Response to Speakers by Richard

In group 4 we interviewed a guy name Dan, he is now 65 years old and currently living in Boston Ma. He is not homeless now, Dan spend most of his life un housed rather the being housed. Un housed means that a person is homeless. Being homeless is like being at the bottom of the barrel in society. Dan spends most of his time walking around and trying to gather money to support his habits and to get food. With Dan he was not a social person so he spent most of his days avoiding the other people that are around him. Dan had a wife but he is now divorced and living alone.

Homeless shelters that Dan stayed at were horrible, at least the way he explained it was. He had to live in a place with over 70 different men. Shelters use a lottery system to pick an individual’s to stay for the night. Hundreds of homeless people go to shelters to find a place to sleep also Homeless people are classified as unhoused people. The reason why they call them unhoused is because the only different between them and us is that they don’t have a house to go to.  Dan is from Roxbury ma as a teenager he explains how much responsibility he had growing up. He explains how his mother was always pregnant he was the oldest stuck doing most of the work.  So when Dan got older he started hanging out in downtown older people and did what those older people did so he turned to heavy drugs.

Dan struggled with a substance abuse problem, years after years he watches himself drag himself in deeper with the drugs. Because he was lacking money he got into stealing from other people and breaking and entering into homes. He lived a life of being in and out of jail He would sober up, live in jail and relapse all over again. In Dan’s eyes his future was  living in jail and being homeless so he always got involved with the same crowd. Dan knows when he was doing well he would be clean. Different watch every day was a sign that he was doing bad. Family never said no to Dan but it always came with a price, Dan hated that. Family will always say I will help you if? Because there was always a if so he never really ask them for help.