had a basement where he would do woodworking late into the evening. The post WWII projects were attractive homes, clean, and well maintained. We know the macro story; slavish devotion to the system that created the problem, capitalism, led to privatization and profiteering. And here we are. The solution is simple; build public housing and pass FDR’s Second Bill of Rights guaranteeing decent housing and a good job for everyone. It’s not that hard.
95
@Todd. Explain how that solves drug addiction.
5
@Jackson Explain how it wouldn't.
4
I served for 6 years on the Board of Directors of a small homeless shelter in Vermont. I was not surprised to hear about Mr. Holys's special past and that he had once been successful and respected; at our shelter we had a guest for a month that had pitched a handful of games for the Phillies. An injury to his pitching arm elbow, hiding the pain with pills until the elbow was shot, left a lifelong addiction. Some fall from higher than others, but there is the same sound of broken lives hitting the sidewalk.
Our intake sheets took an hour for the guest to fill out. We needed to see the trail that brought them to our doors so that we could figure out how to help them.When queried at a board meeting, What percentage of our clients/guests were abused along the way? His guess? 90% of the women and a significant amount of the men (who were reluctant to give up that type of information). So sad.
It was especially sad when viewing homeless families with children. My personal best effort was writing an editorial in the local paper discussing how difficult it was for a young boy to get off the school bus at our shelter. It ended with: "You can make a difference between homeless and hopeless." The editorial raised $30,000 towards our renovation project.
Our shelter's residents had to be sober and clean (drugs). Mr. Holys has an especially difficult task because of his continued interest in fine wines. To be blunt, that puts him into the 'service resistant' homeless population.
104
Mr. Holys will never find real gratitude in a bottle.
1
"Many Americans are one medical emergency, one layoff, one family disaster away from bankruptcy or losing the roofs over their heads."
Yes. That's me.
1031
@Susan-
That’s all of us except, perhaps, for the very, very rich.
80
@Susan At the risk of borrowing a hashtag used for an entirely different - and very serious - problem, me too!
What does it say about our country that people can work their entire (professional) lives and have nothing to fall back on?
Fifteen years ago, in my late 30s, I had over $500,000 in retirement savings, and a well-developed, responsible investment plan for my "later" years. ONE badly-timed illness destroyed that. I "planned poorly" (HA) when I was diagnosed with MS as the US invaded Kuwait and my portfolio lost 2/3 of its value. Rising income inequality, anti-middle class Republican policies, and the two-year lag before I was eligible for disability benefits under SSDI killed the last 1/3.
No one walked up to me and said, "Welcome to the edge," but here I am, right with you. It is a large group.
398
@Steve Singer
I'm not rich, and no, I am not one disaster away from bankruptcy.
17
Everyone individual has worth and importance no matter what their circumstances or their past- from those with stories like this to those without such an epic past - this article does well to highlight this
24
There is certainly a problem that is reaching crisis point in the Bay Area for affordable homes, but it's really a stretch to associate stories like these to the high cost of housing.
37
@HKGuy
You must think it's really weird and unrelated that homelessness goes up hand in hand with income inequality and the cost of housing . . . but that's the reality.
https://endhomelessness.org/new-research-quantifies-link-housing-affordability-homelessness/
3
This profile is built on the premise that "Many Americans are one medical emergency, one layoff, one family disaster away from bankruptcy or losing the roofs over their heads" but it uses the life of a man whose journey to homeless actually unfolded across decades and had many, many steps down on a long sad journey that ended in a tent on the streets of Oakland. Didn't somebody catch this obvious contradiction in the editing process? Even the article itself used the phrase "gradual unraveling"! It feels like a scare piece designed to push me politically, but it ended up having the opposite of that effect. This man's situation is sad and worthy of my attention, but it is absolutely not a profile of somebody who suddenly and unexpectedly became homeless.
85
The article does make the point that he gets 900 income from various sources. That should be sufficient for someone to live on, if, that is, rents were affordable and not a business aimed at only the rich and famous. In Spain, for instance this mount would allow someone to have a dignified existence. That is changing to be sure, but it is still possible. Nowhere in the US is this possible. I myself make over 100 times that amount and I still cannot afford to buy property, and though I work and have for a long time, I am one step from being homeless were i to get sick and loose my job, my only source of income. I don’t see why this is so hard to understand, and see it is a grave social and economic problem that needs addressing, particularly as the productive class ages.
17
@ Gramma-$900 isn’t enough for groceries in the Bay Area, or a car (which is illegal To sleep in, by the way). Things must be quite different in Newton.
10
@Suzanne who says he has to live in the Bay Area?
5
I believe the US prison system that is focused on punishment rather than resocialization also plays a role here. Prison time for these not-so-serious offenses that are often linked with poverty and substance abuse must be turned into get clean/sober-and-get-your-life-together coaching sessions with a reintegration plan on release. Adaption of the European system that pretty much only the police and the judicial system can see a persons criminal record and most employers may not even ask for it might also help.
20
Is this really the face of homelessness that is suppose to garner sympathy and a call to action? I am left wondering about this man’s character. Five children and not one is willing, ostensibly, to take him in? It sounds to me like a life of bad choices, squandered opportunities, and family relationships tossed to the side. Blaming it on addiction and failed social services is specious at best.
83
@JP You wondered why none of his 5 kids want to take him in. Here’s why - You can’t take an addict into your home. They lie and steal. They will hock your belongings while you are at work. Families want to help but really are at a loss of what to do after numerous times of trying to help them, only to see them go back to drugs and destroy or hock everything that’s been given to them to help get them back on their back. It’s a complex issue that has ended many family relationships.
51
@JP
I guess you and I are among the vast minority here but I see a man who had a faux prestigious job over 30 years ago and became a felon and an addict. He sounds as though he has a grandiose idea of his past achievements - and I do not consider being essentially a server of high-priced wine a real skill - and is continuing to make poor decisions while he reminiscences over fermented grape juice.
10
@ JP What “face of homelessness” would you consider worthy?
2
This story illustrates what we already now - homelessness is a symptom of drug abuse and/or mental illness. Trying to deal with the symptom instead of the underlying problem is just throwing money away.
21
Agreed. "Homeless" is an adjective, not a noun.
Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Cook, and Jeff Bezos have a combined net worth of $177.1 Billion.
3 people have more wealth than the entire GDP of many Eastern European countries.
If the city of San Francisco wants to solve its homeless problem, I’ve identified where to start.
295
I agree that there’s a massive disparity of wealth. There’s also a disparity when it comes to addiction, illegal behavior and life choices.
I’m all for assistance and support with rehab. Let’s create safe tent communities or barracks in the Central Valley where land is cheaper and there’s work.
24
@Austin Ouellette. Another crucial starting point: heavily cut back short-term rentals (undercover hotels) that are a major factor in the housing crisis in the Bay Area and across the US.
22
I hope you realize that their wealth is not all cash, and should they decide to liquidate their holdings would be a bit disruptive to their respective companies..
5
We are better than this? We won’t even allow homeless people a legal right to having a homeless encampment much less a legal right to a home of their own.
9
@tony
I lived in D.C. for five years; the only homeless encampment was in Anacostia, far from Chevy Chase, CT. Ave., or Georgetown. In fact, Georgetown successfully fought public transportation near its border. D.C. is the nation's capitol; it is a place where tourists, school children visitors, foreign dignitaries et al come. D.C. is a beautiful city with the Smithsonian, the Mall, the Potomac River, parks and bridges. What would a homeless encampment bring to D.C.?
