S2: Episode 9 - Lucky's Journey

I want people to understand how challenging it was to go from life in one way and then all of a sudden it feels like your world is sort of flipped upside down and you're now without all the things you were used to and especially at home but everything else too and just maybe you could. That was the hardest part was I couldn't believe it. Think about the way the world is and the way that the world could be. All of our systems are interrelated and interdependent. There's a thousand different voices than nobody years. We're looking at a human being and there's life story. Connection to the people we don't know that live near us. An elevated Denver starts now. Welcome back to the elevated Denver podcast where we're bringing key topics and stories about homelessness to light. In today's episode we're going to hear from Lucky who struggled to make rent and worked well over 40 hours a week. That triggered health issues which caused him to lose his job and then he became homeless. It's a powerful dynamic story and we hope it makes you think differently about who you see on the street corner. I'm here with Leanne, Johnna and Myra. Through the episode you'll hear Johnna and Myra asking our guest questions and Leanne tying some threads together through the narration. I think you'll enjoy it so stay with us. Before we start we want to let you know that we went through an informed consent process with everyone we interviewed and before airing each of these episodes we sent the recording to the interviewees to make sure that they were still comfortable with us sharing their story. I want to acknowledge that parts may be triggering for some listeners. If so, please take care. We first talked with Lucky back in March when he was staying at a safe outdoor space site operated by the Colorado Village Collaborative. He shared his story of how he first became unhoused and his journey since then. Lucky has found staple housing since we first interviewed but will let him tell you about that later. Hi, this is Myra and we have Leanne and Johnna here today. I would like to introduce you to Lucky. My name is Lucky, that's what I go by. My real name is Justin Seger. Yeah, it's good to be here. That's good. I'm glad you're here. I'm really glad you're here. Tell us a little bit about yourself. I just recently became homeless and right now I'm just kind of making the most of that every day. I'm trying to stay happy and trying to stay positive and keep moving forward. That's good to hear it because you know it's hard to stay focused. I was wondering if you could tell us a little bit more about yourself, what happened and how did you become unhoused? Well, we started off, I just worked for the higher. I ended up getting really sick. I had a seizure and when I came back to the higher from the hospital that he made me resign and I couldn't pay my rent anymore. So I kind of went the other way towards the streets and started selling drugs and everything and that car went to jail, got out of jail and didn't have anywhere to go and that's how it became homeless. Well, would you like to tell me a little bit more about how that felt just you know going through that process knowing that it was an illness that actually started this process? Well, my health is everything to me. But when I was getting out of jail, I had a transition to a shelter and the reason why I have to use this is because it's high stress activity or high stress environments or whatever gives me sick from my brain to shut down just to reboot. So when I got out, it was a realization of me knowing that I didn't have anywhere to go. I had to go to the shelter and it was full of crazy people and it was just like jail. So if you didn't come back to that shelter every night and they would exit you, I didn't come back one night and they would let me back in. So then it was straight to the streets and I slept in parks and it was different for me. You know, I kind of lived a high maintenance life a little bit. I was really used to a couple things and I think I can figure out how to get back on my feet and that was the hardest part. It's about four years now I've been homeless. Tell me a little bit about how you were before you got on health. Since I was 14 I've been working. My uncle owns my Bella Barbers so he had employed me there sweeping up here and everything. And then when I was 18 I went to the job court. I graduated from there with three trachea police in my high school diploma. From there I got out and I started working with a talent company. I just lay a towel out in Parker and everything. It was a great job. I loved it. But then I had a son, Justin Jr. and I wanted to be more closer to home. So I ended up getting a job over at the Safeway of a Havana, Mexico. And my customer service is legendary. So while I was there I ended up being a courtesy clerk for about two weeks. I got my first check and they promoted me up to a day stocker. And I would just do like the GM items and everything. My next check I got promoted up to front end manager and I was there for about six years. I had my son, my wife, she worked over in the fuel station, Safeway fuel station. I worked in the main store and I was really good. I ended up having another son, Elijah. So that's when I started working back into the construction or the home improvement areas. And I got really good. The chairman of the department as a maintenance person. And we also lived there. Everything was nice, nice. And my kids were doing great. Me and my girlfriend were really tight. And I don't know, it was all of a sudden wind change. But it wasn't like as bad as this. Wind change just in the relationship type thing. Me and my girlfriend went in separate ways and I moved to Wheat Ridge and became a produce manager at the King Super's there. And Wheat Ridge is so different. I just couldn't really get used to it. I had a lot of fun there. But it just started partying because I was single again. It's having a lot of fun, a lot of fun. And that's when I got to the high end downtown. And I got to the department. I was working at the high. I loved the high end. It was great. I had my own tailor there. My uniforms were always on point. The tailor made the fit. I met a lot of interesting people there. I