WEBVTT - Home Is Where The Bars Is 0:00:01.520 --> 0:00:08.319 You're listening to Waiting on reparations production of her radio. Yeah, yeah, 0:00:08.680 --> 0:00:11.200 check it. Yeah, Hey y'all, I'm really trying to cope. 0:00:11.240 --> 0:00:13.840 So I'm screaming we should eat the rich people kept down, 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:15.680 but I guess they gotta keep them pinched. I think 0:00:15.680 --> 0:00:17.560 we should switch. Trying to do the ship a better 0:00:17.600 --> 0:00:19.840 way got you looking up and walking over with your 0:00:19.880 --> 0:00:22.279 brother lay. That's where he'd be at. You ain't trying 0:00:22.320 --> 0:00:24.079 to see that you got your money, but all of 0:00:24.120 --> 0:00:26.800 your currency is Fiat B act with me. I ain't 0:00:26.800 --> 0:00:29.400 bothered it at all. It's some most civilizations were just 0:00:29.400 --> 0:00:31.800 wobbling fall a matter of fact. I'm doing it for 0:00:31.840 --> 0:00:33.559 a pad in the back to do it because it's 0:00:33.560 --> 0:00:35.680 where your heart and soul is. Actually, Yet if you 0:00:35.760 --> 0:00:37.720 do it for the camera, that's a matter of cap 0:00:37.880 --> 0:00:40.839 It's almost like capitalism is actually whack. Who would have 0:00:40.880 --> 0:00:43.239 thunk it? They brought the cool age and Nick's drunk it. 0:00:43.320 --> 0:00:45.200 You're lucky I ain't get on this tape. I would 0:00:45.240 --> 0:00:47.240 have dunked it. It's how I was supposed to go decide. 0:00:47.280 --> 0:00:49.600 They wanted to function, but they ain't gonna work because 0:00:49.640 --> 0:00:54.800 we ain't putting enough in. Yeah, yeah, Dope Knife, Dope 0:00:54.880 --> 0:01:03.640 Knife living with Franka, waiting waiting rep reppertion. He what's 0:01:03.760 --> 0:01:06.360 up people, how y'all doing? My name is Dope Knife. 0:01:07.760 --> 0:01:13.440 We are waiting on reparations? Yo, yea yeah, yeah, what's up? 0:01:13.440 --> 0:01:17.360 What's up? What's up? Another wonderful week. I'm feeling a 0:01:17.360 --> 0:01:19.640 bit more energized with it. You know. I just took 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:23.720 a little trip back home to Savannah, so seeing old 0:01:23.800 --> 0:01:28.080 friends and fans and ship like that, it got a 0:01:28.240 --> 0:01:30.440 got a little pep in my step. Brothers feeling good 0:01:30.440 --> 0:01:32.760 about the ship right now, although I gotta say that 0:01:33.040 --> 0:01:38.240 downtown Savannah y'all should probably put some masks on. I mean, 0:01:38.280 --> 0:01:42.560 that ship is like there wasn't no pandemic and ship 0:01:42.920 --> 0:01:45.400 like niggas is just going around like that ship is 0:01:45.440 --> 0:01:49.120 all good. So miss Franco, what have you been up 0:01:49.160 --> 0:01:53.240 to since I took my Savannah sabbatical? So for me 0:01:53.320 --> 0:01:56.800 this week, it's an exciting week. Um, My partner and I, 0:01:57.040 --> 0:01:59.800 Paul Clays, who we've previously had on the show, found 0:01:59.840 --> 0:02:03.960 a place together on We're moving in uh in a 0:02:04.000 --> 0:02:06.520 couple of weeks. So that's super exciting and scary. But 0:02:06.800 --> 0:02:11.240 you know, UH, particularly as we approach the topic this 0:02:11.320 --> 0:02:16.799 week of UM housing, insecurity and homelessness. Um I just 0:02:17.520 --> 0:02:20.119 the journey we've been on as folks, you know, with 0:02:20.360 --> 0:02:23.800 who haven't lost much employment under COVID, just you know, 0:02:23.960 --> 0:02:26.800 decent credit scores, etcetera. The struggle for us to even 0:02:26.840 --> 0:02:30.280 find a place in a small town or you know, 0:02:30.320 --> 0:02:32.680 a small city of the size of Athens has been 0:02:32.720 --> 0:02:34.600 interesting and just had a lot of light for me 0:02:34.800 --> 0:02:38.239 personally on like how hard, yeah, how hard it is 0:02:38.280 --> 0:02:40.440 to find a place to live. How lucky we all 0:02:40.480 --> 0:02:42.800 are to have places to live if we do so. 0:02:42.840 --> 0:02:44.680 One of the things that I ended up doing when 0:02:44.680 --> 0:02:48.560 I was in Savannah for this past week was, you know, 0:02:48.960 --> 0:02:52.440 I lived there