- [Interviewer] Josiah, and Trisha, we're here
in Seattle at tent city three; tell me about it.
- Um, tent city three? - Go 'head.
Oh me.
- Yeah.
- Okay, well we came here from Alaska
and we had originally thought
that we were gonna stay in a hotel
for about like a week and um . . .
Sorry, we're checkin' on a two-year-old.
- [Interviewer] Yeah.
- Anyway, so we thought we were gonna stay
in a hotel for about a week, that it would be easy
to get an apartment, it did not work out that way at all.
And so I previously had come down a few months
before that because I had a drug addiction
and I came down here to get some treatment.
I remember hearing that they had
these great family shelters
that it's super easy to get into.
We'd have no problem with that.
So that was my theory I went on
and it was not like that at all.
We came down here, we had our two-year-old,
we called a couple of the shelters,
they called us to go down to one
of the family shelters and when we got there
at like 8:00 at night they said
it was the wrong family (laughs)
so we couldn't stay.
We were told that if we separated
that we could easily be sheltered
so we would have to split up so one
of us could take our child and that the other person
could get sheltered somewhere else.
That didn't work for us either since we're married
and we have a happy marriage.
We didn't wanna split up.
We finally got to tent city
'cause they took us and they took children
although when we got here he was the only child.
We went from one child to about, I think,
ten kids at one point.
- Something like that, yeah.
- They had like ten kids here
so he was super happy playin' with all the kids.
We've been here a little over a year.
I think maybe like a year and . . .
- 14 months, something like that.
Since we've been in tent city
and my husband got a job.
He has a full-time job.
We've been saving money to get an apartment.
Housing absolutely is horrible
for us tryin' to get.
We've called several different agencies
either they won't take us
because we are not currently in an addiction
or we were not disabled enough to qualify
for their benefits.
My husband had a traumatic brain injury
and when we called one of the agencies
and they were askin' all these questions
about do you have an addiction,
are you in recovery, does anyone have a disability,
and we're goin' over all of this
and she said that we didn't score high enough (laughs)
- [Interviewer] Right.
- To get any kind of attention
but we could hang up and try and call again
and start all over again.
And she told us to lie.
And I was like you want us to lie about this.
Like I felt really uncomfortable about that.
If you lie and then you get all these benefits
what happens when the lie is found out ya know?
Like that just really sat really ill with me.
Or when they said that if we were still currently
in our addiction that we could easily get housing
because we have a child.
It makes no sense that you have two people
that have been clean.
- [Interviewer] Right, you're two years clean now.
- Yes, like a year and a half.
Well, a year and a half.
- About a year and a half.
- Year and a half but still.
A year and a half clean and we don't qualify
for housing but somebody who is shooting up
on the side on the road, they get housing
and they don't have any kids.
But then they lose their housing in a few months.
- [Interviewer] Right.
- It's infuriating, actually.
- [Interviewer] I'm sorry.
I'm sorry homeless services makes it so hard
for people to get help.
- It does.
- [Interviewer] It's crazy.
- It's absolutely crazy.
- [Interviewer] So we're in a tent city.
- [Interviewer] You guys are lookin' over
'cause your kid's over there.
- Yeah.
- [Interviewer] And I love tent cities
because I'm an old hippie
and this is a self-governed place where it's community
so your kid's safe.
- Mmm-hmm, absolutely.
- [Interviewer] But there's homeless people here.
My goodness how could you let your kid run
around homeless people?
- I know, maybe it's 'cause we're homeless ourselves.
I don't know (laughs)
- Well we know these homeless people.
- Yes.
- I mean and that's the biggest part
about the public's thought of what a homeless person is
is they go downtown and they look
at the people shootin' up on the side of the road
and that's what they're thinkin',
oh, all homeless people are like this.
- [Interviewer] Right.
- It's not the truth.
I have met numerous amounts of homeless people
who are super nice, who are super respectful,
all's they're tryin' to do is get out of the rut
and it's just harder than anyone can imagine sometimes.
- Right here, bubba.
- People's perception of homeless people
is so skewed it's insane.
- [Interviewer] That's why I do what I do.
You nailed it and that's why I was kinda bringing it up
because you guys shatter
the stereotype. - Shhhhh.
- Bubba, bubba, no no no no. - Come 'ere (laughs)
- That's a two-year-old.
- [Interviewer] I mean you guys shatter (stammers)
(baby babbling)
(Trisha laughs)
- [Interviewer] 'Cause you're working.
- Shhhh.
- [Interviewer] You're sober.
Tryin' to raise a family. - Bubba, no, stop.
We got a kid hittin' the monopod.
(baby crying)
- Yes, we have a very kid hittin' the camera.
- [Interviewer] Yeah.
- Wanna say hi?
- [Interviewer] Hey. (baby singing)
- [Trisha] Hi.
- [Interviewer] There ya go.
(both laughing)
(baby babbling)
- Ya know I think that people always think
that when they see someone on the street
and they have a sign that says they're hungry
and they're homeless and they're dirty.
(baby babbling)
- We're busy, bubba.
- No, we're busy, you can't be in my chair.