Anyone can slip into homelessness in today's USA but add in alcoholism, drug abuse leading to divorce (financial problems) equals rapid descent into living in a tent. This can happen anywhere. Bottom line; get help early and utilize every resource out there. California has good AA and better access to mental health than many states.
22
I want people who are homeless for whatever reason to have a clean, private place that they can afford. That means casual housing, maybe with units as small as walk-in closets. As this comments section amply demonstrates, keeping poor people in public attracts moralizers and busybodies. The latter, more than addicts, are a real nuisance and we need strong measures to abate their presence.
34
After spending 8 months on the streets in SF, on and off, filming the Let’s Get Street Smart series, I learned 3 things which explain the situation.
1 - Homelessness is not complicated to solve and California knows how to do it expertly. Less than 20 hours after the Sonoma fires started, I witnessed the full disaster relief operation that was put into place for thousands of people, such that nobody was left without shelter, food, medical support, and mental support for one single night. Expert help to get neighbors in distress back into jobs and housing was readily available.
2 - Each person living on the street is there for the same reason. They are our neighbors who suffered a personal disaster that overwhelmed their life. Although they often received help, they did not receive the appropriate disaster relief help they needed to get back on their feet.
3 - Neuroscientists Susan Fiske (Princeton) and Lasana Harris (UCL) have demonstrated that people experiencing homelessness are the most dehumanized segment of society. This means that they receive the actions resulting from the persistent stereotypes people have of them: that they are particularly incompetent and untrustworthy.
Appropriate disaster relief would ensure that when overwhelmed by personal disaster - like in the case of fire - none of our neighbors would have to experience homelessness.
As to why corporations are not charged taxes - now that’s what I can’t understand . . .
174
@Natasha. Seems like no one in his family wants to deal with him, so they’re leaving it up to the taxpayers.
20
@Natasha Corporations pay very little or no taxes because the tax laws are written by lawyers who work for companies, and the companies pay money ("campaign contributions") to the politicians to pass those laws. Peoples votes are strongly influenced by expensive ad campaigns, so politician who don't seek these donations rarely get elected. It is not that complicated.
8
@Natasha/// you're comparing apples to oranges. Both sets of victims could not be any more different.
1
Best wishes in your journey and recovery. May you accomplish your goals and enjoy great wines again.
Life can hit us really hard, and no one is immune to times of trouble.
12
I too graduated from Palo Alto High School and now live here in Oakland. I remember Maddalenas and how the titans of Silicon Valley and Stanford would dine there. This is not a cautionary tale for some but for all. Most of us live with a thin membrane between the working middle class and poverty. Yes, Mr. Holy's choices have led him where he is now, but not understanding that this could happen to any of us, keeps us at arms length from our fellow bothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, friends and neighbors.
104
Interesting article. It is good to get a glimpse of lives many of us seldom see.
Reminds me of another glimpse I had.
My next door neighbor of many years was the family matriarch. She had ten kids. Many of them had kids and grandkids. Some had steady if low wage jobs. Some struggled with unemployment, health, addiction, and jail. But all were welcome in her 2 bed, 1 bath home where she'd lived since forever. There was always a shifting collection of offspring living with her. Her home was the place they could count on to keep them from homelessness. It was some measure of stability and security.
Needless to say, all the living that went on in that house took a toll, and there was no money for much in the way of upkeep. Things almost fell apart for the home and extended family because the roof got so bad it almost caved in. But a city program to assist low income homeowners with repairs replaced the roof. These city funds kept scores of people from falling into the pit of homelessness. Sometimes a small financial outlay can reap untold rewards.
(You might think that I wished for very different next-door neighbors. And there were a few things I found irritating. But I could also plainly see that they were doing the best they could under far more difficult circumstances than I. On the whole I found this family to be far more neighborly than most.)
187
@Katherine
Thank you for sharing a very important story. And for being the kind of person people would want to call a neighbor. Know that your lack of derisive judgment and social stigma did make it easier for that family to keep it's tiny, if a bit ramshackle, boat a float and the lives it held buoyed from the worst that life might dole out.
You're karma was most definitely felt by those folks and it aided them in maintaining their dignity through such challenges. And maintiaining dignity through travails helps retain the mental and spiritual resiliency to keep working the problems versus succumbing. That cannot be underestimated, though so many people are viscious in their judgement of anyone having struggle, vulnerability or need. Such people should be ashamed of the negative judgment they pass on people like your neighbors.
4
The Seattle suburban high school that my sisters and I attended decades ago now has a 10% homeless population among the students. Some of the luckier kids live with relatives in a car.
It is NOT an inner city school district.
Shameful for the USA in non-Depression era, especially in such wealthy cities.
1099
@Jean The GOP has a solution for that. It's called the "free market miracle" - more tax cut for corporations and the "job makers".
69
@Jean I echo your feelings. The number of homeless continues to grow and nothing is getting done. I cannot understand how in this land of plenty, so many (the number grows each day) have so little and so few have so much (the number also grows each day). When I started to drive my daughter to school, I noticed several children coming to school by taxi. My first thought....the parent of the child was a taxi driver. Then I learned each of those children were homeless; there was no school bus route to their shelter location. Yes, shameful for the USA in non-Depression era in such wealthy cities.
68
@Jean: With respect, we shouldn't have homelessness or poverty at all -- "inner city" needs to become just a geographical descriptor, not a synonym for poverty and hopelessness.
If we in the US wanted to, we could eliminate poverty -- it would take about a generation, and it would be hard and costly. But it can be done, and there is *almost* no reason for those who are at the bottom of the ladder to have nothing while those at the top have enough for 1000 affluent lifetimes.
The reason? Human cruelty.
88
Not everyone’s retirement plays out like in the Raymond James’ commercials as far as being well planned.
18
What's confounding to state officials? The reasons for the homelessness are all cited in the article. The guy here is a drug addict. I don't understand the confusion.
27
The rents are also sky high. Even someone making $50,000 a year would find it difficult to find an affordable apartment in a nice neighborhood to live in if rents even for studios are over $2,000 a month ($24,000 per year) plus you need a car. The places to live there in the very few cities that are walkable (San Francisco, part of LA, downtown San Diego, etc) are even more expensive with rents often starting over $2600 per month for a 450 sq foot 1 room apt.
30
Thanks for the reality check. The situation here is getting as bad as San Francisco. Property taxes are so high you are basically paying rent on your own home (wish it covered repairs) and rents are through the roof.
5
@LeighR is he chained to the Bay Area? He could go rent a studio in the midwest for $300/month
5
It is an interesting texture when a guy who graduated Palo Alto HS, rubbed shoulders with 1 Percenters and drank Petrus present a trading places scenario. His candidness coupled with his resume leave me to conclude that in his sorts of cases and the so many other down-n-out folks, CRACK COCAINE is a menace.
17
This guy is a bad man.
We are supposed to fell sorry for him.
If given the chance to steal and get away with it I am sure he would revert to past form.
10
@Glenn -- he is not bad, per se. I can't imagine what it would be like to be addicted to crack cocaine but this is the sort to addiction that drives a person to commit crimes so he/she can continue with the drug habit. Don't be so high and mighty!
20
He didn't kill anyone. Not bad, just troubled. After all, wouldn't you call all those billionaires who get tax breaks and steal all our money, bad men? Bankers who deliberately gave out predatory loans and made millions of people homeless, and never paid for their crimes? We bailed them out, as we bailed out rich "bankrupts" (poor bankrupts live on the streets). THEY are bad men. They (Trump, Mnuchin) run our country.
