Joe Homeless
The man interviewed requested we use the name “Joe Homeless” for telling his story.
Joe Homeless has been living on the streets of DC for over 20 years. He has no home, no job, and has had to sleep on park benches practically every night. He moved from Pittsburgh to Washington in 1985, when he was being chased by the police and needed a place to hide, and ever since then he has been on his own, trying to find money and food whatever way he can.
Joe’s average day consists of “looking for a job, bumming for change, and then getting drunk.” Joe had a part – time job working construction in 2007, but after he was laid off he’s had no way of accumulating income.
“It’s almost impossible to find a job in DC, because of my criminal record which happened mostly in the 80’s,” said Joe Homeless.
He doesn’t have any means of transportation.
“So I can only search as far as I can walk.”
Even though he’s made a resume and passed it out to local companies, he’s had no leads.
Bumming for change on the streets, on an average day, earns him about $40 dollars. When asked if it is enough to feed himJoe angrily responded,
“Hell no!”
Finding a residence has also been a difficult project for Joe, for he’s been on the government housing list for all of the 20 years. They’ve offered him nothing so far. Joe now finds it difficult to trust outreach and social workers because the people he worked with treated him very poorly and did absolutely nothing for him.
When asked how he likes DC, he scoffed and said,
“Look around, there are too many homeless people. With so many people out here there’s competition, and a struggle to get food.”
He says if he had enough money he’d want to go home, to see his three kids he hasn’t had the chance to visit in almost 15 years. When asked where he hopes to see himself in a year, Joe simply answered,
“Alive. Being homeless, you’re out here on your own man.”