(baby crying)
But people tend to think that that's all
that homeless people are is that they're
on the street, they're hungry,
they're dirty, that they can't do anything.
I get infuriated when I see people
with their signs on the street.
There are two many people
that will give you a shower, that will give you food.
What you're asking, when people are like that,
they're probably either drunk or high
and they can't get into a shelter.
Most of the programs--
- [Interviewer] They're tryin' to survive.
- Yeah, they're tryin' to survive
but they think that all homeless people
are like that and they're not.
- [Interviewer] And it's a small percentage.
- It is a very small percentage
of the people that are like that.
The most homeless people - No, bubba.
you don't even know they're homeless.
- No.
- [Interviewer] And that's what's so amazing
about tent city three and the other tent cities,
sanctioned tent cities here, is I mean it's as clean
as it can be.
It's amazing that it's in a church parking lot.
Thank God for this church that it's allowing.
- Oh absolutely.
- [Interviewer] I wish more churches would.
Tell me about tent city three
since we're talkin' about it.
- Let's see, you have to be sober to be here.
Sobriety is required.
We have a code of conduct; it's a strict code of conduct.
There's no drinking, there's no drugs,
there's no violence.
You can't have any weapons in here.
You can't have a knife that's bigger
than three and a half inches.
If somebody wants to come in here
to stay here that's great, that's awesome,
you have to have a valid driver's license
or an ID card or passport.
It's just gotta be a government-issued ID
and then they run a background check
for sex offenders, not just in the city
but for nationally as well.
And we do that to protect ourselves
as well as the kids, ya know?
That just makes everybody safer.
There are some shelters that don't check for that.
There's a lotta shelters that just let you in
without an ID or any kind of a background check
because everybody needs shelter
but just here at this one, we raise the bar a little bit.
You have to work to be here.
You don't have to pay to live here
but participation's required.
We have someone who runs the desk.
We have an executive committee
that's made up of five people.
There's 24-hour security.
You have to patrol the inside of the tent city
as well as the outside neighborhood.
- [Interviewer] You guys patrol
the outside neighborhood too?
- We do.
- Within a block radius of the camp, yeah.
- Yep, we pick up.
- [Interviewer] That is awesome.
- No, bubba, stop.
- We pick up trash, we pick up whatever's left behind,
we make sure that we take care
of the bus stops that we use.
We just keep an eye out for our neighbors.
Actually people always freak out
if they have a tent city that comes
in their neighborhood but statistic-wise
we make their crime go down
because we keep an eye out for people tryin'
to break in someone's car, break into someone's house.
We ask questions when we see weirdness.
People think that we're the weird.
We're not the weird.
We keep the weird out.
- [Interviewer] Yeah, well you let me in.
- Yeah, you weren't that weird.
(both laughing)
- [Interviewer] So (sighs) what would you say
to a church or some business
that has a parkin' lot not being used?
Doesn't necessarily have to be a church.
- It doesn't have to be a church at all.
- [Interviewer] About allowing a tent camp like this?
- I think that they would be surprised
how that looks to their community on both ends.
You're gonna get heat no matter what you do.
There's nothin' that's gonna make everybody happy.
There's always gonna be people that are for it
and people that are against it.
But, in the long run, you're helping your community out.
If you're a store and you've got a parking lot
that you're not using, whether you have a business
that's torn down, you can help out your neighbors.
There's always a flip side to what goes on.
In ten years that could be you needing a shelter
and you be wishing that somebody would take you
and your family in.
- No no no.
- [Interviewer] Exactly, very true, very true.
- Oops, sorry.
- [Interviewer] What would you want people
to know about homelessness that they probably don't know?
- Most people you walk by on the street
are probably homeless and you don't know it.
Doesn't mean that they don't have jobs,
they don't dress nicely, doesn't mean
that they don't have money,
and every homeless person in not trying
to ask for money.
- [Interviewer] Right.
- Every homeless person does not need money.
- [Interviewer] When I worked at Homeless Services Outreach
in California I would say 85% of my client list
you would not know that they were homeless.
- Absolutely. - Walkin' down the street.
- Absolutely, absolutely, most of us are educated.
There's a lotta people in here
that have college degrees.
For whatever reason, life fell on them
and every person who's homeless isn't a drug addict.
- [Interviewer] Yeah.
- Whether they're either in recovery or not.
A lotta people are here just because of the economy
or they have tragic deaths in their family.
People are homeless for - There are actually a lotta
various reasons. - people in this camp
- as homeless people but they're here
in this camp to get sober or to stay sober
'cause they know that this camp
in particular is a sober place.
- [Interviewer] That makes sense.
Totally makes sense.
- And that people understand addiction.
- [Interviewer] Well, I mean, shelters don't allow
or make it easy for people that have jobs.
You have a full-time job.
Most shelters have hour restrictions
and different things. - Yes.
They kick ya out during the day.
Most shelters.
- With all of your stuff.
- [Interviewer] They separate families,
couples, ya know that's ridiculous.
- Yep.
- [Interviewer] You get to keep your stuff.
You have a sense of community.
- You have a safe place to keep your stuff.
A safe place to keep your stuff.
- [Interviewer] That's huge.
- Mmm-hmm.
