Since we left our struggling friend, I’m glad to report he’s been sober for two weeks and housed for almost a month. Today we spotted him walking home from the grocery store with bags brimming full of healthy food choices.
He declared that he felt a lot better since he stopped spare-changing for booze and started eating every day. But he needs laundry soap – I’m conflicted, I’m trying to hang tough and not offer charity, but I do have plenty of laundry soap, and maybe an extra bottle of shampoo… but should I? Luckily the conversation turned to his housing situation.
His latest anxiety is that he and his roommate have to come up with rent within a week and a half, and they have no money. He asked if we had any work for him, but given his physical state, he couldn’t work more than a couple of hours before he’d need to quit for the day. In fact, the last time he worked for us, he looked like a plate of baked crap at the end of the day, and he didn’t call us again for over a week. That bought him another two weeks of grace with his landlord, and now he’s back at square one. I was shocked – for one bedroom in a totally run-down crappy apartment building he is charged $400/month.
He did succeed in getting an EBT card, and that qualifies a person for other programs, like rental assistance. He is also eligible for a free cell phone.
One strong observation I’ve made from this experience is that while financial services are necessary, people in crisis also need safe housing options and persistent coaching and counseling. Firm but caring. When we started this journey our friend was incoherent, rambling, paranoid, having hallucinations, alternately thanking us, cursing us, and begging for forgiveness. Today he was anxious, but he was coherent. He looked like he’d gained weight, and walked with a solid stride. He seemed to be on the verge of tears a few times but at one point, as he described his fear of eviction, he stopped himself, saying, “I shouldn’t think about it like that, I should try to think positive.” So we told him to get ahold of the welfare department, using the account he’d already set up for his EBT, to check into getting rental assistance. That seemed to make him feel better, he walked away with his grocery bags to make lunch for himself and his roommate.
As I stood there, I also saw that the area surrounding Chico State and the neighborhoods to the west of town are sub-code and unsafe. I realized it’s one of the oldest parts of town. The streets are completely crapped, I’m guessing the sewer and water lines must be nearly 100 years old. Huge old trees sagging into power lines right outside second story windows.
Some of the old apartment complexes look well-maintained, others are in absolutely – okay, here’s a chance to use a grown-up word – deplorable condition, look like they can’t even be saved, but they’re full of low-income families and single people living 4 – 6 in one apartment.
Instead of permitting new sprawl development in every direction, why isn’t the city upholding the code on longtime commercial housing? As they build out in every direction, the central, older parts of town are just about literally sinking into the sewer.
That is creating blight. Blight is not healthy for anybody. The state of the lower income housing in our city is preventing people from making their lives any better. If you have to work at the lesser paying jobs, you are relegated to Crap Town. It seems like the city just doesn’t care about your quality of life if you don’t make at least $80,000/year.
Chico Taxpayers Association 
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