Putting a Face on the Homeless
Putting a Face on Homelessness: Gay Weems/Dukes
by Dennis Hendricks, Social Services Advocate, HAP
Homelessness is generally not a choice people make; it is often the only option that they have. Gay Weems/Dukes, a client of the Homeless Advocacy Project (HAP), desperately seeking to escape a dangerous situation, recently was left with homelessness as her only option.
With nowhere to go, she lived on the streets for two months until San Francisco’s Care Not Cash Program provided her with a room in a single occupancy hotel. Particularly in light of all she had been through, the transition was very tumultuous for Weems/Dukes.
Once in the hotel, the landlord tried to evict her after the hotel management accused her of fighting with staff, arguing with tenants, yelling and other unusual behavior. She disputed several of the claims saying that others provoked her. It was at this point that Weems/Dukes came to HAP, a program of BASF’s Volunteer Legal Services Program. HAP Supervising Attorney Ted Janowsky and I began working with Weems/Dukes
In working with our staff at HAP, Weems/Dukes expressed how difficult it was for her to live in the hotel. As she fought back tears, she explained how hard it was to learn to trust others. The hotel had very strict regulations: tenants must check in when they enter; visitors have to show ID and cannot stay beyond 11 p.m. She felt like a prisoner in the hotel, not a resident.
While it is better than living on the streets, the hotel is still not a place any of us would want to live. Weems/Dukes keeps traps on the floor to catch mice and bugs that are pervasive in her room. There are towels around her bathroom where the plumbing leaks onto the floor.
Ted and I talked with her, inspected her living situation, talked to the hotel staff and helped to determine the best solution to prevent her from getting evicted from the hotel. HAP’s staff—both attorneys and social service advocates—uses a holistic method to serve clients. This method, created by the late VLSP Director Tanya Neiman, is a multidisciplinary approach that helps the client with their social services needs as well as their legal troubles.
With HAP’s assistance, the eviction case against her was dropped, allowing Weems/Dukes to remain housed and thus be able to look for a job. As part of the negotiated settlement, HAP found a doctor at the Glide Clinic, a non-profit medical center, who now helps her with an ongoing mental illness. Since Weems/Dukes is also a recovering alcoholic, HAP also located a recovery program that provides classes throughout the day so she can continue to search for employment. The hotel staff noticed the marked change in their new “star” tenant. HAP also provided Weems/Dukes with a folder full of resources for jobs and training courses; she enjoys working with computers, and hopes to find a job in that field.
Weems/Dukes is a survivor; and many homeless and formerly homeless people share her story.
Escaping violence, this smart and college educated woman needed to learn to trust again, and to get a handle on the various problems that led up to her eviction. With HAP’s help she did just that, and is on the path to turning her life around. Weems/Dukes is one example of VLSP’s motto, Changing Lives, in action.
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