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Focus Group-Camp Unity Colleen: One of the things that we did at our last Task Force meeting is ask the members, what is it that they’d like to learn from those of you that are experiencing or have experienced homelessness? So I have some questions here. One of the questions, and I think we’ll save it for the end is, what do you think is important for the Task Force to know, or what do you want to just tell everybody, in terms of the work that we’re doing? The mission of the Task Force, or the charge, is to put together some recommendations for actions and ideas that there will probably be, and need to be, recommendations for actions that can be taken by multiple sectors of the community, not just our government. Because what we’re finding is that what government is able to really do is somewhat limited. So what our recommendation is for all our residents, for our businesses, for our churches, for our libraries, our service providers, things that maybe they could do differently, or more of, or stop doing; that kind of thing. So it’s really open, in terms of what kinds of recommendations that we come up with, except that we want them to be very focused on Redmond, and very actionable so that we can start to see improvement from all the perspectives, okay? So that’s kind of what we’re trying to do. Any questions before I ask you guys questions? Mike: I’ve got a question. My name’s Mike and I’d like to ask. You said you got lots of feedback from a Community meeting. What was the tenor of that meeting, and, specifically, neighbors around Camp Unity? What were the comments having to do with us, Camp Unity? Colleen: So I’ll do the best I can and ask either of you if you have a better recall. I don’t recall any specific mention of Camp Unity in any of the comments. But possibly, they could be there, but I don’t remember. I will say that the most prevalent comment in the concerns section were actual and perceived public safety concerns. So people that have had scary experiences, or people that are worried about having scary experiences, or feel intimidated, or just feel like the sense of the city is sort of changing, or their experience of the city is changing. So that was the most common of the concerns. Then, under the solutions or ideas, lots of stuff about needing more access to services. Why aren’t there places for people to live? How come we don’t have enough affordable housing? Those kinds of things. Those are sort of the overall changes. Al: I think, from what I’ve just observed walking through the other room, and just walking into the camp here, the concerns about safety, I don’t see the residents ---PAGE BREAK--- here as being the concern on the 85th Street area of Redmond. The people here don’t fit the look of the people on 85th Street that are the concerns of the businesses on 85th Street in the vicinity of the library. Like I said, they’re typically, guys eighteen to twenty-four, some of them quite fit. And like I said, in one instance on a Sunday morning, I called the police because there were some of them on one side of the street were calling the other guys’ names, calling them out to come fight or whatever. When you’ve got medical tenants and things of that sort in an area, they don’t like that. If their patients having to come and see that kind of thing going on, that’s a real negative. Colleen: Is that kind of what you were wondering, Mike? Mike: Yeah, they were there and I was curious if anyone in the vicinity of our Camp have any specific issues or problems that they’d experienced. And also, I mean, for a hundred people to show up, there must have been… Al: Well, most of the night, we were broke up into individual tables. Colleen: Right. Al: And maybe there were eight people at a table. Nobody at the table that I was at mentioned anything about Camp Unity. Gary: I’ll tell you. Mike, I explained that if it was a problem, that there’d be a permit fee of $2600 for a religious organization [inaudible] Camp Unity, that we needed to do something about that. I also explained that Camp Unity is a well- organized functioning entity. We need to do some coordination so that the camp can work with the other cities and other religious organizations. We need to find a place for you all to be able to move to. And those were the two comments I made. Colleen: That’s right, and now that you say that, I remember that and that is in the notes, and if you’re really interested, I’m happy to get a copy for you. Mike: No, well, that answers my question. Colleen: So, folks wanted to know why you’re here. Why are you at Camp Unity? And I’ll just let whoever wants to speak up. Male: I can start. I’ve known Allen for a while, and I moved from back in Dallas. And he moved up here about five or six years ago? Allen: Um-hmm. ---PAGE BREAK--- Male: He’s been asking me to come out, because the job that I was working, even though it was a steady job, it was just basically no room to expand and grow. So, I worked that job for eight years. And just last year, or June, July, something like that, I decided to come out. Well, I had to wait because my mom was sick, and she