- [Interviewer] Mike.
- Yes sir.
- [Interviewer] It's good to see ya.
- I wish it was under better circumstances.
- [Interviewer] When I travel to a place
and run into somebody that I know,
it's amazing to see them again.
- Yeah.
- [Interviewer] But in a year's time, you're still homeless.
- Yep.
Well, I used to have a, I had a house last year,
until my fiance passed away.
- [Interviewer] So after we interviewed last year,
you went into housing, you had a house?
- Yeah, me and my fiance,
we had a house together, and then she passed away.
- [Interviewer] And then you ended up back outside?
- Yeah.
I was like, I can't be in that house.
- [Interviewer] Well at least, so since the last year
you were inside for a little bit.
- About four months, yeah.
- [Interviewer] Now, the reason you were homeless
the first time is your son died.
- Yeah.
- [Interviewer] And it emotionally affected you.
- Yep.
And I just lost my other son a couple months ago.
- [Interviewer] That's heartbreaking.
- He was serving our country,
so I'm proud of him.
- [Interviewer] And you told me how he died.
- Yeah, IED.
- [Interviewer] Oh my gosh.
- Yep.
And then my brother got murdered a couple days later.
He was supposed to come up here,
but he's not gonna make it.
He's up here now.
He's above us, so, it's all good.
- [Interviewer] And you had other bad news.
- Yeah.
I've got pancreatic cancer.
Stage four, they can't do anything about it.
It's already spread from my pancreas
all the way to my right side.
So, I'm looking at a year.
- [Interviewer] Mike, that's...
- I'm happy though.
I am so happy that I met so many people around here.
Miss Jane.
I love her with all my heart.
She always helps people out.
The volunteers here at Jubilee.
A lot of people that are on the street.
They will back you up 100%.
- [Interviewer] Oh my gosh.
I don't even know.
You're continence, yes, I mean, last year you were,
I can't even talk, my heart is so broken.
- There's nothing to talk about.
I mean, I'm happy.
That's what I'm proud of, I've had a good run.
43 years, good run.
It's all right.
- [Interviewer] Well, is there any help for you?
- No, I'm not gonna be sick for the past year
of my life going through chemo.
I'm not doing it.
So I might,
they said a year, a year and a half, oh well.
But if I don't do chemo, it'll probably lessen it.
I'm okay with that.
I'm fine with it.
At least I can't get in no more trouble.
Come on, we gotta make it a life, it's time to smile.
Everybody should smile.
- [Interviewer] I agree, and that's what I was trying
to say earlier is you're happier
than the last time I met you,
but life has taken a turn for a worse.
- Yeah, it happens, but that's part of life.
- [Interviewer] Well God bless you.
Oh my gosh.
- No, God bless everybody.
- [Interviewer] I agree.
- Everybody else, they've got their own problems.
Let 'em deal with it.
- [Interviewer] So were you in the winter shelter?
- Yeah.
- [Interviewer] And that closed last night?
- That closed this morning, correct.
- [Interviewer] Where are you gonna sleep tonight?
- I have no idea yet.
Haven't figured that out.
I'll find some place to rest my head.
- [Interviewer] My goodness.
- Cops keep on chasing us off everywhere we go,
because you got a bunch of people that start stuff,
and I'm not one of 'em.
And it's sad.
Got all these new kids showing up,
never been homeless before, they show up,
and they screw everything up.
- [Interviewer] Well, Ryan was telling me
that the homelessness here in Traverse City is increasing.
- Yeah, everybody's coming up here.
I don't know why.
- [Interviewer] There's no housing.
- No, I've been on a housing list for three years up here,
but everybody else seems that don't have jobs,
that don't work, get housing before I can.
And I've been working,
so how is that right?
- [Interviewer] Are you still working now?
- Yeah, I'm working through People Ready.
- [Interviewer] And what's that?
- They do odd jobs here and there.
- [Interviewer] Okay.
- And we get paid every day.