for fifteen years. You get to know people, 0:02:52.520 --> 0:02:55.480 you grow your social net, and you know, as sad 0:02:55.520 --> 0:03:00.760 as it is, there's certain homeless people whose faces become 0:03:00.919 --> 0:03:04.040 familiarity and you know, you're used to seeing them at 0:03:04.080 --> 0:03:07.359 the same spot, and I mean, depending on your personality, 0:03:07.600 --> 0:03:12.200 you know, sometimes those people make it a bigger impact 0:03:12.240 --> 0:03:16.040 on you than others do. But they stay with you 0:03:16.080 --> 0:03:17.960 and they stay on your mind. And I moved out 0:03:18.000 --> 0:03:20.800 of Savannah right before COVID hit, so there was a 0:03:20.840 --> 0:03:24.760 lot of people that I would see around that I 0:03:24.840 --> 0:03:27.839 was just you know that I had continued to think 0:03:27.880 --> 0:03:31.520 about and just wonder how they were managing. Uh. Now, 0:03:32.320 --> 0:03:37.440 since COVID hit, Savannah has always had a you know, 0:03:38.440 --> 0:03:40.760 I don't know if it can be described as issue, 0:03:40.880 --> 0:03:43.200 but I think if one person is homeless as an issue. 0:03:43.240 --> 0:03:45.240 So I'll say Savannah has always had an issue with 0:03:45.240 --> 0:03:49.240 homelessness since I've lived there, and I just didn't imagine that, UM, 0:03:49.400 --> 0:03:54.160 COVID or the economic downturn helped that situation at all. 0:03:54.440 --> 0:03:57.440 So the Department of Housing and Urban Development is responsible 0:03:57.480 --> 0:04:00.200 for the annual almost assessed the reports and to OUs 0:04:00.240 --> 0:04:04.120 and fourteen UM they counted about a hundred They counted 0:04:04.160 --> 0:04:09.040 about one point five million homeless people. Two eighteen, they 0:04:09.080 --> 0:04:13.240 reported approximately point one seven percent of the population, or 0:04:13.240 --> 0:04:16.200 about five thousand people in the United States, are homeless 0:04:16.240 --> 0:04:19.279 on a given night. Several major cities, including New York 0:04:19.360 --> 0:04:21.640 and Los Angeles, have seen that skyrock out over the 0:04:21.760 --> 0:04:25.360 last three years to an almost increase. I think if 0:04:25.400 --> 0:04:29.000 you bounced the fact that we have millions of unoccupied 0:04:29.040 --> 0:04:31.880 homes all across UM the United States as those wrapping 0:04:31.880 --> 0:04:36.400 about a little bit last week, UM, I definitely get 0:04:36.400 --> 0:04:39.359 behind the arguments of the The issue is not um 0:04:39.560 --> 0:04:42.440 like needing more housing or meeting you know, so these 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:45.800 solutions and problems that perhaps capitals when we have all 0:04:45.800 --> 0:04:47.800 these houses that no one's living in, all these people 0:04:47.839 --> 0:04:50.760 that have nowhere to live because they can't afford it, 0:04:51.440 --> 0:04:54.640 and um something think about every day is I like 0:04:54.680 --> 0:04:56.240 walk past the home of shelter right aund the corner 0:04:56.240 --> 0:04:59.800 from our house and think that, like a block up 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:04.080 there's a luxury student high rise apartment complex that's probably 0:05:04.120 --> 0:05:07.080 a like capacity and people they used to be living 0:05:07.080 --> 0:05:09.720 in until they find enough tenants to like to rent 0:05:09.720 --> 0:05:14.200 those units at the market rates. But no um even 0:05:14.200 --> 0:05:18.560 to like get even to get like landlords, you know, 0:05:18.640 --> 0:05:21.440 like we have a program in Athens where like we'll 0:05:21.480 --> 0:05:23.960 pay people's rent for them if they're trying to get 0:05:24.040 --> 0:05:28.520 like permanent supportive housing, like the Housing Community Development Department 0:05:29.440 --> 0:05:32.440 will literally pay for people, will give people vouchers for rent, 0:05:32.680 --> 0:05:34.839 and landlords won't accept them because they are scared of 0:05:34.880 --> 0:05:38.520 the risks of housing formally unhoused people on their in 0:05:38.520 --> 0:05:40.880 their properties. And it's just such a such a closer 0:05:41.680 --> 0:05:45.839 to think about. Really, homelessness