was getting a liver transplant so I waited another six, seven months before I came. And I came to Camp Unity, not knowing or expecting. Allen did explain to me what it was and it was an encampment, and whatever, which I have never experienced that, because we don’t really have that in Dallas. We just have Union Gospel Mission and the Salvation Army. And they don’t really put an emphasis on, it’s the homeless people and it’s everybody else. Colleen: Where were you staying in Dallas? Male: I stayed in like close to downtown. I did have an apartment and a roommate, and stuff like that. I had all the regular stuff, that people was like oh, you know, make a big thing about. I just felt like I was one of those rats that was on a spinner, and it’s just you running and just not going anywhere. So I decided to just say hey, if I can start over here, I can start over anywhere. So I came up here with no expectations with anything. I came to Camp Unity, and I met some pretty cool people, some good people, some bad people, just like it can be anywhere else. I saw the potential of what this place could be with the right leadership, and the right motivation and direction to go. I had an idea of how things and me and Allen talked about it and when we got the opportunity to do so, and use of getting rid of some people that was holding me back from moving forward, we had a vision and an idea of what Camp Unity could be. Which is on the road what we’re doing right now, as far as drugs, alcohol is not permitted, as we have no tolerance for it. And especially in leadership, to lead by example. I’m here, I don’t know how long I’ll be here, because I do have my own aspirations of things that I would like to do. Colleen: How long have you been here so far? Male: I’ve been here since August. Colleen: Since August, okay. Male: Yeah. But while I’m here, I’d like to keep it moving forward, as far as the reputation and the idea of people that we want here. I hate to say that we’re selective, but we have certain type of criteria that we look for when people come here. Because we call it the harmony of camp to keeping the morale and the harmony of camp basically in good standings. And for people when they see ---PAGE BREAK--- us, and when they come to the camp, they feel it. And they feel that people, even though we don’t always get along, it’s like a big family. But it’s more of a positive than it is of negatives. We had a group of kids come yesterday, and we gave them a tour. And it was awesome, and it was like they wanted to know, and Allen, basically, laid it down. It was like, the most important thing is family and people that you care about, and looking out for people that matter. It’s like I said, not everybody gets along here, because it happens, but people matter to each other. Like we have it where if you are out of the camp more than three days, we ask you to call in, just to let us know that you’re okay, and that you’re fine. We value that, because we do care about everybody that comes through our doors, has been here for a while, that can make a contribution to the camp and a contribution to the city and Redmond has been good to us. We had a neighborhood meeting before we even got here, and they had their concerns about us being here. But when we answered their questions, I mean, we haven’t had any issues with any neighbors coming here. Like, we have neighbors that come through with their dogs, and sometimes sit down and talk to us, and hang out for a couple of minutes, and go about their business, and it’s been good. Al: Do you guys get bus passes? If you want to be mobile and go look for work, or anything? Male: We’ve been trying to get something going with bus passes to people. I mean, people go at work. I think maybe… Male: Well, you work for, or you can say, if you’re not working and you want to look for work, you don’t have any way of getting anywhere, you can’t look for work. Male: So we are in the process of trying to figure out who we can get up with for, to bus passes. But we are involved also in getting the ORCA cards, I think too, to ORCA LIFTs, and stuff like that. But a lot of times, people make it to work. We have community ORCA cards. I think we have a couple of them. So I feel that those who want to work will make something happen, but we’re trying, or as a community… Al: Well I guess, if you have a job, you might have a little money to buy the pass. Male: But we also have a van. We also have transportation to take people, that they can pay the driver after, they get paid their first check. And it’s usually like, put gas in there. ---PAGE BREAK--- Colleen: I just want to make sure we have a chance to hear from everyone, and come back around with some of the other questions. Laurent? Laurent: My name’s Laurent [sp] Brown. I’m here because I had cancer. I had thyroid stage one cancer. It was about a pound of it in my neck. That’s why I wear collared shirts. I couldn’t get help pretty much anywhere else. I used to live in Bellevue as a kid. So I came back to Washington State, because this is where my startup died, and where all my problems start. So I’ve come back and fix them. So I started by beating