11
@Glenn , first stone, etc.
5
I've seen it happen -- I spent three years as an enlisted man in the army around 1970, when drugs were everywhere around me -- but I still just don't understand how anyone could allow themselves to be sucked into a life of drug addiction. I'm not being judgmental: I just don't understand how any rational person could voluntarily take the first step and even after having taken the first step not pull back before their life is consumed by addiction.
Alcohol addiction is easier to understand: alcohol is legal and pervasive. But illegal drugs are beyond my comprehension. Don't you have to deliberately go out of your way to lay your hands on these substances? And there are so many object lessons warning against them. How does it happen? What are the circumstances? And what is the attraction?
To repeat, I don't mean to be judgmental, either about addiction or about homelessness in general. But on a personal level, leaving aside the much larger social and economic problem of homelessness, the path to drug addiction is simply incomprehensible to me.
14
@Bill W.
"the path to drug addiction is simply incomprehensible to me."
____________________________
Addiction is a disease.
If one thinks of addiction in these terms, it's becomes less bewildering...much like cancer.
8
@Bill W. don't try and introduce the concept of personal responsibility. None of it is his fault, it's ours for not better subsidizing him with free housing
Addiction may be a disease once it gets underway, but it's a disease that can't happen without a voluntary and deliberate first step, and even after that, there must be some period, however brief, when a rational individual is still able to say, "I don't want this to consume my life," and pull back. Maybe it's a want of imagination on my part, but I just can't comprehend how someone could allow themself to be pulled into that vortex. As I said, I've been in an environment where drugs were rife, and I've seen it happen myself, but I simply don't understand it.
2
Recovery and wine are incompatible. The author of this article doesn't seem to understand what sobriety is.
29
@Anne -- wine consumption and crack addiction? You can't compare the two. There was never mention of alcohol addiction.
5
@Don Juan
Recovery for any addict is to avoid all drugs, including alcohol. The AA benchmark for staying clean and sober is 2 years. If an alcoholic or addict can get past that 2 yrs., the chances for success are good. The drug of choice is not relevant; the only choice is to stay clean. There are millions of people who can get drunk or high without becoming addicts. Addicts are wired differently.
"Someone should do a CLEAN SWEEP and get these people outta here!!"
"Wait, he used to be a sommelier?! Now I care!"
- You
9
DId anyone read the title of this article and not immediately think "drugs"? And there you go.
20
@Big Cow And, if the US government truly wanted to eradicate the drug problem, I believe it could do it. Sadly, drugs = big business, illicit, illegal, but big, very big and that is why no one truly wants to shut it down. Go after the dealers, the importers the traffickers. The result of allowing them to conduct business is that we have millions of people like Mr. Holys, living in squalor while the dealers buy expensive cars, houses, clothes, etc. Shameful on every level.
1
@Big Cow
It's unfortunate the article chose a subject who makes it so easy for authoritarians to close their hearts to. The reality is that his situation doesn't capture what the majority of people without a stable place to live go through.
If you have any interest in understanding rather than judging, this article about Utah might be a good place to start:
"Between 2005 and 2015, while the number of drug-addicted and mentally ill homeless people fell dramatically, the number of people sleeping in the city’s emergency shelter more than doubled. Since then, unsheltered homelessness has continued to rise. According to 2018 figures, the majority of unhoused families and single adults in Salt Lake City are experiencing homelessness for the first time."
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/homeless-utah-end-america-salt-lake-city_n_5cd1cac0e4b04e275d511aba
1
I would think that at least one person who he served would remember Mt. Holys and offer him a job at this most desperate time of his life. It can't be that hard. Here's looking at you, Mr. Holys.
20
@Jack -- I was thinking the same thing. Perhaps now, after this article, someone will.
4
@Jack. It sounds like he’s not to be trusted.
1
Sadly Mr. Holys was never told that $$$$ reigns supreme, above all other human considerations. But, I am sure, there is a solution or rather a way as the fellow below states.
2
A life ruined by crack cocaine. How many more are there? And the liberals want to legalize marijuana, the most popular gateway drug to the hard stuff. I am glad I'm not a druggie. Thank you.
14
@Southern Boy
And so we infer that non-liberals like you want all marijuana users to become jailbirds with criminal records that get in the way of voting and other aspects of civil society. Yet you prefer that alcohol, a much bigger gateway drug and destroyer, to be legal because you like the taste and affects of Southern Comfort and refuse to learn the lessons of the Prohibition Era. I'm glad I'm not a hypocritical Southern boy.
2
@Southern Boy Some conservatives want to legalize it too. You might not realize that John Boehner just joined a marijuana company.
2
@Southern Boy ,Time and time again, those individuals as yourself , continually speak of marijuana as the gateway drug. You must have gone to the JeffSessions School.
So, all those that have a beer are on their way to wine and onto “the hard stuff”, oh please. What about Moonshine?
Believe it or not, many who had tried crack had never been a druggie but the addictive qualities of that insidious drug got hooked. How do I know?, I worked and researched this among other public health issues during the 80’s in NYC where the epidemic of crack took hold of many. Please do your research prior to labeling all who have tried pot and the like as addicts.
3
Those who're focused on Holys's mistakes seem to overlook one crucial fact: some have the means to recover from their bad decisions, others do not. Some have the luxury of screwing up, others don't. Pointing this out is neither political nor sentimental, it's just introducing some common sense and humanity to the discussion.
96
Yes, rich addicts are in the media all the time, do they still go to the Betty Ford clinic? Really poor addicts go to jail.
Town Farm Road, Poor Farm Road, the abandoned asylums that dot the landscape, these were the solutions to the problems faced by the outliers of society in the past. Whether they were anybody’s idea of a good fix is hard to know because most of the people who populated or administered them are dead now. I have to wonder, though, if the idea of segregating the people unable or unwilling to basically survive was as barbaric as received wisdom would indicate. Just one example of how two birds could be killed with one stone would be a CCC-type program to plant trees. Of course, in our “freedom” loving society that would be considered cruel. But you know what’s also cruel? Going for a walk in a park, say, or on a sidewalk even, and having to see filth, including used needles, littered by our poor, homeless wretches. Leave no trace means nothing to them and that I cannot forgive.
16
I appreciated that this story tells a truthful story about homelessness. This man has a caring family, a marketable skill (surely he could get a job as a clerk in a wine shop if he could manage to put the pieces of his life together) and a small income from taxpayers, yet he lives in a homeless camp. Substance abuse and/or mental illness is what leads many to this situation as is outlined here. Everyone I know who ended up like this also had a similar trajectory. The puzzle is difficult to solve because sometimes the only way out is to actually circle the drain, the wreckage one person can cause on their journey to a homeless camp is usually heartbreaking for both family and society. “Petty” crimes can be overwhelming for the victims. Families usually have to say “no more” to the abuse and lock the door, society also before the person can turn things around if they are capable. The balance is so difficult, when do we enable vs. giving a helping hand? I’m annoyed by the homeless who harass me on my commute even though I have nothing but empathy for their situation.
542
@DJM There's a homeless man that wanders my neighborhood and has occasionally broken into a back-yard or empty house. After his brother told friends that he had an income and home as long as he took medication for his mental illness and didn't take illegal drugs. He can't help his mental illness, but he can help the way he lives. Still it's hard for me to ignore. I make eye contact and occasionally provide food as no one should live this way.
35
@DJM: No. Society saying "no more" to those in trouble is exactly the problem.