in this country is pretty 0:05:45.920 --> 0:05:48.719 much been a national issue since like the seventeen hundreds 0:05:48.720 --> 0:05:52.400 and ships and across that time, it's always been blunders 0:05:52.480 --> 0:05:55.080 and capitalism and the strains that they put on the 0:05:55.120 --> 0:05:58.320 economy that always add to the growing rate. And this 0:05:58.400 --> 0:06:00.560 is I mean, how far you want to take it back? 0:06:00.600 --> 0:06:02.560 You know, we can go back to the Great Depression, 0:06:03.080 --> 0:06:05.400 or you can go all the way to the financial 0:06:05.440 --> 0:06:07.720 collapse back and oh eight, you know what I'm saying, 0:06:07.720 --> 0:06:11.760 and everything in between and everything that happened after and 0:06:11.800 --> 0:06:14.599 everything's going to happen in the future. So that's what 0:06:14.640 --> 0:06:17.240 we're getting into. And today's episode, we're gonna dive into 0:06:17.279 --> 0:06:20.760 the problem homelessness and water causes, talk about santantial solutions, 0:06:21.080 --> 0:06:24.279 but we're currently being done now and how this issue 0:06:24.279 --> 0:06:26.080 has been dealt with in the space of hip hop 0:06:26.080 --> 0:06:29.520 but John and stereotypically gets highlighted for its excess and 0:06:29.560 --> 0:06:33.440 analyzing two songs uh Mr woodnow by the rest of 0:06:33.480 --> 0:06:35.240 development as well as what did all the cost by 0:06:35.480 --> 0:06:39.160 kind of Clamar also be talking with musician and speakers 0:06:39.200 --> 0:06:42.600 Zulu Jones of bands Zul the Profit about his experience 0:06:42.640 --> 0:06:44.479 with being homeless and what that experience is like for 0:06:44.560 --> 0:06:47.840 people living in We'll be back with all of that 0:06:47.920 --> 0:07:02.080 after the jump. With all the political discourse over varying 0:07:02.120 --> 0:07:07.359 ideologies and policies, and you know, political promises made to 0:07:07.440 --> 0:07:11.280 strengthen America's middle class. We all know that poor people, 0:07:11.360 --> 0:07:13.320 more often than not are left out of the equation. 0:07:14.000 --> 0:07:16.800 Least among those who are thought about is America's homeless 0:07:16.800 --> 0:07:20.680 populations is perhaps the most voiceless constituency in the country. 0:07:20.960 --> 0:07:25.760 Journalists and social documentary photographer Jacob ries Um did some 0:07:25.960 --> 0:07:28.360 documentation of the New York flung to with his book 0:07:28.360 --> 0:07:32.080 How the Other Half Lives Just, which raised public awareness 0:07:32.200 --> 0:07:36.400 of subpar living conditions, causing some changes in the building 0:07:36.400 --> 0:07:40.240 codes around that time. There's layers to homelessness. There's the 0:07:40.240 --> 0:07:42.400 homelessness that you see in the street on the daily, 0:07:42.560 --> 0:07:46.880 but then there's a hidden homelessness of housing procarity, families 0:07:46.880 --> 0:07:50.160 staying with relatives, and the way that strains the social 0:07:50.160 --> 0:07:53.040 fabric of our communities or digs at our mental health 0:07:53.080 --> 0:07:58.560 and diminishes productivity, sleeping on couches, renting extended stay hotel rooms, 0:07:59.000 --> 0:08:01.920 as well as family months behind and rent whom these 0:08:01.960 --> 0:08:05.440 possibilities loom right around the corner. For I mean, the 0:08:05.480 --> 0:08:10.760 problem with our housing market is that it's driven it's 0:08:10.800 --> 0:08:13.360 driven by the needs of the wealthy, or not the 0:08:13.400 --> 0:08:15.080 needs of the wealthy. The desires are the wealthy and 0:08:15.120 --> 0:08:20.040 not the needs of our communities. And so um, even 0:08:20.120 --> 0:08:22.280 in athletes, we're seeing we're seeing a lot of like 0:08:22.960 --> 0:08:25.560 what I would call like compression in the housing markets, 0:08:25.560 --> 0:08:28.480 such that there's not even housing for middle class people 0:08:28.560 --> 0:08:32.640 being built. Like, if you make between um, let's say 0:08:33.400 --> 0:08:35.920 fifty and a hundred thousand dollars a year, maybe you've 0:08:35.920 --> 0:08:39.200 got some kids, um, Like, there's not even housing being 0:08:39.200 --> 