Community Members Step in Where City Won’t in Homeless Crisis

*Story contains graphic content*

February 13, 2022

“What’s the name of the organization?”

“There is no name.”

“Well what’s on Coleen’s card?”

“Check.”

“So that’s the name of the organization.”

“No, check like checkmate.”

Twice a week PLNU senior Kaitlyn Holland interns with private attorney Coleen Cusack at a homeless encampment near the Big Lots on Sports Arena Blvd.  More than twice if the “police are acting funny,” says Kaitlyn.  They go tent to tent offering free legal service, their goal is to serve as a buffer between the police and the homeless community by providing legal aid pro bono.  Coleen is the only lawyer in San Diego doing this kind of work, Kaitlyn is one of the handful of steady volunteers that help Coleen.    

Kaitlyn is wearing a pastel green blazer and black leather combat boots.  The blazer so that people take her seriously, the boots so she doesn’t have to look down before she walks.  She rolls off campus at 6:45 A.M sharp.  “You are going to hate me for this, but I have to listen to rap beforehand to wake me up,” says Holland.  She raps every word to The Real Slim Shady, Bitch Better Have my Money, and others while inhaling two coconut berry Red Bulls.  She brought four Red Bulls, in case I was tired too.  She looks in the rearview mirror before she gets out of the car, “Does the braid make me look younger, or is it cute?”

When Kaitlyn arrives Coleen debriefs her on recent police activity in the area and that next week the police plan to come in and make as many arrests as they can.  Coleen tells the group (made up of lawyers, interns, and volunteers) that they might be asked to enter tents, and that if they choose to do so they might be entering an unsafe area and to remain vigilant and stay safe.  

Coleen explains the nature of the completely self policed encampment: the residents have broken it into 3 sections.  The lower you get in number, the more dangerous it is.  If you cannot “play nice” in section 2 or 3, or you are not showing signs of active drug recovery, you will be sent to section 1 by Ma and Pa.  

Ma and Pa are the unofficial official leaders of the encampment.  A couple of weeks ago the police arrested Ma, not knowing she was the encampemnt’s leader.  Someone said that the arrest was “Complete fucking bullshit,” he was then arrested.  An iPhone video taken by a bystander shows Kait then getting in the police officer's face, citing every amendment she had watched him break.  “To hell with the Constitution then huh,” Kaitlyn screamed.  The police uncuffed the man.  Ma spent 12 hours in jail before the charges were dropped.  Ma and Pa are now represented by Coleen.

Coleen passes out clip boards with signup sheets to “hire” Coleen, information about Mayor Gloria’s wanting more homeless conservatorships, and Twitter accounts to follow.  “You should talk them into getting Twitter, that’s where a lot of activism happens,” says Coleen.  Crates of boxed water, clipboards, and fold up chairs are placed onto a collapsible beach wagon and they enter section 3, beginning their eight-hour day under the scorching sun.

T is another volunteer, he has been a homeless advocate since 2014 and is a member of the California Homeless Union; he is currently experiencing homelessness.  T becomes quiet explaining how dangerous it can get, stating that he has been attacked before.  “The struggle is real… I have a t-shirt that says that,” says T.  At night, police will park their car in the camp with just their lights on, T bought the highest lumen flashlight he could afford and flashes it right back at them.  “You can’t force people to not be homeless,” he says.

Hello tent occupants, I am Coleen and I am your attorney.

Hello, I am your attorney and I want to advocate on your behalf.

Good morning we have lawyers here.  We will speak on your behalf, the police will be 

here next week issuing citations and arrests.

Good morning tent occupants, I am your lawyer Coleen.

Coleen and Kaitlyn go tent to tent offering their services.  No one is biting so far.  Most tents have signs that they passed out in prior weeks, ranging from stating that the inhabitants of the tent have been exposed to COVID-19 and are quarantining, to signs that say that the occupant is a member of a minority racial or ethnic group.  Kaitlyn says since it isn’t a clean up day, everyone must be asleep.  

“Speaking of, look at the sign,” says Kaitlyn.  

NOTICE OF CLEAN UP.  MONDAY 9 AM.  

“Oh we get to sleep in!” says Coleen.

“9 A.M? To whom do we owe this honor,” says Kaitlyn.

After a few more tents, people begin to wake and sign up.  “Do you need help?” says Coleen.  “Yes ma’am,” says a voice from inside a tent, the tent rustles as the occupant exits.  An occupant makes a comment about how detail oriented Coleen is while she gives verbal consent to different statements from Coleen.  “It’s a cover our ass kind of thing,” says Coleen.  

Kaitlyn gets excited approaching a tent.  “Joshua lives here.  He is a very cute doggy.”  Joshua, recognizing Kaitlyn, runs to her and jumps up at her to play.  “Joshua quit jumping, I raised you better.  You’re embarrassing me!” screams Joshua’s mother from the tent.  Kaitlyn rolls around with the dog, tummy scratches, baby voice, ball throwing, the whole 9.  In fact, she approached every dog she saw that day. 

One occupant grins when asked if he shares his tent with anyone else.  “Only sometimes,” he says.  Another occupant signs paperwork with a Frakenstein hand glove on.  He says he has a Jason Voorhees mask for the days that the police come.  An occupant informs us he is watching someone's tent who is in the hospital.  Kaitlyn explains that on “clean up days” the police make all the residents of the encampment move their stuff to the other side of the road.  