We need to have about 10x as many slots for addiction treatment as we now have -- literally. (I worked for three years at a substance-abuse treatment center -- that's how I know.) We need to have far more mental-health treatment than we now have -- and all treatments need to be free.
We need supportive temporary housing for people who are released from jail -- something akin to a dormitory, with a small, private space for every person and on-site staff who can help with job training, job acquisition, referrals to healthcare, and -- for those who need it -- training in the most basic life skills, such as managing money and cooking inexpensive, nourishing meals.
Society creates these problems and then spurns those who are suffering; it's not only inhumane, it's profoundly illogical.
101
@DJM
It is sad that anyone this age cannot find housing, he is almost an old man. Old men live on the streets here in Seattle, it is heartbreaking. People cannot any longer find housing on disability - the federal system is broken.
That said I also feel as a society we are losing the sense of responsibility to our own families, and too easily look to services to fulfill what used to be family obligation. This man has children and family - surely they could come together to pay rent for him, and if he has money management and addiction issues, to pay his rent directly so he has a room over his head and can get away from the rats. I see no evidence that his family cares, I see the opposite.
6
This was a very nuanced article about a homeless person, not like many generic articles on "The Homeless Problem". Last month a homeless woman turned up on my porch and she quite articulately spoke proudly of the gifted magnets her children got into and then proceeded to speak in gibberish. Her mental illness was what drove her out of her comfortable middle-class lifestyle. Los Angeles and SF and other cities need to employ more social workers to be on the streets to deal with addicts and the mentally ill. In LA there are only 2 that cover my entire area.
788
@Dee
Aye, it's often underestimated how much mental disturbances contribute to the circumstances of homelessness. And to the condition of addiction, to be honest.
As a Californian, think about this: at least $13 billion, probably much more, of the Federal taxes we pay each year go to other states because we are under-represented in the US Senate. It would probably take only 20% of that money, stolen from us, to ameliorate the physical and sociological difficulties of the homeless.
150
@Pete
Statewide, I think it would take double that (because of the inflated cost of land to build new housing, and because of the cost of vitally needed social workers to help guide these transitions) but your point still stands.
35
@Dee
I couldn't disagree with you more Dee. The article was about a alcoholic that refuses to take responsibility for his ailment and get some help.
I mean he claims he will buy a bottle of wine to celebrate getting off the streets? And why do you think he was on the streets?
Step out of your little blue bubble for a second a reread the article. And I'm not saying that getting sober isn't a struggle, but it's never really alluded to it in the article as his NUMBER ONE problem. Especially since our government has been inept at helping those that need it the most for a long time.
16
A year and a half ago, I invited a homeless person to share my home. The condition: that this person continue to get mental health treatment, attend AA (all of which are free in California), remain clean and sober. The truth of the Times story is in this sentence "His struggles with drugs, his failed marriages, his larceny when he needed money — they all contributed to his present straits."
California has one of the better social welfare systems in the US, although it is overloaded and lines for housing assistance are literally years long. Nevertheless, a person in Mr. Holys position does have resources NAMI, AA, and a number of other organizations. As long as Mr. Holys is not actively seeking the medication that stabilizes his mental illness (if he has one) or his alcoholism, he will simply not be welcome anywhere.
The LAST thing in the world Mr. Holys needs is a bottle of anything vaguely alcoholic to "celebrate" a life back in the mainstream.
With respect to my own adventure with the "homeless:" my tenant has become my friend and after a year and a half of focusing on getting her mind and body to a place where it can function in a work environment, she started her first job on Monday. She has also been approved for Section 8, so eventually I'll get some rent for as long as she wishes to stay here. The single condition for her tenure: NO DRUGS or ALCOHOL.
978
@TJHD
I’m not a religious person, but still I’d like to say, “God Bless You.”
180
@TJHD -- in Mr. Holy's case alcohol was not the problem, crack cocaine was. If you read the article in its entirety, he worked as a sommelier in fine restaurants, serving very expensive wine.
90
@Michael thank you. Rereading my comment it occurs to me that it may read in some way as a boast or a pat on my own back. I just want to emphasize that recovery is something each person must seize themselves. WE cannot give it to anyone. Although it is unlikely that this story is being read by many homeless, NYTimes readers can bring this message to any homeless person: "Be WILLING to change your life. Change your relationship to yourself and to others, and a better life will come." We can help. Even if you're not homeless or have substance abuse issues, go to AA or NA or any of these free organizations and grab a handful of literature. Along with the dollar you give to someone who asks, give them a pamphlet. Let them know there is help. Just remember, in the end they have to make the choice themselves.
86
Can happen to anyone. I sometimes wonder what becomes of those here in the US and around the world after devastating storms or raging fires etc. You see the media reporting and then it's forgotten as though everything returned to normal shortly for those enduring such a trauma.
7
Is he sober now? Is he working a program? Instead of reminiscing about the fine wines of yesterday, maybe he should get to a meeting and see how he could be of service to other addicts. I guarantee you if he got into a program of recovery his life would turn around quickly. He can’t change the past but he has complete control over his destiny.
13
@DB What "should" happen and what will happen maybe two different things. Self-diagnosis and willingness are a big part of it. Some of us are luckier than others in that way. I just realized that after reading your entry and seeing his story.
1
I heard from friends in the restaurant industry that hours can be insane, pay is low, and that employment is often changing, and that a lot of people working there are stressed out, take drugs, and suffer from burnout. Written contracts, paid vacations, limited hours and paid overtime, and healthcare and pensions would go a long way to make things easier. This stuff sounds Utopian in the US, but it should be normal.
53
Interesting, tragic and so subtle it doesn't occur to him that the obsession of "celebrating" with yet another bottle of wine is what has been is undoing.
6
@Seamus -- I must be missing something. I thought he had a crack cocaine habit, not a wine addiction. The expensive wines he served to his rich clients some of them probably had a wine addiction.
Well, I better re-read the article myself to see whether in addition to a crack addiction, alcoholism was also mentioned. If it wasn't, then he has every right to celebrate.
7
Thank you for profiling one of the too many homeless people. We make the homeless anonymous, don’t engage with them and believe that they are wholly responsible for their condition. We often believe that they are homeless because they lack will or aren’t willing to work. As this article makes clear, many of us could be homeless. A few mistakes, a divorce or two and a bout with substance abuse is all it takes. This man can be saved. I wish I owned a restaurant; I would give him a chance. When you see a homeless person today, please have some compassion.
22
My sympathies to this man, but after seeing the pic and headline of this story I skimmed to find where he started using crack. That’s the issue, all the other issues filter down from there, including his knowledge of fine wine. I’m not saying it’s all necessarily his fault, but his recovery from addiction is his responsibility first. Are there adequate resources to help people like him? I guess that’s a different, albeit very important, story.
6
Wow. Now I get why we don't have adequate policies to address poverty, homelessness and health care in this country. Most of the commentators think people "deserve" this fate. I guess that's what we get for underfunding education and letting religious fundamentalists guide our worldview and social policy.
22
@Mrs B Good post. It is also a defence mechanism - it protects people from the truth that they are no better than this guy and could easily end up in his situation.
8
I feel bad for Mr Holys, but I also feel bad for the glib people who are responding here with admonitions about “choice.” They have a very simplistic view of human nature. I hope Mr Holys’ new place to live will work out for him, and that we can all learn to have more compassion.