used to do engineering during the day and I do bankwits at night. So the paycheck was really, really nice. Although he had some shifts in his personal life, Lucky maintained solid employment and felt life was going well. This story represents one that so many other people face. As his rent started to rise steadily, along with the cost of living, so did his stress levels. He started working more and more to make ends meet, which triggered health issues. It seemed like when I got sick, I ended up just having a resign and that's when everything just got the fan. I really should have been focusing on my sickness and taking control of it and being honest with my employers. Because at any time, any job that I had, I could have gotten sick like I did and everything would have been over. I had a seizure, I'd die for a minute and 19 seconds and it's hard for me to find employment. I'm not comfortable working and they're not comfortable hiring me. So right now with this transition I'm going through, I'm really looking forward to getting back to my kids and showing my girlfriends and their mothers that I've changed and I could do better in that back of my feet. After losing his job, Lucky moved to the streets, whereas epilepsy was unmanageable. He struggled to maintain his health and regained stability. Eventually, he was able to get a spot at a safe outdoor space, which are secure, staffed environments that provide individualized outdoor tents with wraparound resources and services. Safe outdoor spaces are operated by the Colorado Village Collaborative and you can learn more about them in season one, episode five. Here Lucky talks to us about his experience at the SOS site, how a class sparked his love for art and how he received a voucher for long-term housing. Just this year, I finally started finding resources in the SOS camp. Now I'm in British housing. It's the hotel, but it's just waiting for me to get into housing. But being out there on the streets is the whole another environment. And so how did that feel? Well, it was really scary, you know, and I didn't know how to take it. I had never really been homeless. Nobody wanted to extend their hand out to help me. I'm very motivated every day. day. You know, I sleep in a tent. I make the best of it. I make my tent like a mansion, you know. If you come over, a downstairs is gonna be the hot tub. I have video games. A lot of people donated a lot of things to me. I try to make myself as comfortable as I can be instead of being down on my luck. You know? So I use the name Lucky. Just keep me positive every day. Everybody knows me. The things that I've started since I've been in the S-West campus really can't be positive. Helping the people that I've been on the streets and seeing myself in them has really helped me keep you going. As far as when I first started, I was scared to death. Have you been supported through this process? Absolutely. When I got out of here, I felt a kid. He was, he passed away on the bus stop and I called the cops and the corner came and the cops took me down to the station. Of course you mean? But then they told the parents of the good boy that I found him and I called him and they talked to me and they gave me a place to stay for a couple months until I got into the S-West camp and that was a big, big help. Because before then I was sleeping at the same park. Their son was and I could have ended up just like him. Yeah, it can be sad. You know, seeing all that happening and dealing with that and knowing that there was some support after you helped someone out. I mean to know that there's people that actually care. We're going to take a quick break here. Be right back. Hello podcast listeners. We are very excited to announce our B part of the solution and help us finish season two fundraising campaign through the Colorado Gibbs website now through September 1st. With your help, we will raise $15,000 to produce the final episodes of season two. If you like this podcast and you want us to continue to bring key topics of homelessness to light, then please donate. Visit Colorado Gibbs dot org slash story slash elevated Denver or click on the link in the show notes. Together we can finish season two and ensure these important stories reach our community. Now back to Lucky. Has it been hard finding support? It's hard to find consistent support. It's hard to find somebody that really cares. You know, a lot of people get this job and they say, "Well, I want to do this because I want to help." But you find yourself dealing with a bunch of malarkey all the time. So now when I do receive some help and I don't want anybody to give up on me, I show them that their support is valued and I appreciate it. Has there been row blocks dealing with the unhoused lifestyle? Row block after row block. I didn't know what to do and I was so sick again. But I started doing drugs. So the point where I didn't even follow up on my vouchers or anything. You know, my food stamps or whatever. I never found, followed up on anything. I just wanted to just get high and forget about everything. I ended up doing it in the lottery with the Salvation Army for to get a voucher in. I follow through every day, every day, every day, every weekend. They never followed me at all. So that was a row block. And so they told me that they're going to take away my voucher because they weren't ready for it. And so I had to wait all over again. And now I feel like I'm just stagnant, you know. So it took a lot for me to get out of that. I ended up getting another voucher through the EHV. And now that's what we're working on. EHVs are emergency housing vouchers funded by the federal government and administered by the local housing authority. The voucher is a subsidy that pays a portion of Lucky's rent. Lucky talks to us about the process to get that voucher and what it was like to try to access the other services he needed. The staff at SOS helped a lot, but he still faced many barriers, including the lengthy and challenging process to apply for disability. It's just a transition from you moving from the tent and then trying to get into your home. It's really to make you ready to be somewhere along. So how does it feel to try to get your resources and your benefits and while you're unhoused, like for