Anything that is left gets thrown away.  “You aren’t here… your house is trashed.  You are in the hospital… your house is trashed.  You are in jail… your house is trashed,” says Kaitlyn.  T says that there is even more trash here than what the residents produce.  He says neighboring businesses have dumped their trash at the encampment before.  

As the hours passed more and more people signed up, some embarrassed and some excited to be receiving Coleen’s help.  Kaitlyn introduces me to Mandy, a self described “45 year old crazy lady… I am more than an advocate… maybe an activist?”  Kaitlyn tells me that some residents call her the “Free shit lady… because she gives them… well… free shit.”  She is short, her hair pulled off her shoulders to reveal an undercut.  Mandy wears a sweatshirt that says “I don’t like police” with a Little Miss Sunshine-esque character.  

Mandy has a day job, but four days a week she comes to the encampment to hand out food, water, toiletries, and narcan.  All paid for out of her pocket.  “Some weeks it’s less stuff, because I have to pay the bills, but I do what I can,” says Mandy.  Today she was helping M, an elderly man experiencing homelessness, pack his belongings into a U-Haul to move to a storage facility.  

M says he wishes the police would be more compassionate, and that they throw out people’s entire houses.  The encampment has two porta-potties provided by the city, but M says that if they want to avoid another hepatitis outbreak, they need way more.  Mandy agrees, saying that if they had a couple more porta-potties, some portable hand washing stations, and a dumpster it would be so much better.  “Then the city would have to acknowledge that there are homeless people here,” says Kaitlyn.  Coleen explains how the city “forgets” to count all of the homeless so that they don’t have to add more beds to shelters.  Coleen says that there are way more homeless people without tents or shelter than beds available at the shelters.  “If you can’t find ‘em, they don’t exist,” says Kaitlyn.

M says that homeless people have strong immune systems since they are exposed to so many germs, but he knows of people who have deliberately infected themselves with COVID-19.  Then, they can get a bed for 10 days and might have a higher chance of receiving shelter afterwards.  “We work together.  We work with what you have, you know,” says M.

According to T and M the shelters aren’t safe either.  T, M, and others explained the increased risk of assault, theft, and diseases in shelters.  “It’s forcing people to arm themselves because they are being forced to leave their safe places,” says Coleen.  Plus they can only bring 2 bags of their belongings, and if they can’t leave the rest with someone, it gets put in city storage where it is often lost or stolen.

Mandy stresses the importance of harm reduction and community, “The more community that shows up, the less the police mess with them.”  She talks about the increasing dangers of fentanyl and “poverty porn,” which is a “tactic used by nonprofits and charity organizations to gain empathy and contributions from donors by showing exploitative imagery of people living in destitute conditions.” (Dortonne)

Mandy says, on top of everything else, that the San Diego Homeless Outreach Team (HOT) doesn’t even carry water.  When asked if she could be quoted on that, Mandy replied “Yes the fuck I can.  That’s like their [HOT’s] only fucking job, Jesus.”  She says that right now the city is only putting bandaids on the issue of homelessness, and that it is time to start fixing the root of the issue.  This year already San Diego missed the deadline to apply for federal funds that would help with housing the homeless.  (“San Diego Misses Deadline to Apply for Homeless Housing Funds”)  “61 million dollars down the drain,” says Mandy, “but they don’t care, people profit off of poverty.”  

Kaitlyn and Coleen approached a group of 3 people sitting in the shade of a building.  They are given Coleen’s elevator pitch and they agree to sign up to receive legal aid.  “You said y’all lawyers?  That’s not good we were about to do drugs,” joked W.  No one laughed.  “I’m just kidding,” she followed up.  As Kaitlyn helped R with the form and Coleen helped W, they became increasingly hostile, raising their voices and beginning to insult us.  Kaitlyn held her ground and respectfully tried to answer the group's questions.  While she was explaining, another man wandered up and flicked his nose, trying to give R cash.  R told the man to get lost.  

R started to convince the others that Kaitlyn, Coleen, and I worked for the city and were trying to get them to admit homelessness.  A baggie of white powder and a knife fell out of his pocket.  “Shut the fuck up and go away,” B says interrupting Coleen.  “Can I please speak,” says Coleen.  “I thought you were here to listen to us,” says W.

As Coleen pleaded with them, I stood in the back trying to look as little like an undercover city official as possible, suddenly very aware I was jotting down their conversation.  I played fetch with R’s dog Zeus.  I accidently threw the ball into a Target bag used to wipe after the restroom.  Zeus happily retrieved it and dropped it at my feet.

Coleen began to get their attention and they were listening until B interrupted telling us to “get the fuck out of here.”  “Don’t curse at her, don’t disrespect them like that,” said R.  After a few more moments of explaining from Coleen, R got up and said “I don’t feel like talking to this mother fucker.  I’m a metal head” and left.

After volunteering, Kaitlyn sat in the car collecting her thoughts on the day's happenings before returning to Point Loma, “The more you come here, the more it hurts ya know.  It drains you more and more every time, but what, am I supposed to stop coming?  This has to happen.  Change needs to happen.”  There is no music on the ride back to campus.

Bibliography

Dortonne, Nathalie. “The Dangers of Poverty Porn.” CNN, Cable News Network, 8 Dec. 2016, www.cnn.com/2016/12/08/health/poverty-porn-danger-feat/index.html. 

“San Diego Misses Deadline to Apply for Homeless Housing Funds.” KPBS Public Media, San Diego State University, 8 Feb. 2022, www.kpbs.org/podcasts/kpbs-midday-edition/san-diego-misses-deadline-to-apply-for-homeless-housing-funds.