My apartment in the alley
This row of apartments along the alley is where I currently live.
Where The Homeless Guy Lives
This row of apartments along the alley is where I currently live.
This row of apartments along the alley is where I currently live.
The Homeless Guy 
Well, that would be impractical for several reasons, the main one being that no one would be able to find this blog anymore if I changed the name of it.
Also, I know that I am susceptible to becoming homeless again at any point. It’s like being an alcoholic. Just because you stop drinking doesn’t mean you are no longer an alcoholic. I have achieved a certain sobriety against homelessness, if you will. But I will always have to struggle against homelessness. It is still within me to be homeless.
And this blog is still about homelessness. A blog about gardening can still be called, The Gardener, even if the person writing it doesn’t have a garden. The title is more about the blog, than it is about me.
As for the second commenter, the thing I have subsidized is my housing, no other needs are not. As I have mentioned before, this Housing First program in Nashville is not done very well. Actually, they don’t even call it Housing First, I do, only because that’s the only way I can describe it. And that is what it is supposed to be. I was involved with the mayor’s task force and the metro homelessness commission when they first designed and tried to put the program together. My role on those committees was only as a token, to make it look like the people in charge were actually listening to the homeless. I dropped out of those committees when it became obvious that they had no intention of meeting the real needs of the homeless. For Nashville, this program is used only to reduce the number of homeless on the streets, so that wealthy developers could more easily sell their expensive downtown lofts. They were not doing it to actually help the homeless. I am off the streets, but just barely. And I am in need of a lot of things still. In this program, food is not subsidized, nor toilet paper, nor anything else, but the housing. And even with the housing, I am required to pay of portion of the rent. I do think it is interesting that you could not help but pass judgement on me, without knowing all the facts. Calling what I do immoral and the like. This ignorance and prejudice that you display is the biggest obstacle homeless face, when trying to get, and stay, off the streets.
Thanks for asking.
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That makes since to me since it is still a blog about homelessness, I was thinking more in terms of a confidence boost for yourself, by not calling it the homeless guy. I am not sure where the individual who called you immoral was coming from. I was just curious and not trying to make any sort of point.
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I second Steve! It’s immoral to beg for donations pretending to be a ” homeless guy” when you have had a subsidised flat for a year. By making out like you lack food , bus fare etc. you are really dissing that Housing First progam you recommend because HF is supposed to provide for their clients all of life’s necessities. How ironic!You embody one the most noxious stereotypes of homeless people- that of the lazy pest , all take and no give! Just like one of those old repulsive slobs in comedies who always are trying to sponge off people and when they are given the brush off, they whine ” where’s the love?” Kevin , you are a grown man who expects strangers to support you when you refuse to even support your own kids. Where’s the love in that? lol.
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Kevin,
I have been reading your blog for several years and enjoy it very much. I even have the same birthday you do, Jan 5. I was curious since you have an apartment and aren’t homeless, have you thought of changing the name of your blog?
Just wondering
Steven
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