Jim
“There were certain circumstances in my life: the recession, and getting laid off of a job. They had no choice, they had to close their doors and let somebody go. I was the last man hired even though I had been there for 10 years, he had to lay me off.”
“It was the worst day of my life, I lost the best job I ever had in my life. I lost my home shortly after that because I couldn’t pay my rent. I was too proud to take a lower paying job because I’m a mechanic, that’s what I do and it was what I was trained to do. That’s what I went to school to do. I got a degree in it, I got a certification in it.”
“One thing led to another after another after another and another, I moved back to California to live with my family. I was out of work, I was out of savings, I didn’t have no savings left. My dad was 85 when I moved back to California.”
“He was in control of the of the family business, the family business was still going, still rolling. He was gearing up for retirement, he was still able to put me to work. I didn’t have any retirement, I didn’t have any pension.”
“He got to an age where he wanted to take it easy, he deserved it, he earned it. So he had me liquidate all the assets, he shut the plant down and shut the warehouse down. Nine months after he retired he passed away, he was 91 years old.My sister is in control of the family home and all the trust and everything. I don’t even know what’s in the will.”
I love my sister, I cant live with her and I can’t be with her for more than two days at a time otherwise it turns into world war three. She likes to bring up my past, things that I have paid the consequences for. I’ve made mistakes, mistakes that I have paid for, paid for several times over."
“I’ve made some bad decisions in my life, my drug addiction doesn’t help. I’ll tell you one thing, my usage has gone way way way way way way down.It’s not because I’m living in poverty I mean I can hustle up money, I can hustle up money without creating problems.”
“I collect scrap metal, I don’t steal it, I ask people if they’re going to throw it away, jumping through the dumpsters.I’ve been homeless for 6 years. I’ve lived in Oakland for 29 years, 6 of them homeless, this is my home, there’s good people here. Homelessness isn’t going to go away, we can’t turn our heads away from it. I want a job, I want to live, I want to have my life back. When you get caught in this homeless rut, it’s very hard to save or get ahead.”