0:08:42.560 built for you. The housing the housing that's being built 0:08:42.720 --> 0:08:45.800 is for is marketed towards students who are you know, 0:08:46.640 --> 0:08:49.600 from like the wealthy Atlanta suburbs whose parents are paying 0:08:49.640 --> 0:08:51.720 rents for them. They've got affinity pools on the roof 0:08:51.800 --> 0:08:55.719 and gyms and like all this fancy study spaces and 0:08:55.720 --> 0:09:01.200 pool rooms, etcetera. UM, or you know, for university professors 0:09:01.240 --> 0:09:04.959 and the like the managerial class of folks that can 0:09:05.000 --> 0:09:09.359 afford you know, four hundred five hundred thousand dollar UM 0:09:09.640 --> 0:09:13.360 mortgage for a house. UM. And so what we're seeing 0:09:13.480 --> 0:09:17.640 is um, middle class people are moving into formerly working 0:09:17.640 --> 0:09:20.600 class neighborhoods because that's the only place they can find 0:09:20.640 --> 0:09:25.480 housing within their income levels. It's causing um, single family 0:09:25.520 --> 0:09:28.880 homes in neighborhoods like where Me and macliff Um that 0:09:29.800 --> 0:09:33.800 typically were very blue collar neighborhoods, um, those are now 0:09:33.840 --> 0:09:37.480 being marketed towards people, you know, professional managerial class of 0:09:38.080 --> 0:09:42.800 you know these like wealthier, wider uh yeppier kind of people. 0:09:44.200 --> 0:09:46.200 As a result, so like people are getting forced out, 0:09:46.840 --> 0:09:49.040 not necessarily because it's like hip and cool to live 0:09:49.080 --> 0:09:51.319 in these neighborhoods, because middle class people don't even have 0:09:51.360 --> 0:09:53.600 a choice either, And so it has a cascading effect 0:09:54.040 --> 0:09:57.880 where then working class people who have lived in these communities, 0:09:57.920 --> 0:10:03.040 like generationally oftentimes families grew up here and their grandparents 0:10:03.080 --> 0:10:05.720 and for many many generations have lived in places like 0:10:05.760 --> 0:10:09.559 East athens Um are being are being displaced. They call 0:10:09.960 --> 0:10:14.200 the like the the Oglethorpe Clark County line, like the 0:10:14.200 --> 0:10:16.640 trail of Tiers, as black people are getting pushed out 0:10:16.640 --> 0:10:19.160 into these more more rural areas where they don't have 0:10:19.240 --> 0:10:23.120 access to public transportation, the school systems are worse. Um 0:10:23.120 --> 0:10:25.360 they have to feel they have to fear from white 0:10:25.360 --> 0:10:28.120 supremacst violence and violence from the police. When plice get 0:10:28.120 --> 0:10:30.600 fired from place like Athens for I don't know, running 0:10:30.600 --> 0:10:33.800 someone over with a cop car um, they get fired 0:10:33.840 --> 0:10:35.800 and they get hired in the next county over the 0:10:35.800 --> 0:10:38.040 next day, and that's where low income and black folks 0:10:38.040 --> 0:10:42.240 are being forced to go live. We're also seeing um 0:10:42.480 --> 0:10:46.280 UH recently in in Athens Um a lot of issues 0:10:46.320 --> 0:10:50.240 with the mobile home communities. A lot of these trailers 0:10:50.400 --> 0:10:53.360 are old people living in thirty four year old trailers. 0:10:53.440 --> 0:10:57.160 And when these landlords you know, up the rent or 0:10:57.800 --> 0:10:59.679 or tell them this. In one case when the for 0:10:59.800 --> 0:11:04.800 Tom really the Latino community UM Tranquility neighborhood, they're just 0:11:04.840 --> 0:11:08.840 closing down the park. And these trailers are so old 0:11:09.320 --> 0:11:12.040 that people like that moving companies won't even move them. 0:11:12.080 --> 0:11:14.719 So people don't even have the choice to take their 0:11:14.720 --> 0:11:16.520 home with them. Their only option is to watch it 0:11:16.520 --> 0:11:19.560 be destroyed because someone doesn't want to run a mobile 0:11:19.720 --> 0:11:24.199 park anymore. And so the issues are overlapping, issues are 0:11:24.640 --> 0:11:29.280 um compounding their cascading. By the late nineteenth century, as 0:11:29.400 --> 0:11:33.800 urbanization expanded, many American towns and cities had significant numbers 0:11:33.840 --> 0:11:37.640 of homeless people. Now the issue is complicated, of course, 0:11:37.760 --> 0:11:41.000 like everything in life. But when you really break it down, 0:11:42.000 --> 0:11:45.600 there's five major reasons why people go homeless in America. 