example, food stamps applying from Medicaid, how does that feel to go through that process? Well, it's a it's a different type of process because at the SOS camp, you really can't get any mail. So your mail goes to the coalition or if you have a family member that can accept your mail, then that's how you would do that. But then if you do get mail at the coalition and you have to wait to it's there, you have to go there every day or you know give it some time and they ain't go up there waiting line. I have a lot of things to my grandmother's house and she lives all the way in my bellows so sometimes I have a hard time just making it out there. I did my food stamps, application in June. At the interview, the middle of June, I didn't receive my card until January. But the whole time from June to January, I was starving. You know, I was eating at the SOS or people were helping me out a lot and it was it's a different type of process than if you had your own mail and address or your own email and the consistent base of income. So the key thing is to stay on top of everything that you do. You know, matter if you got to be there every day, be there every day and check to check and see if your mail's there, check and see if your ID came or your bus pass is you can see a lot of people in the SOS camps get very discouraged and they're very frustrated because they're sick of getting up and going down there and it's not there and they have to come back empty handed. And so you can't call and say look, look, my mail there because they're not allowed to give you their information. So applying for like the Social Security benefits is that just as hard going through that process? Yes, that is a process because a lot of people want to be fraudulent, you know, so they really want to see that you're epileptic and if you can work or if you can work or whatnot. So there's a lot of doctors appointments that you have to go to and a lot of paperwork that you have to get filled out by doctors and it's a process and a lot of times you're still going to get denied and you have to go to the process again and once they really see that you can work then they kind of start pushing forward but I'm still going through the process and it's been like it's been over a year but hopefully it comes through. I know it will. Lucky gave himself that nickname to stay positive and to remind himself that he is lucky. Despite the challenges he has faced, he recognizes the things that have supported him and he holds hope for the future. What do you feel that was most helpful on your journey? Most helpful was actually getting inside the S-WesCAM and participating. Everything that came in I've been drawing for about 10 months now. Somebody told me that I can't learn something new and they we started talking about drawing and he begged me that I can't draw him and I drew a better version of him. He know and ever since then I had the bug and if it wasn't if once I got into the S-WesCAM, I started meeting our teachers and everything and every Tuesday, every Saturday, I risk to come through. Karma will come through and we will do art and I will be on them when they're there. They bring sandwiches, sodas, pizzas and it was a good motivator. People will come for the sandwiches and for the pizza but we're going to stay for the art so no matter what the S-WesCAM is a place for you to be feel safe but also participate in it with the people around you and participate with the programs. What would it be to have stable housing? What would that look like to you? Right now I've been in the streets so long and I've changed so much. I get a little worried sometimes that I be that I'll be lonely. Maybe like a little claustrophobic or mind-side of your kick-in but right now it seems like the most important thing to me. I still have a lot of friends that helped me out and when I do get into my place I want it to be great and I want it to be perfect so that I'm not frustrated or just scared to be in my home alone. So that's a big issue for me right now. Even though I timed out of the S-WesCAM, I also have their counselors and their staff for a whole year. They're there to talk to me, keep me sober if I have a relapse for anything. Honesty is a policy no matter what so the more honesty you are about the situation that more help that you can get and I'm I have a lot of faith in the S-WesCAM in about the next year when I do get my place. It sounded like one thing you're kind of touching on in terms of transitioning from being on the streets or the SOS into your own housing is maybe some concern about loss of community and I just wondered if you could say a little bit more about like how important community is for you and what community has done for you as you've been on this journey of houselessness. I have a friend like French who is very important to me. In the connection with people that's in your same situation is everything so when when I was I was picking my housing or went my area. I wanted to be around the Denver area because I did make a lot of friends out here. I learned a lot from some of the street, people that's been homeless for years, 10 years, 20 years. And these are some of the most talented, most smartest people I've ever seen in my life. And if they ever need anything, I'll be there. I wanna be able to get my foundation going so I can show them human contact and keeping a relationship going as a friend is very important to the people that are living alone and living in alleys and everything because they all been left behind. - As you move into sort of your own housing again, how could that look in a way that feels supportive to you and your community? - Once they see me get my housing, then they'll know that all my consistency is paid off. And I think everybody will see that. And I think a lot of people will start to try to pay forward and do their own thing. I feel like consistency is everything. I try to keep drawing. When I do that free time, I draw every single day all day long. But if I can just get out there more, I kind of been like a hermit inside my tent. And now I feel like I'm gonna be a hermit inside my home. So now it's time to start getting more motivated and learn things to do in the streets or inside Denver. What do you wish others would know