79
Could there still be some doubt in people's minds that there is any upside to doing drugs? How many more millions of times does this "experiment" need to be repeated? Keep your nose clean, work hard, do the right thing and you'll probably be fine. There is no situation that can't be made immeasurably worse by doing drugs.
10
It is appropriate to have sympathy for this man. But few discussions of the homeless ever mention the impending disaster of hundreds of thousands (maybe soon to be millions) of impoverished migrants entering the US. Under those circumstances the homeless problem in the United States will never be solved. It will only get worse.
Mr. Trump is a lunatic but his harsh immigration policies make a valid point. If Trump makes it to the next election how can I vote for any Democratic candidate who either advocates open border policies or succeeds in never publicly mentioning the immigration issue at all?
9
@sguknw -- Mr. Holy's is an American citizen. How many American citizens are living on the street? While I feel sympathy for the many people who want to come here it's imperative that we first take care of our own.
1
@sguknw -- Mr. Holy's is an American citizen. How many American citizens are living on the street? While I feel sympathy for the many people who want to come here it's imperative that we first take care of our own.
@sguknw If you actually studied this issue instead of just blindly accepting the fear mongering of those with a political agenda you would learn that immigrants as a group have the LOWEST rate of criminality. Much lower per capita than US citizens.
And NO ONE is advocating totally open borders--just a more humane use of the totally sufficient laws already in place. Do a few bad apples slip into this country? Undoubtedly. But money would be better spent on more up to date technology to make sure when we deport someone that person stays on watch lists so they can stay gone. Or should we just take down that statue in New York harbor? And where would that have left your ancestors when they came here?
3
I hope that some ski resort that hires students or foreigners with visas will take a chance on him.
Age 61 is a rough time to start over!
250
@Jean
Sadly, it’s almost impossible to start over at age 61. He is another lost victim of the true America, the one that really doesn’t care.
23
@Jean
All the more reason to restrict h1b visas and encourage corniest to hire Americans.
5
@Jean
Without reference to homelessness or mental illness, but only to age: I know a lady age 65 who is going through a divorce and is therefore at serious risk of being destitute.
It's a rough time to start over even if your record is spotlessly clean.
39
Countries with National Health Care that includes good mental health care don't have nearly as much of a problem with this as the US does. Countries that have ended the war on drugs, and who focus on rehabilitation, and treat addiction as a disease, have seen significant reductions in the use of illegal drugs. We need to do ALL of the above. And people come to California because of the weather: including a lot of drug addicted, chronically homeless people.
44
As my mother would sometimes say "there but for the grace of God, go I." She sometimes lacked as a mother but I am grateful she taught me empathy.
If many of us were to suffer a severe enough set-back - an illness where we could not work - we could be homeless too. Family and friends can only help so much.
64
We live in a capitalist society that considers people like Mr. Holys disposable.
Most people who are making it in this country are terrified that they could end up like Mr. Holys, and this creates anxiety.
Europeans who have vacationed in the USA routinely comment on the paranoia, anxiety, fear, anger and alienation that is pervasive throughout the culture, especially in the media.
It’s common for Americans to direct their anger at the homeless themselves, since they all had to have made bad choices to have ended up homeless, and therefore they deserve whatever punishment they get.
Our society is fueled by ruthlessness, because this is what a predator versus prey society produces.
Canada manages to provide health care for all, education that doesn’t turn a student into a permanent indentured servant, and they don’t have an incarceration rate anywhere near the pathetic rate that we have in America.
We have to bring to consciousness the vicious, life destroying values promoted by our government, politicians and the handful of wealthy people who control everything.
The wealthy interests are incentivized to ratchet up the level of hatred in this country, but our only hope for survival is to have such a collective revulsion for the viciousness and the hatred destroying our society that we finally decide there must be a better way.
For now, hatred is still winning.
Good luck to Mr. Holys, and good luck to all of us trying to navigate a system of such savagery.
240
So well said. Thank you.
19
@Annie Gramson Hill You hit the nail on the head. Capitalism is the problem.
12
@Annie Gramson Hill Brilliant, sane courageous post.
12
As more and more people find themselves on the losing end of inequality and that of many other factors associated with so the number of men and women who today are deprived of their own flat can be expected to go upward, and with rapidity and regularity.
The homeless seem to be forgotten during Democratic presidencies. It's an important problem that should be a priority no matter who is president.
8
“I was the type of guy who would break into your car and steal the change in your ashtray,” he said.”
Are we supposed to feel sorry for this man?
5
@Genevieve An explanation isn't an excuse.
8
They're homeless partially due to a lack of employment.
So let's allow millions of illegal immigrants into the country to strain the system even more.
10
@Dan Ryan He was employed, and very successful. The downward trajectory of his life was a mixture of bad luck, addiction, economic setbacks and the savagery of capitalism. If you've never been addicted to a drug (most addicts are upwardly mobile white people), you can't speak to this. I have a friend who had what might be termed a mild addiction to a drug - the drug is listed as causing "dependency" not addiction. It took her years to break her habit. She's a n upper middle class professional, married with two children. You just can't use such a wide brush to paint anyone, but let me use one here. You're older, white, Republican, and you think all problems can be solved with cruelty, judgment and a sense of outrage at the "other." Am I close?
12
@Dan Ryan It's the greed of those making the rules that's straining "the system." And that system just isn't working, regardless of the origins of the people participating in it.
4
In this case, if drug-free, it appears he could get a job in a high end place in a heartbeat. But that still may not be enough for decent housing, commuting, etc. (perhaps getting out of the Bay Area, once able is worth considering)
Control borders and manage immigration, of course. But let's not conflate issues. His challenge seems to be substance abuse and stratospheric housing costs, not competition from immigrants.
4
I wish him luck but maybe, just maybe, if he’s recovering from a substance abuse addiction, he might want to celebrate with a non-alcoholic beverage?
10
Regardless of the bad choices that this guy has made, it is a national disgrace that people are living like this. Step one is to help relocate Holys to somewhere where his grand/month will enable him to live like a human being.
Holys made some terrible decisions but he did not raise his hand and volunteer to be a crack addict. I'm no socialist (retired CEO) but we need a better safety net.
We seem to be very competent at creating billionaires and then rewarding them with ridiculous tax breaks. We don't seem to be very proficient at helping the lowest rungs of our society.
1694
@David Cary Hart
You said it all.
82
@David Cary Hart Well put David, surely there is somewhere in this huge nation where this gentleman can live on his thousand a month, why isn’t there an APP for that type of information. I gave up on SanFrancisco and closed a business that I had made my life for thirty five years; I just couldn’t take the inequality nor could I justify owning a successful small business that had me working to support my two landlords with nothing left over for myself, in fact I was drawing two thousand a month from my IRA for five years in an effort to keep my doors open and a roof over my head, it’s just an insanely expensive place to live and unfortunately just not attractive any more, the post card vistas only count for so much when you must contend with the daily squalor of essentially a third world city. This gentleman found shelter not so coincidentally with the timing of this article I would assume, congratulations but California is so far down the rabbit hole of a dysfunctional society it would take a miracle or a trillion or so to save it; with their agenda of being a sanctuary city that already has had these seemingly ingrained problems for years makes absolutely no sense to me. I have gone from being the most liberal fellow among all my peers to a pragmatist, California didn’t just shoot itself in the foot it blew its whole leg off, to go from being the most beautiful, welcoming place on earth a scant sixty years ago to the absolute nightmare it is today is beyond disgraceful.
91
No, no, and no. No one forced drugs on his. Those were his decisions. Now he was to live with the results. It wasn’t like the outcome was any sort of mystery.