0:11:46.000 --> 0:11:54.240 One lack of affordable housing, two unemployment, Three poverty for 0:11:54.920 --> 0:11:58.200 mental illness and the lack of needed services. And then 0:11:58.240 --> 0:12:01.079 five substance abuse and lack of needed services as well. 0:12:01.400 --> 0:12:04.320 All right, now, let's dive into that just a little bit. 0:12:04.360 --> 0:12:09.240 So One lack of affordable housing, high rent burdens, overcrowding, 0:12:09.240 --> 0:12:11.880 and substandard housing of not only forced many people to 0:12:11.920 --> 0:12:15.120 become homeless, but it's put a large and growing number 0:12:15.160 --> 0:12:18.960 of people at risk of becoming homeless. Number two unemployment. 0:12:19.320 --> 0:12:21.520 If you lose your job, you can't pay your bills. 0:12:21.760 --> 0:12:24.920 Unemployment underemployment are huge factors in this. It's said that 0:12:24.960 --> 0:12:26.920 in a place like Athens, the issue is not the 0:12:26.960 --> 0:12:30.480 cost of housing. The issue is is the low wage 0:12:30.520 --> 0:12:35.200 floor um that people are working. You know, I think 0:12:35.200 --> 0:12:37.960 we have thirty eight percent poverty, right, but like a 0:12:38.040 --> 0:12:40.640 three percent unappointment right between thirty five percent people in 0:12:40.679 --> 0:12:43.440 Athens fully employed, working forty hours a week, it's still 0:12:43.440 --> 0:12:46.840 not able to make ends meet. So then you see uh, 0:12:46.960 --> 0:12:51.040 folks staying in relationships that are toxic and abusive because 0:12:51.080 --> 0:12:53.880 they can't afford to live on their own. UM. You see, 0:12:54.000 --> 0:12:57.960 like you know, folks like you know, the quality we're 0:12:58.000 --> 0:13:01.880 in our late twenties, early thirties, mid thirties, like living 0:13:01.880 --> 0:13:05.000 in roommates situations rather than the you know, the UM 0:13:05.920 --> 0:13:10.000 classic ideal of like home ownership. UM. Because folks just 0:13:10.000 --> 0:13:12.680 can't up for to live on their own because of 0:13:13.200 --> 0:13:15.800 the wage thing. And so a question that often comes 0:13:15.840 --> 0:13:19.360 to our mind, my mind, as you know, working in 0:13:19.400 --> 0:13:21.920 local government, it's like what do you tackle first? You 0:13:21.960 --> 0:13:26.080 tackle the housing or do you tackle the wage piece? 0:13:26.600 --> 0:13:28.920 And for me, I think tackling the housing piece makes 0:13:28.960 --> 0:13:30.720 more sense. I mean, I think there's a lot we 0:13:30.720 --> 0:13:36.319 can do to uh ally ourselves with organized labor, both 0:13:36.760 --> 0:13:39.920 in supporting the demands of workers organizing in their workplaces 0:13:40.640 --> 0:13:43.920 um uplifting those demands in the forms of resolutions we pass. 0:13:44.360 --> 0:13:46.920 Also thinking creatively about how we can pass local policy 0:13:47.000 --> 0:13:50.040 to improve working conditions such that at least people have 0:13:50.120 --> 0:13:52.240 that alleviated even if we can't raise them in the 0:13:52.320 --> 0:13:55.040 wage because of state law of reactions. It really to me, 0:13:55.120 --> 0:13:59.680 I mean, we we have a budget of about hundred 0:13:59.679 --> 0:14:03.800 fifty million dollars a year, only two percent of which 0:14:03.840 --> 0:14:06.360 we spend on housing and development for a year. I 0:14:06.360 --> 0:14:08.480 think it brings down that my math kind of shot 0:14:08.679 --> 0:14:14.319 like main formulas a year, Like that's bullshit, UM, thinking 0:14:14.320 --> 0:14:17.960 about how we could instead invest more aggressively in social 0:14:17.960 --> 0:14:21.520 housing the variety of housing types UM that are owned 0:14:21.560 --> 0:14:25.800 by the Athens Housing Authority or you know, other nonprofities 0:14:25.880 --> 0:14:29.840 like a land trust or Habitat for Humanity, such that 0:14:31.360 --> 0:14:34.280 we can you know, alleviate this burden on the housing 0:14:34.360 --> 0:14:36.240 market in the way that it's tearing at the social 