cancer. That happened last month and I’m trying to get myself back into school and do some small business things. Colleen: How long have you been here? Laurent: I’ve been at Camp Unity for about six months. I’ve been homeless for about ten months and seventeen days, because today’s the 15th. Yeah, I quit my job at the carnival, because I couldn’t physically lift anymore, and my body was destroyed. So, that’s how I got here. Colleen: Thanks. Mike: Well, my name’s Mike, and my reason for being here is I was a driver. And I had mild bouts of atrial fibrillation, which is irregular and a rapid heartbeat. And since I've been homeless I've done lots and lots of walking. And it's been ameliorative. Quite a bit. I don't experience the bounce as much. I've been… Colleen: Did that cause you to lose your job? Male: It didn't because I chose to leave it. Because I had a job where I was responsible for the people I was driving around and I didn't want to take a chance. I feel like I'm not that affected by it anymore. But at the time I thought I needed to do that and I've been at Camp Unity for about two months. Colleen: Where were you before that? Male: You mean in what state or what city? Colleen: Where were you staying? Male: I was staying in Federal Way and this is where I'm at now. Allen: My name's Allen Bolen [sp]. I've been homeless before, but only briefly. This is the longest circumstance I've found myself in, living outside. I used to live in Dallas. Before I met my friend Arondo here, I was working in banking and I basically, met the wrong person and started a long drawn-out court battle that resulted in me not working in the banking industry anymore. Had my dream of opening up a cell phone accessory shop in downtown Dallas basically, ---PAGE BREAK--- evaporate. And while that criminal case; I've been completely exonerated from. I found myself trying to restart my life and do something different. My story being a little bit like Arondo, I found myself in a rut. But I found myself distanced from my family and the people around me. So I decided I'd go for the big dream that I had always wanted to go and do and that was to come up to Canada and get in the film industry. And because I didn't really have a real clear, defined plan, when I tried to cross the border I was arrested because my credit card fraud case was open in Canada and they did inform me of that when I got my passport. I was brought back to Seattle after I bailed myself out of jail and it took me awhile to get back to that. But once I found myself on the streets of Seattle, I had money and I was trying to come up with a game plan. But I intended to stay here in Seattle and get up on my feet. About four months in I found out that I had throat cancer and I basically spent all the money that I had saved up to go into film, did my first film on basically trying to just live and get over the cancer. And I spent a long, long time downtown Seattle shelters, bouncing around. Trying to figure out how to do the treatment while I was homeless effectively and I didn't do very good down there. And I found myself trying to seek something out that was a lot more safe. And a lot further away from downtown. Then I had heard about tent cities and I knew somebody at a meeting that was willing to go and take me to a shelter. And, or take me to the tent city and I looked at it and I saw it and I was really, wow. All these things together. All these people together. And safe. I immediately put all my, I couldn't screen into the tent city. It took me about a week to keep calling back in and find a spot. And I eventually stayed there about four months when it broke away from the Tent City 4 and turned in, they started Camp Unity and I've been here pretty much since the beginning. I've left for gap time and tried to get up on my feet and I think I was trying to push too hard, too fast, to get out. And I at least had a landing pad to come back to and I've been here since trying to figure out how to do this camp better. And while I'm also thinking about whatever I really want to do, and how I'm get to Canada with the film. Colleen: Thanks. Gary: Do you want to know why Camp Unity and Tent City 4 split, or not? Colleen: I think right now, and that is something that if the task force wants to hear you can talk about with them. But I think we really want to hear from the, about the experiences of the residents. Gary: Because they are different. ---PAGE BREAK--- Colleen: They are different. And I know that story, too, but just in terms of what we transcribe here tonight I think the task force members want to know if you want to leave. Male: Can we go tonight? Colleen: So you would like to leave? Male: Yeah. Colleen: Where would you be going if you could leave? Male: Well, I know exactly what I'm going to do to get out of here, really, because I don't have the fantasy mentality. You should break away from that immediately if you're stuck out and you're homeless. So I bought myself a computer so that I could do a job. I do information technology and computer science, but I don't have a degree. So, I'm using the BeFit program at DHS so that I can get myself into community