37
The Battle to Save the Middle-Class, Even Before it Rather Becomes More of the Unwanted, a Comical One - What to say of the economy as a whole (macro) when the middle-class, in size, continues, without interruption, to be on a downward trajectory during a long duration of time so? Consumption less becomes the engine that drives the economy. And so a nation/country then commences to experience a multitude of unwanted problems, but first in fiscal terms, as it no longer finds itself capable of having sufficient of the taxpayers’ monies needed to pay for many of the important items of its public purse – addressing the corrosive, societal problem that homelessness has become is one of them. So the acceptable level of quality of life needed to continue to be a well-functioning society, as the nation/country faces a moment of great peril, sadly becomes a thing of the past.
5
I had just turned 23 when I found myself with nowhere to sleep for the first time, largely a consequence of my various addictions and then-undiagnosed mental illnesses. It was a terrifying situation to be in... the daily tension and anxiety building as the scramble to find shelter for the night accelerated, the added stress increasing my dependence on opioids, which meant spending $ I didn't have... eventually I wound up hospitalized with severe nutrient deficiencies, and was referred to a group-home-type setting for young adults, where I was able to begin putting my life back together and eventually help other street-entrenched young people.
There are many facets of the homeless experience that are not intuitive for those who have not seen it firsthand. From a starting point of no resources at one's disposal, it is infinitely more challenging to reconstruct a single piece of one's livelihood, than it is for a person with even a meagre foundation already in place. Housing and health are pivotal elements, and I believe the key is creating plenty of modest, subsidized SRO-type housing, and making free addiction treatment available for anyone who needs it. Someone lacking the security of a home, whose psyche is dysfunctional, usually does not have the capacity to keep a job or be that productive in general; they are too emotionally busy with bigger problems. Homeless people generally want to do better, but without social assistance, breaking the cycle is not feasible.
141
@Riley Ongoing, fully staffed and funded, non judgemental, social assistance with training for real doable jobs and real liveable housing with continuing assistance.
4
Please come to Indianapolis. We have great food (don't tell anyone - we don't like crowds). We have wines from around the world. You will find a nice job as a sommelier here. And we welcome everyone, I'm not kidding, the Veep be dammed. Now I'm off to the Wine and Food festival here.
36
Don't do drugs, folks
30
Yes, rents are way too high and houses cost way to much here in California. And homelessness that results from uncontrollable factors like lay-offs, medical bills, mental illness and the like is a sign of society's collective moral decay, but homelessness that results from drug use and the spiral downward through addiction and crime is homelessness due to bad choices made repeatedly every day over time. The situations are not equally tragic. The former is an unconscionable situation, the latter is something very different.
22
@DMS Drug and alcohol abuse is the result of society's collective moral decay. A society disconnected from its humanity and empathy leads to people seeking something to soothe.
9
@DMS Addiction is a medical issue, not a moral issue. We would be a much better country if we had more compassion for people suffering from addiction and debt.
19
@CPAddiction is an issue of choice. It not a disease. It is self inflicted. Since I am an atheist I don't buy into the whole argument of moral vs unmoral. Its simply a self destructive choice. I don't believe the rest of society should have to pay for a persons self destructive choice and the consequences. Why do I take this position? When I was in my 20's I took any number of experiments with drugs available. I chose to not pursue those courses of action into addiction.
3
Thank you NYT for telling the stories of homeless people so that we can better understand their plight and their humanity. So much is left out here, however. Main points: the man had talent as an expensive wine server but California failed him, as he descended to the bottom because of drug addiction, crime, and prison.
I think it is important to examine how he failed himself. He did not have to go down this path, but he chose to do so.
He needed help long before his homelessness. His upbringing, social influences, belief system, mental health issues, and lack of community support all along the way should be examined as well.
11
It is hard to have sympathy for those who are doing well but do not have the self discipline to behave themselves. I am sure there are some sommeliers and head waiters who are homeless through no fault of their own; their restaurants went out of business in the Great Recession and there were no jobs to be had.
7
@Burton
The restaurant business is a pretty tough business. I think the late Anthony Bourdain said that after 20 or 30 years as a chef in high end restaurants he had $600 in the bank (a lot of his income otherwise went for crack cocaine and heroin unfortunately). Fortunately, he kicked his drug habits and could write books which saved his life (for a while).
5
There are towns all over America that are just shriveling up and dying for want of residents. Given how many people there are like Mr. Holys on our streets and the cost of having a large homeless population, it would be worth it for cities like Oakland, San Francisco and LA to pay them to move to such towns. It could be a homesteading partnership. Struggling small towns could provide the houses and our wealthy cities could pay the towns to put people like Mr. Holys to work. This wouldn't work for hardcore drug addicts but it would save a lot of lives and would help maintain rural communities.
20
@John F
The towns are also shriveling up and dying for want of jobs and career paths. Investments there are risky; playing financial games is much safer, especially since Uncle Sam will bail out the players when the game goes bad.
The Invisible Hand knows how to cut its losses on losers.
7
@John F
The drug epidemic is red hot in many rural areas as well.
8
In the 90’s my parents invited a homeless man (on the streets of Los Angeles) to our house for a shower, and nap in our guest room; then dinner.
My father discovered he was from out of state, had family there. Dad gave him better clothes, paid his bus fare, and put paper bills in his pocket, as he drove him to station.
I’m not *virtue signaling* (my dad did this), rather, I’m bewildered at the numbers of homeless who now choose an even more expensive place to decamp than LA.
My husband and I live in Bay Area... but as soon as we both retire ...it will be to a far far less expensive area.
The weather’s not THAT mild in San Francisco... I wish we could encourage and help those struggling to relocate to cheaper areas of the state or country.
Meanwhile, there are employed workers desperate and desperately needed in the Bay Area; so I do support taxing the corporations round here to build affordable homes...or we will have no nurses, teachers, chefs, servers, cafes, shop clerks, small book store owners, or artists anymore.
Thank you for this story.
10
There’s quite a bit of homeless people collecting social security disability.
There’s also quite a few in trump’s left behind America.
Why is that and why is ss disability being used that way?
3
People have to survive some how
12
@Brad What do you mean? SSD is for people who need assistance because of illness and poor health. If you don't think homeless people should get disability, then who do you think should?
12
@Brad -- disability can be collected if a person is disabled. What's so difficult to understand about that?
3
Every major city up and down the west coast is struggling with homelessness. A few weeks ago I was in Oakland for my nephews wedding. Took a LYFT from OAK to Rockeridge...one of the most exclusive enclaves in the Oakland. The traffic, as usual, proceeded at a snails pace. The freeway was lined with shacks, tarps, tents and litter. People were sitting, lying and standing between and around the structures. They looked beaten down, dirty and exhausted. This is the milieu that Mr. Holy's has existed in. He is lucky to have a way forward. Most don't. They are ravaged by the physical and mental degradation of their time on the streets, fear of being victimized, use of alcohol and drugs and just the passage of time. The more time that passes them by the less able they are to reconnect with any community. As such, the become permanently disenfranchised. It is time to put away the foolish notions i.e. , "were it not for the lack of affordable housing these people, lining the freeway wouldn't be there" and start to see the problem for what it is. A population that will be in need of permanent housing, built for them, with services for them. The notion that they will claw their way up and out eventually is a myth. Congratulations and good luck to Mr. Holy's but he is an outlier for sure.
65
Seems as if Mr. Holys has chosen in life to steeply discount the future in favor of the present. Now the future has arrived.