about experiencing homelessness? - A lot of people will look down on the bombs or whatever. But I went from being at the height of the engineer at the height, it's just being a bomb, you're homeless. And I hated the way people looked at me. I just needed a little help. When I was homeless, my clothes would be dirty and it was high and I'd be sweaty and people would just shun you. And oh, get away from me. It doesn't matter what color you are, people nobody wants to talk to you, nobody wants to hear your story. Or nobody really cares. I mean, that's up to them. But at the same time, these people on the streets have gone through things. They've been there, done that, got the t-shirt, and now they're down and out. It had just a little conversation, just a little handshake, or a little nod or whatever. When you walk past them, they're down and out. Just try to lift their day up, say, high or anything. That's what keeps the person going. It's to be part of humanity's still. The moment that you're not, you feel like an animal, you feel less than a person. You feel less than a dog. Let them know, I see you no matter what. I want people to understand how challenging it was to go from life in one way. And then all of a sudden, it feels like your world is sort of flipped upside down. And you're now, without all the things you were used to, and especially at home, but everything else too. And just maybe you could-- That was the really-- I was the hardest part was, I can't believe it. I can't believe that-- Is there anything else you want people to know about your story? You never know what's going to happen. Like, I had my father. He killed himself for front of me when I was six. It was January, my brother killed himself. Same with my father, dude. All his home was barely making it to my brother's funeral. So many times, I feel like giving up. But at all the times, and my late name has been lucky forever, I've never felt so unlucky. What do you think is happening? But no matter what, I never give up. It's a sky's the limit. It's so hard being out here. I can't work. I can't drive anymore. I see you just all the time. I just feel sick all the time. But what can I do about that? Take my medicine and stay away from stressful environments and always be positive. And the more you do it, the better off you are. Thank you for that. I really appreciate you sharing your story. I'll never give up. I'm pretty sure you guys will see me again or hear about me again. So, you know, I'm very motivated and positive about the future. When we interviewed Lucky back in March, he was staying at a safe outdoor space site, awaiting a move to bridge housing and then on to more permanent housing. We called Lucky to see where he's at now and how he's doing. How's your health going along? I just went and got to check up the other day down at Stau Street. I just wanted to get my epilepsy medicine and everything. So they hooked me up with that. So I'm gonna go pick that up today. Other than that, I've been good. That's awesome. Want to tell me a little bit about your living situation or where you're living now? I live South Denver. They're condos actually. It's really, really big. You know, I take you guys in the walk. This is the living room right here. This is my art area over there. This is my kitchen. This is like the dining room area. I mean, this is a really big apartment. I mean, this is the bedroom. I love it. It's a quiet neighborhood. How long have you been there? I've been there since June. Right now, I move right, I'm like, like, the Malaway phones, one of my campmates. So I go over there and I hang out with them. Sometimes we have dinner, barbecue and everything. So it was a transition. But a lot of people still live downtown. And I really didn't want to live downtown anymore. So does it feel like living in your own place? It is lonely. It gets scary. I just started doing like a new type of art. Like I used to just like paint landscapes and everything. Now I've kind of been porn. I guess that's what they call it. It's one of my favorites right here. Yeah, so I'm trying to go into business with these. And you know, I'm trying to be an entrepreneur without several drugs or anything. And you stay on the safe side and have the right side of the law. When I first got here for like a month, I didn't have any furniture. So I have hardwood floors. So it was a struggle, like, I like a lawn chair. And maybe I get sleeping back from camp. So I was like kind of sleeping in that. I was planning to try to stretch out on the floor sometime. Then the area is like really elderly people. And they're also Russian. So it's really hard like communicating with people and they're older and I'm black. And I don't know. But now everybody loves me. My whole corridor right here is coming check on me. See if I'm alright and I check on him as well. And yeah, I mean, but other than just a company without an furniture for a month, there were hair hats and bit of any struggles. I'm trying to just be a millionaire with my art, with my YouTube channel. Besides the limit, so every day I go into my app and I tell myself, well, before 2024, I'm going to be the master of my home, master of my life, and master of my domain. I do three sets of that. And I start working on my goals for the day, but also for my long-term goals. It just being consistent. I want to go back to work for my epilepsy. It's just kind of iffy. And I was a maintenance guy or an engineer. So I really can't go back to my trade. So I'm just trying to lean on the art and lean on being an entrepreneur right now. But thank you guys so much. Tune in next time for a special episode featuring the Denver Basic Income Project and stories of those who have been part of Year One of the Pilot. The elevated Denver podcast is produced by Leanne Morrison, Myra Nagy, and Johnna Flood. Narration brought to you by me, Nathan Havie. Editing, sound design, and music are composed and provided by Jesse Boynton. Recording and production provided by the Olympic Recording Studio. If you found this episode interesting and would like to learn more about our work, please visit us at elevateddenver.co. And don't forget to let others in the community know about this podcast. It's going to take all of us to build an elevated Denver.