college, then I'm going to try to do the College Berlin, trying to get my GP up to 3.8 so I can go over to Germany and get my college there for free and the courses are in English. Where I'd like to be, Hawaii. Where I'm at right now, slowly getting out of homelessness. Colleen: So you're all about spending the time here working on what it's going to take to do the next thing. Is that a fair statement? Male: Yeah. I'll come back to Bellevue probably or Redmond because this is basically where I was like when I was five [inaudible words]. Colleen: Great. [inaudible]? Male: When I leave it's not going to be from the frying pan into the fire. When I'm prepared and there is somewhere to go and be stable, that's when I'll leave. So as of right now that hasn't happened, so I'm here. Colleen: Do you have ideas about what steps it's going to take or what needs to happen between then and now? And are you anxious about that happening or are you just waiting for that to happen? Male: I'm waiting for that to happen. I'm not actively doing anything to accelerate. I'm going to wait until I'm ready and I'm not leaving one minute before that happens. Colleen: And how will you know you're ready? ---PAGE BREAK--- Male: I leave. Colleen: Arondo? Arondo: Me? As far as wanting to leave, I want to leave. But on the right terms and the right time kind of like Mike. I've seen people that leave just for the sake of leaving and not even have a plan of what they're going to do once they leave. And they come back. And whether you get a job and you make some money and save some money, and look for a place and make sure you can afford that place and afford more that what, you know. And it might take you six months, but in that six months have a plan of action and that's where I want to get to, where I have a plan. Not just because I'm in a homeless shelter and I feel embarrassed and whatever. And it's not necessarily that, it's just that a plan, a well plan will keep you from coming back to the situation. And you can come back, but you'll be on that other side of the coin where you can come back and help. Come back and do what Gary's doing and what other people who support the camp community and you'll be in a different. You can be the story to, as far as dues, like okay, this is what he did and this is how you do it to get out of here. And not to say this is a bad place to be, it's just that it's temporary. Just, it's not for, I never look at it as being a long-term, for some people it is. And I don't knock that. And I don't knock an individual's journey. To what do they decide when it's time to go. So do I want to leave? Yeah. But am I in a rush? Not exactly, but I like to, there's things that I want to do, at [inaudible] time. Al: You go out looking for employment? Male: Yes I do. I am a busy person because I, basically, [inaudible words] far as I make sure that everybody in camp, everything's run smooth. When you've got fifty-two to fifty-six different personalities that I have to deal with on a day-to- day basis and I do search for work. I do want to work. It's not that I don't. Gary: Weren't you working yesterday? Or the day before? This weekend? Male: Yeah. I worked this weekend. And we have our jobs program. People call in and ask us if we could do whatever is needed and we try to match that with people, with the skills that we have in camp to do those things. Gary: So you and Allen both run CS. I think this is important for you to understand. Aren't you CS? Male: I'm the head CS. ---PAGE BREAK--- Colleen: CS is camp security? Gary: Well, but basically they run the camp. Is that it? Male: Consumes a good part of their time. Gary: So that consumes a considerable amount of time. Everybody gets security duties. So, everybody's got things to do. Some that are doing kitchen, there's somebody donations, somebody's doing a variety of things. Everybody's got a job. And these guys help coordinate all that activity. Male: Yes. I've also got a job as a driver. I'm one of the drivers of the van. And when people need to go to the store or a hospital or… Male: Jobs. Male: Jobs. Yeah. I'm usually the closest person to [inaudible]. Male: You're always on security duty. Colleen: And you started to speak to that question. Male: I have this thing where I want to see people leave out on the right terms. I myself think that the world is changing and not that we created a flophouse or anything. Where people just stay here and live for free forever. But I do believe that Camp Unity is a part of an ongoing change in attitudes and way of doing things. Because we've created a community that has no walls. And I can tell you that that's very attractive for a guy who thinks he's very smart and had all his eggs in a basket and everything in a row. And then have it just basically stolen. And we're fragile beings and we've created something, it might be challenging and it might not be perfect, but I'm not, I want to leave out of here when I feel like I can have success. And really what I've gone through my measurement of success has changed a lot. Arondo will tell you. Male: I found that I have a lot of friends here and I’m surrounded by people that really