Please meet Karl

Please meet Karl. He's one of those people you immediately like right from the first warm smile hello moment. Five minutes in and we were already friends!

I met Karl through his daughter Kewee. As a side note, just gotta say, she's amazing. Amazing for lots of reasons, one of which is she helped found theblackrosecollective.org. If you don't know of them, please check them out!

Karl grew up in Washington, spending time in Yakima, Tacoma, and Seattle. He's 59 years old and has been struggling with housing, especially since his stroke 5 years ago.

I asked Karl if he could tell me a little about his childhood, for example, did he play sports? Immediately Kewee jumped in saying her father was the fastest man in the world. I instantly looked to Karl, cuz, well, that's a big statement! He smiled and shrugged, saying, "Yeah, I was fast." Besides lots of records and awards in high school, ones that were still in the school glass case when Kewee went to school, the UW gave him a track scholarship. Sadly that didn't work out. He told me the night of the school prom he stole one of the high school's teacher's car, just so he had a ride for his date. All went well until someone saw him returning the car at the end of the evening and said something to somebody. Just like that, the scholarship went away.

All through his life Karl has steadily worked multiple jobs, mostly as a restaurant chef and working on cars. It is an understatement to say that Karl LOVES cars! Just talking about cars lights him up!

At one point, in his late 20's, to make more money for the family, he started selling guns. He knows that was a bad idea. It landed him in prison for 17 years. During that time he stayed active by studying lots, which included receiving a certificate in auto-body work. He said, "Staying active makes the time go by faster." After his release, a little over ten years ago, in addition to day jobs, he started his own business doing auto-body work.

Unfortunately his stroke 5 years ago pretty much ended all of that. He now gets food stamps and less than a $1K a month from SSI. For the last 5 months he's been paying a person $400 a month to crash at his place. While inexpensive, it is not sustainable. The person smokes, has terrible personal hygiene, and doesn't clean. Karl appreciates it's a roof over his head but it's really difficult for him to be there, not great for his health or peace of mind. He's hoping to find some other arrangement.

The truth is, there are few other arrangements. Market rate rents are all beyond what Karl brings in a month. It's a long shot for him to find another shared space, one that is more livable. I asked, "Is there anyone in your extended family or friends that might have a space, or knows somebody that does?" His look back at me instantly let me know how silly of a question that was. He said, "If that was an option I would already be living there."

Homelessness is not just about the folks we see tented in our parks or sheltering in tucked away spaces. The deep pain and struggle of homelessness goes far beyond that. It includes many who have no place of their own, often the elderly, moving from couch to couch, moment to moment, all looking for home.

LOVE