0:14:36.240 --> 0:14:39.440 fabric in our neighborhoods. UM. It feels like something that 0:14:39.480 --> 0:14:42.320 we have the most control over and like a very 0:14:42.600 --> 0:14:46.560 um like a like a good place to start. UM. 0:14:46.680 --> 0:14:49.560 We might not, you know, I think that UM, like 0:14:49.720 --> 0:14:52.640 the wage situation is something that is more people powered, 0:14:52.960 --> 0:14:54.760 like it takes people to organize in order for us 0:14:54.760 --> 0:14:57.280 to get behind their organized demands. But like we have 0:14:57.320 --> 0:15:00.480 perfect control over the housing stock and building more housing, 0:15:00.680 --> 0:15:02.520 like there's nothing stopping us from doing that, you know, 0:15:02.640 --> 0:15:04.640 but wait around for someone to tell us to do that. 0:15:05.160 --> 0:15:07.800 UM that we've got studies on studies that show us 0:15:07.840 --> 0:15:11.040 it's necessary, and so I think that's somewhere like it. 0:15:11.120 --> 0:15:14.280 As much as I like with the issue of poverty. 0:15:14.320 --> 0:15:17.080 I think organized labor is a really important thing to 0:15:17.160 --> 0:15:22.000 support in order to um help us ease the burden 0:15:22.840 --> 0:15:27.080 of housing. Can commodity and so many basic public goods, 0:15:27.440 --> 0:15:31.760 you know, just basic human needs being commodified. Um we 0:15:31.760 --> 0:15:36.640 could also decommodify them those needs as a government, but 0:15:36.760 --> 0:15:40.040 taking aggressive action to this invest more heavily in it. 0:15:43.120 --> 0:15:47.120 Number three poverty. This one's kind of self explanatory. If 0:15:47.160 --> 0:15:49.040 you don't make a living wage, how the fund you're 0:15:49.040 --> 0:15:53.880 supposed to live. Number four mental illness. Now, with the 0:15:53.960 --> 0:15:57.960 limited supply of publicly supported psychiatric beds, getting access to 0:15:58.000 --> 0:16:02.760 treatment for severe mental illnesses like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder 0:16:03.120 --> 0:16:06.800 is becoming ever and ever more restricted. So as a result, 0:16:06.840 --> 0:16:09.960 this leaves an increasing number of people who require intensive 0:16:09.960 --> 0:16:13.720 services like this to remain unstable and experience all the 0:16:13.760 --> 0:16:16.760 negative consequences because they have to remain with that illness 0:16:16.840 --> 0:16:19.320 for such a long time, and one of those consequences 0:16:19.320 --> 0:16:23.640 can end up being homelessness. And Number five substance abuse. 0:16:24.240 --> 0:16:26.920 Thirty eight percent of homeless people were dependent on alcohol, 0:16:27.920 --> 0:16:31.880 percent abuse drugs. Alcohol abuse is more common in older generations, 0:16:31.920 --> 0:16:34.200 while drug abuse is more common in the homeless youth 0:16:34.560 --> 0:16:39.000 until this issue of UM substance abuse among folks, I 0:16:39.000 --> 0:16:41.600 think you, I mean, I think at various points in 0:16:41.640 --> 0:16:45.320 housing precarity, if you're living with four roommates, or if 0:16:45.360 --> 0:16:48.120 you're living in an extended state hotel, or for living 0:16:48.160 --> 0:16:52.040 on the street umty eight percent of people surveyed UM 0:16:52.280 --> 0:16:56.120 who were living out UM in various stays just homelessness 0:16:56.440 --> 0:16:59.000 dependent on alcohol in twenty six abuse other drugs and 0:16:59.040 --> 0:17:01.920 thinking about it, want to outside fuck it. I would 0:17:02.000 --> 0:17:05.520 be drunk every day Like that makes that makes total sense. 0:17:05.520 --> 0:17:08.439 And it's you know, studies have shown that it is 0:17:08.840 --> 0:17:11.639 a lot easier to get off drugs, for you to 0:17:11.720 --> 0:17:16.639 get employment that is gainful and stable, UM, for you 0:17:16.760 --> 0:17:19.840 to access to supports you need, and you know, pull 0:17:19.880 --> 0:17:24.240 yourself up by the bootstraps, etcetera. You know, quote unquote, UM, 0:17:24.280 --> 0:17:25.600 if you have a roof over your head, if you 0:17:25.640 --> 0:17:27.639 have that basic stability off somewhere to come home to 0:17:27.680 --> 0:17:30.240 every night, place where you can take a shower, get 