truly care. And so I’m not trying to sell anybody on a dream or anything. I actually feel like and so I have something that’s really a step up from this on those levels. I am not going to leave. Male: I’d like to ask Colleen a question. Being one of the city planners you’re in contact with law enforcement and everything is the City of Redmond happy with our tenure in Redmond so far? Colleen: Absolutely. So from the city’s perspective as long as all the, what is the word, the agreements are kept that are required by the permit the city’s happy. And as ---PAGE BREAK--- long as it’s not being a new burden on our law enforcement and the residents aren’t unhappy. So all those things, to my knowledge, that’s the way it’s going. Male: Because we have cops come and they’re bored. Male: So all those things are yes, right? Colleen: Right so the one thing that’s looming is the end date and knowing where you are going next and that was a question I had just about sort of, especially for the leadership, is what’s that process like for you and is that a real stressful thing to be trying to figure that out? Male: It’s the reason I have all this white hair and I’ll tell you it’s not comfortable with the burden of having to look out for certain people. We’ve got a homeless camp that’s ran by homeless people looking for sites when we are trying to structure relationships with people that we’re going to so it’s not a rush and that they know us before we go there. And when there are a lot of attitudes about homelessness or encampments coming into their neighborhoods and people wanting this to be a Band-Aid solution that they could figure something else better for it gets to be a stress. Like they’re having a house meeting right next door and I imagine that’s what they’re talking about where we are going to go next. And when you talk about any kinds of plans for the future knowing what’s coming next that’s key to that. And we just want to encourage a two way street conversation. Colleen: Would you add anything to that Arondo or say anything different? Arondo: It can be stressing. And I don’t purposefully do it but I sometime put pressure on Allen because I get a lot of the questions and things asked from everybody. So I don’t know and so I have to ask him what’s going on so I can tell the camp what’s going on. And it gets stressing. And it works out and I don’t think that our host here are appreciative of what we’ve done since we’ve been here so that part of the reputation and paying it forward and talking to other people about Camp Unity itself and what’s it about is not as a dire thing like it was before we got here. We’re trying to make it less and less and less of that extreme [inaudible]. When we go places people will know okay, Camp Unity they have a SAD code, they have a set of rules, they have a set of how they do things and it’s not going to change and it’s going to be this way but if it does it’s changing for progression and not digression. Dealing with things all the time as far as talking to supporters and different stuff it can get stressing because a lot of people want a lot of different things and a lot of different information. And it’s alright. ---PAGE BREAK--- Male: I’ve got another question. Camp Unity is not on the City of Redmond’s blacklist right? Colleen: Right. Male: We’re not considered the bad actors? Colleen: Right. Male: So why do you want to talk to us about this? Colleen: Because you are people who have the experience of being homeless and we have a group of folks talking about ideas for helping the city think about managing that reality in our city better. So we think it’s important to have the perspective of people who are living that in the room as we’re making decisions about that or recommendations about that. We’re talking to other homeless people too not just Camp Unity. Male: So is this to get information so you can more effectively deal with the problem downtown and in front of the library and in front of Al’s building or... Colleen: So the taskforce did not come together specifically only to address the issue of the library. That’s the most visible and the most talked about I think. But I’ve been having conversations with other people in other parts of our city. There’s also other concerns around the issue from the point of view of are we doing the best we can as a city as a community on behalf of people who are homeless? What else do we need to be thinking about on that side of things? In my job I’m involved in the county wide effort around putting together their whole ending homelessness plan so it’s important to have all of this information feeding into all of those parts of it. But for the taskforce it’s important to have the experience of people who are and have been homeless as part of the discussion. Male: So you have been to Friends of Youth? Colleen: Yes. They’re even on the taskforce. Gary: May I respond to your last question? One of the biggest things the taskforce could do is work with other cities and have them work with their religious communities to find places for Camp Unity and Tent City to move to. That is one of the biggest challenges they have. They sort of had