9
Mr. Holys' story is a perfect example of the multiple risks which stalk average Americans today.
In the engineering world there is a concept of additive risks which grow with level of complexity of any system. If each level has less than 10% risk, presence of 5 layers may push your overall level of risk to 30 to 40%.
Our modern life if full of layers of complexity and these layers just keep growing. Add to that further catalysts such as our dysfunctional healthcare and fragility of modern transient extended family and you have a perfect storm.
More and more people are living with huge risks of a major failure in their life and absence of anyone around them willing or able to catch their fall.
Sadly, this has become a political football for ideologues on both sides. Each offers recipes which are guaranteed to fail and there is no monetary upside for "disrupting" this problem for the private sector.
We need a new effort lead by the government and supported by private sector which would attack this problem as one would attack an infectious epidemic. When one of us falls, there must be a way to hold them up, enforce structure in their lives and set them on well defined steps to recovery.
76
@Yuri Vizitei
You say homelessness has become a political football for ideologues on both sides, each offering recipes which are guaranteed to fail. Then you offer a new recipe like the guaranteed-to-fail ones offered by ideologues of the left. This is confusing.
What is guaranteed is that the Right will fight any proposals that involve leadership or even activity by government, and as long as the Right retains the power of blocking and sabotage it will guarantee the failure of these proposals.
3
@sdavidc9 - I think you made some hasty assumptions of my general proposal.
Left ideologues offer basically a version of 'just give them more money" strategy. That has failed.
Right wing ideologues stick with "let them burn, they made bad choices".
I believe that when someone fails this far, the government and private sector must deal with it institutionally. Like we do with prisons and primary schools. It's no longer a question of free will or democratic choice of the failed person. They now have to be handled and rigidly moved along the recovery path, even if that means not having their consent.
Would you seek consent from a two year old if they are being harmed? No. Then why would seek consent from a drug addict?
4
Unless your life has been touched by addiction - your own or that of a someone close to you, it is difficult to understand how it can wrap its tentacles around your life and pull you down. It's not a simple matter of making a choice: vanilla or chocolate. This is a talented man who fell down a dangerous rabbit hole where he lies at the bottom. Nobody deserves to live like this. We don't treat our most vile criminals this way. I wish that our culture could show more compassion for addicts and the homeless. Nobody, not one of us is perfect, and many of us would be very close to falling down a similar hole if it were not for a few safety nets. I lost a person close to me from addiction - he'd won awards for teaching and had been highly sought after, yet when a tragedy in his own life led him to drink again, he lost everything and ended up homeless. He was beaten up and robbed, and his shame kept him from seeking help. I'll never completely understand why he didn't try to sober up knowing what resources had been available except to know that's part of the disease. It's just heartbreaking. This story hit close to home for me.
272
@Amy
The solution may involve offering people permanent shelter somewhere other than the most expensive real state in America.
Additionally, homeless "advocates" should not be allowed to dictate that a stretch of public street "belongs" to a handful of people.
There are rules to society. They need to be enforced.
12
Mr. Mark-Steven Holys worked his way to the bottom and it is impossible to feel sorry for him in his descent into squalor. Lots of opportunities followed by lots of wrong decisions.
Rather than writing about those addicts who are thrashing about in tent cities because they squandered their lives by their own volition, you should concentrate more on writing about the 50% of those tent inhabitants that are living in hopelessness. There is no agency in our US government which really cares about those with mental illness, nor who can provide aid or sustenance to these lost, helpless souls.
14
@Joe Miksis
The 'de-institutionalization' of the mentally ill closed countless mental hospitals. Patients who were often ill treated in those places were pushed out onto the streets. The small local support centers and group homes that were supposed to support them were never built.
Yet most of those hospitals now sit empty, abandoned cluttered with equipment and records scattered on the floor.
Instead of closing these places, couldn't they have been revamped to handle patients better? So many mentally ill end up in prison and then abandoned after their release now.
17
@Joe Miksis Can't we care about them all? Does compassion have qualifiers?
I have worked for the past 3 decades in public libraries where we have those who have fallen into homelessness because of addiction and those who are there because our mental health support system is hopeless. I don't usually know who is who, but I do know that if treated with dignity and courtesy, I prefer most of them to the average self-entitled snob who complains about these folks.
11
@Joe Miksis
I think you mean well, but you obviously have not worked with this population. Mental illness and drug addiction overwhelmingly walk hand in hand.
10
there but for the grace of ...
PS: California is a magnet for the homeless because of the weather. a lot easier for them there than in the northern states. their doing us a favor
23
@Tenzin
I find it hard to believe he cannot at least find a job as a laborer for a vineyard...Get his foot back into that field, and find some nurturing of himself as he helps to nurture future wines.
2
The person in the article is a Bay Area Native.
Here in Minnesota we just saw a little glimmer of hope for the unemployed. For those of us looking for Engineering positions, it has been almost impossible to identify real job opportunities from hoaxes on the Internet. The State of Minnesota now seems to be enforcing MnStat 184.38 (2018), Subd 8 (1) which prohibits: "the advertisement of any job for which there is no bona fide oral or written job order and completed job order form in existence at the time the advertisement is placed;" As a consequence the quantity of job postings seems to have plummeted, but hopefully those we do see are real.
Things have gotten worse on the telephone front. There are almost no payphones left in the City of Minneapolis, and the 'Obama free phone' programs are long gone. As a consequence, we are seeing increased numbers of beatings and thefts of cell phones from vulnerable people. The scarcity of payphones seems to have become a cause for physical assault.
33
@W Physical assaults to get cell phones has been a problem on UI campus for years now. When services are cut more crime follows.
8
@W As far as I know, the Lifeline phone program is functioning right now.
1
Why can't the city or state build shelters to house the homeless? And provide the social services they desperately need?
The past few years the economy has done well. Employment is low. There is no excuse for this, in the Bay area of all places.
Some of those great minds at Google and Facebook should use their formidable intellects to help solve these problems (poverty, homelessness). There is just no excuse that human beings should have to live like this.
143
@Eric
Hey Eric, what are you doing to contribute to your proposed solution? Knowing that among Californians, including especially among the homeless, there are a great number who migrated to California from the northeast and other cold states to a climate where living outdoors is not fatal? Are you advocating for Federally funded programs to house the homeless, or are you just trying to assuage your conscience by believing it is someone else's problem to solve?
16
@Eric
Unfortunately, many of the homeless won't use a shelter because they can't do drugs and other antisocial or illegal activities while in a shelter.
13
@Eric bc the 'city or state' or whoever does not have enough money to pay for that. Take a minute to think about how much those 'social services' you demand would cost for that many mentally disturbed ppl.
5
I am struck by his eloquence and perspective (which really isn't surprising given his ability to contemplate wine). Wishing you the best, sir.
158
The height of elitism is thinking that someone who tastes wine should be a valued member of society.
And the homeless crisis is simple. It is impossible to build new housing in a cost-effective manner in California due to restrictive building codes and ludicrous amounts of red tape. So housing is not built. Rent control only makes this worse, as landlords will not build units that they cannot profit off of. This is not a confounding crisis. It is confounding to California leaders only because they created this mess and do not want to admit that they were wrong.
30
So your solution is to loosen building codes? That doesn’t seem smart to me.
30
@Zejee building codes are necessary. But those in California are more extensive than necessary to ensure safe buildings. Overregulation is the issue, not regulation itself.