That's huge.
I think first off, a tent community shouldn't exist.
There should be housing for everyone.
- Mmm-hmm.
- [Interviewer] But since there isn't
and there's not gonna be shelter spaces
more cities should look into allowing
sanctioned tent camps like this.
- Absolutely, absolutely.
- The thing with people like the people
in this camp is a lotta people will look at 'em
and say, okay, they're homeless
they're just gonna dump on everything
whenever they stay anywhere.
If you give somebody a place to stay
for an allotted time and say, hey,
you need to upkeep this place so you can stay here,
nine times outta ten any person's gonna jump up
and say, hey, we will do it.
- Mmm-hmm.
- We're gonna make this place as clean
as a whistle when we're here
and when we're gone you won't even know we were here.
- Absolutely.
- That's kind of our motto whenever we move places
is we will leave it better than when
we found it. - We found it.
Ya know, so.
- [Interviewer] Very cool.
Anything else you'd like to say?
- (inhales deeply) Hmmmmm.
- Oh no no no.
(laughing)
(baby grunts)
Anything you wanna say? - Thank you.
- I don't know.
I'm tryin' to think.
Hi, bubs.
Ya know what, there is one thing.
A lotta people have a misunderstanding
that if you're homeless and you have a family
that CPS needs to get involved
and they need to take your kids.
There is no reason that you can be homeless livin'
in a shelter or in a tent city
and you cannot be a great parent.
(baby babbling)
Or it doesn't mean that your family has
to get taken away from you.
- [Interviewer] I am so glad you brought this up
because you're spot on and the . . .
The camera's gonna have a hard time focusing
but who cares, right?
- Stop.
(baby crying)
- [Interviewer] CPS, Child Protective Services,
should only be called if there's abuse
and a child is in danger. - Absolutely.
- Absolutely.
- [Interviewer] Homelessness is not necessarily danger.
- It's not.
- [Interviewer] Families should be kept together.
- Absolutely.
- [Interviewer] Ya know it's more beneficial
for the family to be kept together.
- Absolutely. - Even if they're living
in a tent
then separating the kids. - Absolutely.
- Absolutely, our child's got a family
of 70 people here.
Any one of these other 70 homeless people
would take a bullet for my child in a heartbeat.
I had a accident recently and I had
to go to the hospital, I broke my foot,
and I had a leave my son here
with someone in our camp
while he could come home from work
so there was a couple a hours
where he was by himself.
Never once did I even worry.
Not once did not ten people jump up to help him
because they knew he knows them.
- [Interviewer] Right.
- It takes a village to raise a family
and I have a village.
- [Interviewer] Yeah.
- And I've got a great village.
- [Interviewer] My favorite, you gave us a tour,
I came through with HanesBrands
and some people earlier.
- Mmm-hmm.
- [Interviewer] And a woman said that this is run better
than her neighborhood community
where she has her condo.
- Mmm-hmm.
- [Interviewer] And I just love that.
It was really amazing.
- She said they couldn't even meet once a month
to get together for a barbecue.
We meet every week here (laughs)
- [Interviewer] Right right right.
I mean that was amazing.
I wish I was more prepared.
I wish I had caught that on video.
So anyways, if you had three wishes what would they be?
- Three wishes.
- A house.
Nothin' big
just a small house. - Nothing big.
- Just a tiny house, yeah.
Something that was ours.
Another wish, I'm tryin' to think.
That we wouldn't need tent cities.
I wish that they would come up
with a way to, I don't know, use the golf courses
and put housing on that.
Or come up with better housing
so we don't have to have tent cities
or that there's people on the street.
- More affordable housing
so people can afford it. - More affordable housing.
Affordable housing would be amazing.
- [Interviewer] I agree.
- Those would be my three wishes.
I'd have affordable housing, a home for us, and a car.
We miss a car.
Not that the bus system out here
is not amazing but seriously.
- No, I don't need a car.
I don't need a car.
- Road trips.
I'm just saying.
We're from Alaska.
I miss the road trips with the music and drivin'.
I miss that. - Oh my gosh.
- [Interviewer] I can just picture it.
The Alaskan countryside.
- We used to do that on the weekends.
Just go for a drive like either two hours north
or two hours south, blarin' the music.
- [Interviewer] When I was in Anchorage
we did a road trip to one of the nearest glacier.
- Yes!
- [Interviewer] And I hate anything cold.
(Trisha laughs)
- I'm laughing 'cause I fell through a glacier
when I first moved to Alaska.
- [Interviewer] Oh my gosh.
- The Matanuska Glacier.
It was like two hours, it was past um . . .
Where was that city at?
I don't remember but yeah. - Anyway.
(Trisha laughs)
- [Interviewer] Well, thank you guys very much.
Thank you for spending a little time talkin' to me.
- Thank you. - No problem, thank you.
- Thank you for talkin' to us
and wanting to know more about our wonderful home life.
We do have a wonderful home life
regardless if we live in a tent.
It's awesome and I love the people we live with.
We're very, very fortunate.
There's a lotta people out here
that aren't as fortunate as we are
to have where we live.
And we know it.
We're super lucky about that.
(mellow music)