to come here because they didn’t have any place else to go. In the tiers of homelessness this is the most organized and effective method of helping the homeless that exists and yet every ninety days they’re scrambling to go find the next place they can move to. We need to solve that. ---PAGE BREAK--- Colleen: Would you all agree with him? Male: Gary is exactly right. Anything the City of Redmond can do to grease the skids to make it easier for us to get established the next time we come to Redmond would be incredibly helpful. Gary: Or to Bellevue or Bothell or Kirkland or anyplace. Male: That’s right. Colleen: I hear you. I have one more question from the taskforce and then I want to open it up for anything you all want to just tell us. It’s sort of a two sided coin. What do you see as the biggest barrier to being able to take whatever you see your next step being or what is it that you need the most to help you do that? Male: Well, I know that they changed up the Section 8 criteria, but I did the application I couldn’t even get past the first page. They asked me did my tenement have plumbing and I said no. I said yeah, I live outside, I’m homeless and that didn’t even qualify for Section 8 housing. That kind of housing’s only available for couples with children or women who are pregnant and people that are over 63. I need housing outside of this place before I can even think about getting a job because I don’t even know where I’ll land to be able to effectively put a plan together. I’m actually using myself as a generalization because I wanted to put that information out for everybody in camp on how to apply and only four people in all the camp could be eligible. So I want to be able to send people out of here somewhere that they’re going to be able to get into. It’s two years usually the housing list. I don’t know monies that are available but I know that I’d like to see some kind of aggressive forward thinking plan of action for developing housing. I’d like to see the youth that are here in Redmond some way preventative measures outside of Friends of Youth could be developed so those kids could have something too that would keep them away from drugs and the other things that bring kids into homelessness. I’d like to see some kind of outreach in that park that’s downtown and at the library. I think that whatever we can do to help that too that’d be great but stability for the camp I’m worried about that first. But I really think that we need to come together and not just put it all on the city. Male: He’s raised a very important point. You’re out looking for a job you don’t have an address you probably won’t get the job. That’s just a reality. Male: Now if they were out looking for a job and they used the address of this building would that fly? Male: What happens is is they have an address in Seattle it’s called the campus Compass and if you put that address down, they have mailboxes there, if you ---PAGE BREAK--- put that address down the employer gets pretty wise pretty quickly to that address it’s because you’re homeless. These folks have a little bit different deal they have a church in Kirkland that is helping them out that has not yet been identified by employers as being a problem or homeless someday it will. And if you don’t have an address it’s a big deal. Colleen: What would you see as biggest barrier or biggest need? Male: The biggest need? Colleen: Either one the biggest barrier to taking the next step or the thing you need the most to help to have that happen. Male: From Redmond? For me, personally, the biggest barrier is it’s done. I’m a goal oriented person so the thing I needed to do was I needed to get this thing on my [inaudible] so I could see that’s done. For Redmond it’s how they deal with their youth. Like they’re showing this business owner and he’s alienated by his own youth it’s because his whole entire city; your city has grown exponentially like at a really fast, like I used to live here like thirty years ago, this was woods. So, what is happening is you’re going to have this cultural melting pot and it’s going to like stir and churn and at the bottom you’re going to have all of the kids that like, not would have succeeded the best, but like they didn’t have to have exterior pressure because you’re going from a small town to an actual big city. So whenever you have a big city, you have poverty because it’s like a big spin because how you do it is you section everything off and you section certain things off. You have to make certain things atrophy and die in order to get things to work. But you have to give them more freedom but more resources but give them personal responsibility. The reason two guys were yelling back and forth at the thing is because they don’t have any discipline probably not from home probably not from school probably not from anyone. They probably have no understanding of what discipline is of getting up in the morning and going to go do anything not just go find a job just do anything. I need to go float a kayak; hardest thing in the world for these kids. So they just need some kind of structure religious group or whatever in order to get them out