0:17:30.240 --> 0:17:33.000 a good night's sleep, have some privacy, have some peace 0:17:33.000 --> 0:17:36.159 and quiet. And so this idea of like a housing 0:17:36.200 --> 0:17:38.600 first model of dealing with homelessness, I just giving people 0:17:38.680 --> 0:17:43.280 permanent supportive housing UM and you know, coupling that with 0:17:43.320 --> 0:17:46.360 wrap around services to help people get jobs, get education, 0:17:46.880 --> 0:17:51.480 get transportation, get counseling services, get addiction treatment UM is 0:17:51.480 --> 0:17:55.919 a lot more effective than constantly funding these overcrowded shelters 0:17:56.320 --> 0:18:00.720 shuttling people between jails and mental facilities when they get 0:18:00.720 --> 0:18:03.520 into scuffles on the street. I'll think it's one that 0:18:03.600 --> 0:18:05.080 reminds me one of the things we don't really talk 0:18:05.119 --> 0:18:10.240 about with homelessness. I think in the recent conversations around UM, 0:18:10.280 --> 0:18:15.919 I hesitated safe police reform, but like police uh uh, 0:18:16.840 --> 0:18:19.760 I guess like the decentralization of police who our public 0:18:19.800 --> 0:18:22.600 safety of response can talk a lot about how often 0:18:22.720 --> 0:18:26.200 people who are homeless and counter the police when they're panhandling, 0:18:26.520 --> 0:18:28.800 when the publicly intoxicative and it might be having a 0:18:28.800 --> 0:18:32.840 mental health crisis. But also the amount of crime perpetrated 0:18:32.880 --> 0:18:37.199 against homeless people UM I think is severely underreported. I 0:18:37.240 --> 0:18:39.080 hear reports of it all the time from folks that 0:18:39.119 --> 0:18:41.080 work out in the community, you know, go out to 0:18:41.119 --> 0:18:44.800 these encampments and feed folks and you know, help folks 0:18:44.840 --> 0:18:47.679 get they need handwarmers, logs to burn on the fire, 0:18:47.760 --> 0:18:53.240 tense sleeping bags and the amount of sexual assaults and 0:18:53.640 --> 0:18:57.800 uh just physical assaults, um, the amount of theft that 0:18:57.880 --> 0:19:01.200 these people um experience. And then because they are marginalized 0:19:01.240 --> 0:19:04.879 because they might be camping on private property, because they 0:19:05.000 --> 0:19:09.000 might be addicted to drugs or you know, have a 0:19:09.000 --> 0:19:11.800 criminal history, they don't reach out to law enforcement for 0:19:12.480 --> 0:19:15.280 support when they get raped or something like that because 0:19:15.560 --> 0:19:20.000 they're living in such a like a liminal space in society. 0:19:20.320 --> 0:19:23.920 And so when we think about dealing with issue of homelessness, like, oh, 0:19:24.000 --> 0:19:27.040 let's diversify our you know, public safety response so you 0:19:27.080 --> 0:19:31.159 have more compassionate first responders out like helping homeless folks, 0:19:31.200 --> 0:19:35.159 like connecting with services. Also, let's alleviate the issue of 0:19:35.160 --> 0:19:37.560 homelessness through a house and first model where we just 0:19:37.640 --> 0:19:40.159 get people housing so that they aren't the victims of 0:19:40.240 --> 0:19:43.280 crime either, so they're not getting their ship stolen or 0:19:43.320 --> 0:19:46.119 the ship kicked out of them. You know, in my district, 0:19:46.160 --> 0:19:50.480 you've had shootings, homeless encampments, sexual assaults, like all this 0:19:50.640 --> 0:19:53.040 crazy stuff that people aren't reporting in the cops. That 0:19:53.080 --> 0:19:56.000 could be alleviate if these if the spolkesport forced to 0:19:56.119 --> 0:20:00.439 live in these ramshackle communities together, you know, you know, 0:20:01.359 --> 0:20:03.800 based on a finiteer based on shap drug addiction, are 0:20:03.800 --> 0:20:06.400 based on purely the fact that they're like there's only 0:20:06.440 --> 0:20:13.960 one encampment left in town that hasn't been cleared. Ay, 0:20:14.160 --> 0:20:18.159 so okay, we're here with band leader, songwriter, entrepreneur, and 0:20:18.240 --> 0:20:21.560 social media influencer and you know what, just all around, 0:20:21.600 --> 0:20:25.760 good guy, my homie, Zulu Jones of the band Zulu Profit. 