William Moves In

On a particular day in early November, William looked much younger than his 60-some years. Part of it might have been the excitement he was feeling as Simpson shelter advocates helped him to move into his new apartment, a place to call his own.

William’s work as a machine operator and fabricator requires that he gets up early every morning, at least by 4 a.m. Over the last few months, William has been traveling to work from the Simpson Men’s Shelter where he has been staying. Unexpected circumstances with his family turned William out onto the street a year ago. He says he never thought homelessness would happen to him and listening to him, you believe what he is saying.

With the positive attitude that has served him well throughout his life, he found the Simpson Men’s Shelter and entered the Simpson savings program. The Simpson savings program secures a shelter guest a bed for three months if they agree to turn a portion of their income over to Simpson for safekeeping. His savings have helped him get into his new one-bedroom apartment.

On moving day, Bryce and Robert (men’s shelter advocates), as well as Larry (a friend of Simpson) helped William get settled into his new place with an incredible view of downtown Minneapolis. As they moved his furniture into his apartment, two new neighbors stopped and introduced themselves. William already had a gift of Minnesota wild rice ready to present to them. He was excited to send down roots in his new place he’ll call home.

Arnold finds home after 30 years on the road

Arnold is one of those people you encounter who seems to have lived about ten lives. Raised by tough but loving parents in middle-class Cincinnati, he had what you would call a pretty normal upbringing. Although he liked to party, he made pretty good grades and graduated from high school in the late 1960s.

Soon after, he married his high school sweetheart. Unsure what to do next with his life, he entered the Army and soon found himself in Vietnam (a situation he refers to as “full of stink, corruption and madness”). After a difficult discharge he found his marriage to be basically over and he hit the pavement. Arnold refers to himself and the next 30 years of his life as a “pinball in a machine,” bouncing all over the lower half of the United States.

Arnold was always a worker; holding down construction, oil rigging and temp jobs wherever he went. He says he had only two apartments of his own throughout those 30 years. The rest of the time was spent at his parents, at friends, in flophouses, missions, under bushes, and about anywhere he could lay his head. Hitchhiking was his standard mode of getting around. It was a life on the move, never stopping long enough for even the dust to settle.

There were certainly good times along the way; his stories make you marvel that he is still with us. Some of them make you long for the adventurous life. But along the way, the fun began to wear thin. Alcohol and drug abuse played a role in it. There were petty crimes and some not so petty as well. Arnold is versed in talk of life on the streets. He says that big cities are easier to be homeless in, because of the transportation and the labor pools that could get you work. He talks of hobo-jungles and tramp-diners. He says, “Louisville is a good tramp-town.”

The beginning of the new millennium found Arnold in Florida living in a beach community that he loved. In 2002 his Dad died, an ultimately loyal man in his life who Arnold said “might banish you, but never throw you away.” It was about this time also that he started to experience some health problems of his own. Arnold took a turn to start taking care of himself. He headed to Minnesota and found some good healthcare, which included help with the drugs and alcohol.

Arnold was sleeping out on the street a lot of the time, but he also found his way to the Simpson Men’s Shelter. He was a true Simpson boy, as he puts it. “It was the only shelter in town that I would stay in.” If he wasn’t at Simpson, he was on the street. After a year in and out of the shelter, he got into the SARAP program (see box above) and found a place of his own in downtown Minneapolis, where he is currently living.

Arnold says that there was a time when he didn’t know if he could live any other way than to extremes. Having been exposed to such extreme situations in his life, he reports having felt “alienated and angry” at times. He is housed now and says, “I feel good.” Now Arnold travels for pleasure, with a steady home base to come back to. He tells his stories of 30 years without a home with great wit and reflection. And he has gratitude for those who have helped him settle into his home, and to everyone he has encountered throughout his life.

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