6
@Jake I'm a builder in Los Angeles and you're 100% right. All the city and the unions and socially concerned activists and politicians come up with- is more restrictions that raise the costs of building. In my current project, a small apartment building, I estimate the unnecessary costs caused by regulations, at least at 50% of my overall costs. At the end the future tenants will have to pay for it
9
There but for the grace of God go you and I, my friend;
each of us has foibles that can nip us in the end.
Before we cast condemning eyes upon the homeless wreck,
remember it is charity we all need, not high tech.
God save me from the common hubris I am apt to feel
when I am giving free advice or serving out a meal!
198
@tim torkildson
I so agree with you.
8
@tim torkildson
Hey Tim clean the blue goop out of your eyes and realize that while yes we all have foibles it is still our own personal responsibility to face them head on.
As apposed to Mr Holys who wants to celebrate getting a place to live with buying a bottle of wine...the very thing that landed him on the streets in the first place, let alone doing eight years in prison.
Mr Holys is the last person to be highlighted to depict our horrific homelessness epidemic. He is a junkie that needs to get clean...PERIOD.
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Stunning article about the face of the homeless and beautifully written. I hope Mr. Holys can open that bottle of sweet dessert wine and be on his way up and out of the streets.
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The article hints that he’s an alcoholic. He can do without the wine.
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@Jacquie
the man is an addict, sadly. unless he gives up the dream of that one cekebratory galss he is done. the only way out forhim is to go ckean and sober. he is on the street mostly because he has been unable to make the choice to go sober.
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@Jacquie
Seriously? You want the guy to start drinking alcohol?
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Homelessness is a complex issue, but I can't help but notice its correlation with cuts to social services. To be sure, I am not making an argument for a cause and effect here, but if there is no social safety net (welfare, unemployment benefits, work place benefits such as pensions and medical insurance, training programs, living wages, etc) homelessness and other manifestations of social decay become more evident - and it's been this way since the relentless push to cut taxes (benefiting the already wealthy) and services across states and cities . . . something has to give.
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Interesting take.
I’m stricken by the relationship to crack and meth use.
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@PS This gentleman receives almost $1000 a month in SS and Disability. My first suggestion would be that he move to a town, perhaps rural, where that amount could support him and get him out of the drug scene. What do you thnk he spends $30+ a day on in SF?
I'll only add that SF has AlAnon and AA chapters and club houses. The programs exist, especially in SF, but you have to work the program.
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@PS it started with president Reagan cutting the costs for mental health facilities. Since then, they've been out on the streets and the police is forced to deal with that
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As the number of homeless swell, it is easy to dismiss this population as a monolith. No one wants to be homeless or to feel insignificant. Stories like this help everyone to understand there is a personal narrative to that brought each individual to this state. It's our empathy and desire to preserve the social safety net which will alleviate the frequency such hardship.
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Superb article—and a deeply sad story. Having worked in homeless social services, this is not an unfamiliar trajectory to me. What struck me is that M. Holys has $960 a month coming in. I know numerous people here in the Bay Area who—because they have Section 8 Housing Vouchers, which typically cap their housing costs to 30-40% of their total income, combined with Medicaid benefits, some food assistance (SNAP benefits, food pantries, and very importantly Meals on Wheels)—can live carefully on $1100-$1200 a month. Stable housing is the key. Mr. Holys, if he is staying sober, is so close to a sustainable recipe. I think of a man I know very well who lives very comfortably in a small studio in an upper middle class neighborhood on $900 a month: eating lunch everyday at Meals on Wheels, carefully budgeting for breakfast and dinner; receiving his medical care and medicines free via Medicaid/Medicare; not driving a car, but enjoying walking everyday, including to a coffeehouse where he socializes and to a senior center where he has the free lunch and socializes some more. Then I think of Mr. Holys in a tent with rats the size of footballs running around. I wish I could scoop him up—and everyone like him—and get them into the situation my friend enjoys.
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@Michael. Your idea of these people living “comfortably” on these extremely marginal incomes is not mine. In reality, you are describing lives of poverty within one of the richest societies the world has ever known. Put simply, it is disgraceful.
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@Hugh D Campbell
You are right. No argument. Which is why I if I was king I’d start by cutting military spending by 2% per year for the next 20 years and use the money instead to provide a $2,000 per month income to every person in the USA. (My math needs to be checked of course—but you get the idea....) But please don’t overlook that my friend’s life is so many leaps and bounds better than Mr. Holys simply because he has some very basic elements in place: housing assistance, medical care, food assistance. My friend feels that he lives comfortably—that isn’t really my judgement.
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@Michael
So what do you think. With Silicon Valley money so close by - how difficult could it be to get them involved to foot the bill on a build out for 4000 new housing units. I'm in construction and by my math (admittedly not knowing the full costs of building in California) a 500 sq. ft unit wood studded in a five story brick building shouldn't cost more than $150.00/sq.ft. Thats 75000 bucks per unit X 4000 units =$300 million (over many bldgs). Add 100 million in buying out dilapidated properties and 10% for the inevitable cost overruns and for less than 450 million the present housing crisis is solved. They have the money in spades. They need to look more involved in income inequality and how housing prices are so high in the area. And you have a Governor who could fast track this forward. This is doable.
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This is to be expected in a capitalist system. That is something we are, generally, not allowed to question. We are all prey.
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@Eric Jensen
Ahh , a sweeping generalization, conflating the disease of addiction to a particular economic system.
Quite the stretch!
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@Ron B Yes, this particular story involves addiction, but I think you gloss over a major point here: capitalism, unchecked, will inherently produce winners and losers. The key is not to replace it, but to proactively balance it with effective regulation and programs for retaining, social assistance and shelter.
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In Canada, are there social safety nets that would help a man like him?
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Does he realize there are far less expensive cities to live in, throughout the midwest?
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@GKSandiego, The homeless prefer the moderate weather of the Pacific coast to that of the midwest just like everyone else. And perhaps friendlier politics as well.
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@GKSanDiego yes, half of his $960/month would pay the rent in a lot of other places
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@GKSanDiego
It sounds as though what family he has is in California. That might be what keeps him there. Also, he does not see his situation as permanent.
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It is indeed sad to read or hear about once successful people, persons that contributed in some way to our society, find themselves at the bottom of the hierarchy of societal norms.
Many do have the taste for substances that lead to abuse and in the end cost them their livelihoods, families and associates.
The questions that arise is what do we, as a society, a population, do about the homeless issue, whether the homeless have substance addiction, mental health issues or prefer the homeless lifestyle.
Trump, in his wisdom, blamed the government of California for the homeless problem. However, is government to blame? Does the government enable or encourage homelessness through aid programs, or, are their insufficient aid programs available to the homeless, and lastly, are many homeless willing to live again in a society that has its rules and regulations for behavior and living within the norm.
Many studies have been conducted in my home state to determine the causes of homelessness and what can government do to alleviate the increasing population.
Yet, there are no clear solutions.
And Trump should help find the causes and viable solutions rather than blame government.
Then perhaps Mr. Holys can find assistance that will help him for a lifetime.
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Such a thin line, it would be wonderful if we could find a way to leverage technology and social media to help people come back into society.
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@BD
A great thought.... direct person to person assistance (“charity”) could perhaps be part of that technological assistance: connecting organizations, churches, temples, service organizations and individuals who want to help with folks who just need that few hundred a month extra.... maybe also paying a social worker to help them make the transition.... Anyway, I like your hopeful concept.
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@BD how about using tech & social media profits with a dividend as suggested by Yang? These folks need just a bit more in some cases. The mentally ill & addicted us another story....
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