of this rough spot. Male: How do you do that? Male: That is the million dollar question. Al: One thing I brought up at the taskforce nice and short after going on and on with all these statistics nothing really to do with Redmond in the first meeting, I missed the second meeting because I was out of town, but they’re going on ---PAGE BREAK--- and on with statistics, statistics. So I asked the person giving out all the statistics I said Seattle, Bellevue and Redmond are all about 25% Asian, how come I don’t see any Asian homeless, hanging out? Male: Structure. Male: What’s that? Male: Structure. Male: Right. So how do we get that structure? Colleen: We’re a little tight on time so I want to be sure we give you guys a chance to answer the question on the tape; if you were finished Arondo? Arondo: Well, with my [inaudible] that the one thing that it’s interesting to me is that they had a Section 8 program for veterans. I’m a veteran spent four years in the military, in the United States Air Force. I went to get the Veteran Section 8 program, VASH, which they have. I did the orientation and then the guy told me that I was not homeless enough to be able to get something that it was one of the things that being a veteran that they said you being a veteran, you’re easy. They said I wasn’t homeless enough so I’m like how homeless do I have to be to get a place to stay? And his answer was well, you seem like you’re more level headed than some of the other people, so it’s like you’re pretty much be able to balance and get on your feet and it won’t be a problem. And I’m looking at the, even with that, the rent in some of the places, even if I have a good paying job by myself, I wouldn’t still be able to pay for it by myself. So that’s part of it, which that’s one thing that probably wouldn’t be able to change. Male: So you’re saying military housing here? Male: Yeah, military housing yeah the military VASH programs that they have. It’s just like Section 8, but for veterans. And there’s so much politics in that it’s like they want you to work or you got to have a certain amount of money. They give you a certain amount of money but you can’t work to make a supplement because if you work to make a supplement, they’ll take it away from you. So it’s like you’re caught in the middle you can’t do this and you can’t do this. I’m just going to just exist and that makes me not really want to have housing. I’d rather just get a job and save money and just go and get a roommate and do it my own way. And that’s I guess the drawback to what I’ve seen since I’ve been in Washington. ---PAGE BREAK--- But the positive things that I’ve seen, as far as Camp Unity and people, is that I actually people trying. I actually see people like Laurent and people who go to work every day and go out and be up at five in the morning and coming back at nine at night and doing stuff like that. And it’s like it’s not a flophouse. If you want to work you’re going to go to work. And we give people opportunities because people call and say hey we need a couple people to come do our lawn and clip this and do that. And we find opportunities for people and that helps me because it’s like it changes the perception what people have about Camp Unity and that we are doing it on our own. We need help, we always need help, but we’re not here hey, can you give us some money? Can you give us some money? Most of the time people are like oh, yeah, we’ve got a check for you. Okay, cool put in my bank [sounds like]. Male: Another thing if you don’t a permanent address, you can’t get a bank account. Male: Yeah, been through that. I had to use an address from Florida from another bank and then use the address from something else. And my grandma, who’s like almost half dead, is the address to get all my stuff. Colleen: Another barrier. Mike, what do you want to say? Mike: I got two answers for what can the city do to help us overcome. I don’t think the one size fits all approach is going to work. Homeless people the population of Camp Unity is not monolithic. We all have our matrix of demons that we’re dealing with. My suggestion is that the city have some kind of a window or a helpdesk for people that are homeless or struggling or trying to get permanent housing or get out of camp or better their lives a window or some city representative who will be a troubleshooter and help them solve whatever issue is a direct face time person to person contact where the person for the city can tailor whatever help that individual person needs. And I’ve got a suggestion as far as the people that congregate down town in front of Al’s building and the library I don’t think this is going to be a very popular suggestion but I think the city needs to have some place that’s more inviting some place that’s a little welcoming for them where they can get coffee, sit down, in the wintertime not have to freeze. The way it is now they find the place where they’re least likely to be seen by law enforcement or bothered by other people. If the city could find a spot somewhere where those people that seem kind of aimless if there’s a place where they could go and feel safe and welcomed there