0:20:26.280 --> 0:20:28.760 How you doing, Zoo, I'm good man, I'm glad to 0:20:29.119 --> 0:20:30.880 get in here and get to sit down and talk 0:20:30.960 --> 0:20:34.360 to you. Man. I'm appreciating seeing all the stuff you've 0:20:34.400 --> 0:20:37.920 been getting into, especially with this podcast. Man. What we've 0:20:37.960 --> 0:20:41.040 been talking about today is we're talking about homelessness in 0:20:41.080 --> 0:20:45.160 America pretty much the five major reasons that people fall 0:20:45.200 --> 0:20:51.080 into homelessness UM, substance abuse, mental illness, UH, lack of 0:20:51.080 --> 0:20:56.160 affordable housing, poverty, and unemployment. UM. Before that, we were, 0:20:56.400 --> 0:20:59.600 you know, doing the digital rambling off of statistics and 0:20:59.640 --> 0:21:05.960 facts of this of that, and it just when when 0:21:06.000 --> 0:21:08.000 you go about doing things these ways, you have a 0:21:08.040 --> 0:21:10.960 habit of thinking of it as numbers, and you start 0:21:11.000 --> 0:21:14.840 to forget that each one of those numbers quote unquote 0:21:14.880 --> 0:21:18.080 is a human life that somebody who dreamt of being 0:21:18.160 --> 0:21:23.480 something who feared this, who wanted that, you know, and 0:21:23.760 --> 0:21:26.280 you lose the use track of the human experience with it. 0:21:26.720 --> 0:21:29.639 And that's why I wanted to talk to you, because, um, 0:21:29.680 --> 0:21:31.239 just as long as I've known you, I've known you 0:21:31.320 --> 0:21:34.040 through several you know what I mean, through through pretty 0:21:34.080 --> 0:21:35.560 much through a glow up, you know what I'm saying. 0:21:35.560 --> 0:21:37.920 Like I didn't know you earlier in life, but at 0:21:37.920 --> 0:21:39.960 this phase that I've met you, I've known you when 0:21:39.960 --> 0:21:42.320 you were homeless for multiple years, you know what I'm saying, 0:21:42.320 --> 0:21:44.159 and I've watched you work your way out of it, 0:21:44.240 --> 0:21:47.280 so I've I'm just curious, just to start off, is 0:21:47.359 --> 0:21:51.520 could you give us some insight as to like what 0:21:51.680 --> 0:21:56.520 it felt like when you found yourself getting into that position. 0:21:57.840 --> 0:22:01.800 I had an active addiction for thirty years, and that 0:22:01.840 --> 0:22:06.240 caused the failure of the relationship with the woman I 0:22:06.320 --> 0:22:09.320 moved to Georgia with. At the end of that, I 0:22:09.400 --> 0:22:14.080 found myself walking down Wheaton Street with my guitar and 0:22:14.160 --> 0:22:18.119 a couple of bags of belongings down the River Street. Now, 0:22:18.119 --> 0:22:21.640 I remember being scared because I had never been homeless 0:22:21.680 --> 0:22:26.520 before in my life, and the prospect of living in 0:22:26.520 --> 0:22:30.439 a city not knowing anybody not knowing where to go 0:22:30.600 --> 0:22:35.320 or what to do, and then seeing the condition of 0:22:35.359 --> 0:22:38.760 a lot of the other homeless people or people assumed 0:22:38.760 --> 0:22:43.240 to be homeless in the area was pretty intimidating because, um, 0:22:43.280 --> 0:22:46.879 you know, you mentioned mental illness and substance abuse. I 0:22:46.920 --> 0:22:51.680 see those of the two two two largest common greatest 0:22:51.680 --> 0:22:56.320 common denominators amongst homeless people. So you would say that 0:22:56.440 --> 0:22:59.560 like if you were making like if you were even 0:22:59.640 --> 0:23:02.080 ranking in those top five reasons, like if you said 0:23:02.080 --> 0:23:04.840 those two would probably be number one in two. Yeah, 0:23:04.920 --> 0:23:08.320 from my own anecdotal experience that I would say that 0:23:08.400 --> 0:23:15.200 a coupling of undiagnosed mental illness, UM self medication and 0:23:15.280 --> 0:23:18.040 if you abuse the substance over a long enough period 0:23:18.080 --> 0:23:20.440 of time, you'll become addicted to it. So when you've 0:23:20.480 --> 0:23:23.480 got those two things happening, and maybe somebody's operating an 0:23:23.520 --> 0:23:27.960 alternate reality or not seeing things accurately the substance abuse 0:23:28.000 --> 0:23:31.920 on top of that, Um, it's a bad formula. It's unsustainable. 0:23:32.000 --> 0:23:35.000