would be less inclination to be in front of Al’s building or the library the transit center wherever they congregate. But there probably some resistance to that idea but that would solve a big part of the direct homeless problem downtown I think. ---PAGE BREAK--- Colleen: And anything for you personally that you would say in terms of barriers or needs? Mike: No. Colleen: So anything that you haven’t had a chance to say that you really want to the taskforce members to think about, know, consider? Anything? Male: What are some of the things that have registered with the taskforce so far? Colleen: Well, as Al said, mostly that we’ve only had two meetings so far and we’ve been trying to provide a lot of just baseline information so people have kind of an understanding of the facts on the ground. So it hasn’t been that kind of dialog starting yet. I think this is the information that’s really going to get the conversation going with the members so that’s why it’s important if you feel like there’s something critical for them to be thinking about that you take the opportunity to kind of share that right now. And you just had one thing to say with the idea about a place so anything like that or about your experience or just anything they should be thinking about? Male: The issue of transportation is a big issue. If the van’s gone and you need to go to work over there transportation’s a big issue. Tent City 4 was getting bus passes. This camp gets no bus passes. Now we have to clarify how all this work because there’s a new process over at Metro of what they’re doing. What’s the new card called? LIFT card? Male: The LIFT is it the LIFT card? Male: ORCA LIFT card. Male: Yeah, anyway we need to do something because transportation’s a big deal. This is good transportation here go to Woodinville okay or go to Bothell. And it gets really tough when you’re taking three or four buses if you get a job in the city. One of the guys here works at Safeco Field he’s a cook okay? But he’s got to get there. Well, if they have to move to Bothell, him getting there’s going to be a challenge. Transportation’s critical for him. Is that... Male: That’s absolutely correct, absolutely correct. Male: I think transportation is critical. I also think that job opportunities as well or connections. Like you said it’s hard when you are qualified for jobs and you might put this address down or an address that’s undesirable and you’re not even considered for a job because of your address of what a person I guess the perception of what type of sort you are as they would say. ---PAGE BREAK--- So far as another I guess bigger hurdle is getting in touch with people or job situations where people help if there’s people that would be more compassionate towards hiring people who are homeless who have those skills and putting those who want to work in touch with people a network that hires people that’s in our situation would be a good start because people want to work it’s just they get discouraged because being here you’re already here. You already don’t have a lot of stuff and you want to get back into the society of the workforce and it’s hard because of what the perception of it is. Male: Basically, the only thing I would say that Redmond’s barriers are not just getting a job, it’s having the skills to get the job. There are how many colleges or even like a vocational school or any type of work pooling offices? I have to go way out of the area to even do that like you were saying with the transportation. Transportation is one part and locality. So there is no employment pools here organized by the government or formed by independent private contractors or a skill or anything like that. So with that you’re just stagnating yourself because you have people with talent and skill but they don’t know how to use it properly. Colleen: Allen any last comment? Allen: I would say that I feel the biggest barrier that we have is not having enough voices from homelessness being involved in this process. I think that the taskforce should have more people that are in this situation be ongoing and involved in what’s being said. And I think the attitude that were different that’s the biggest hurdle that people think that we’re somewhat off or we brought this on or that we chose to be here and until we can really challenge that on a big major scale I don’t think people I mean the issue’s not being homeless it’s just being unattached. Colleen: Okay, thank you. Al: I’ll make a comment as far as just the suggest as far as one place of keeping everyone. I’ve noticed at McLendon Hardware they have signs up in the front door, help wanted, and I think they’d be more likely to be open to hiring some say than the big corporate stores like Lowe’s and Home Depot. They’re a family run corporation. What makes me really think they’d be more open is when I was in there going there, I do a lot of work myself on buildings or my house or whatever, I’m in McLennan a lot, and I was in there and I saw this one guy who was like working in there and I was like wow, he looks like a Hispanic gang member. Tats all over, a muscle... 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