- [Interviewer] But it's like day labor stuff?
- Yeah.
- [Interviewer] So you're working?
- Yeah.
- [Interviewer] Just not enough to...
- Not afford anything around Traverse City.
- [Interviewer] Yeah.
- What is it, $850 for a one bedroom apartment?
How can anybody afford this?
Everybody around, the city commissioner
and everybody else wants to get rich
off everybody else that's working.
And it's not right.
It's a tourist town.
- [Interviewer] Yeah.
- I mean, you can go to any hotel down the strip
on Front and Munson, go down there
in the winter time, it's $235 a week.
In the summer time, they jack the prices up 300%.
For one night you're gonna spend 250 bucks, why?
Where's the commissioners at when they
couldn't stop this stuff?
No, they don't do it.
They do the same stuff up in North Dakota
when I worked on the oil rigs out there.
Everybody gets higher pay, everybody else jacks everything
up, Walmart was even charging $5 for a gallon of milk.
- [Interviewer] I saw that in Fort McMurray, Canada,
because everybody is going in for the oil sands
and the city grew so fast, supply and demand.
There was actually engineers staying
in the homeless shelter because they couldn't afford
a place to stay, and that was kicking out beds
for people that had no job.
- Yeah, it's like, come on.
Where is our government at now, when people jack
up their prices because it's a tourist town?
- [Interviewer] Because it's a tourist town,
there's a severe lack of housing here.
I'm glad that the winter shelter opened.
Last year I was here, there was no winter shelter.
- Well, no we had Safe Harbor where they moved us
church to church, now they got this one
and now everything else is going to crap.
- [Interviewer] At least, you know, you had that,
but now that it's closed.
- Yeah, well, we'll survive.
We always do.
- [Interviewer] But it shouldn't be like that.
- We can't do anything when everybody wants
to raise up their rates so much in the summer time.
Can't do anything about it.
The county won't do anything about it.
Them judges right over there won't do anything about it.
- [Interviewer] Well, people will say, so
why not move, why not go someplace else?
- Where you gonna move around here?
- [Interviewer] Well, as I travel, it's people live
where they feel comfortable, and it's also not so easy
to move, you gotta have money to move!
- Yeah, you gotta have a vehicle to move,
and I had a vehicle and Ryan told me I couldn't park my RV.
- [Interviewer] So you're in an RV?
- Yeah, I had an RV at Safe Harbor,
I just paid 100 dollars for it.
I couldn't park it there.
So I spend money to get a place to live,
so I can travel wherever I get to go,
but Ryan says, "No, you can't park it here."
So I had it moved at my job, and somebody else had it towed.
- [Interviewer] Oh my gosh.
- So I just lost that.
- [Interviewer] Oh my gosh.
There must have been a reason, 'cause Ryan is a good guy.
He'll work over backwards to help you.
- He was afraid that people were gonna sleep
in my RV during the day.
Nobody was allowed in there.
- [Interviewer] Right, 'cause it's a night shelter.
- Yeah, it's my RV, and I'm not gonna drive
around in a RV
to go to work.
- [Interviewer] What would you want people
to know about homelessness?
- It sucks,
keep a job.
If you have family, go to them,
don't burn it.
- [Interviewer] Don't burn your family.
- Yeah, don't burn walls.
- [Interviewer] There's more homeless people
out here working too, I mean we were
at a tent camp this morning, and one couple, they have jobs.
- Yeah, it's too expensive to live out here.
I'd have a better chance living in Detroit, where I'm from,
but got a bigger chance of getting killed down there.
We're all pretty common with each other.
We know who everybody is, we don't step on anybody's toes.
- [Interviewer] This is home for you.
That's what people don't understand about moving.
Is where you feel like home
and you feel safe, that's where you live.
- Yeah, you're always safe here.
I mean, there might be a couple fights here and there,
but that's just, that's natural.
- [Interviewer] Look at congress, (laughing)
- Yeah, and then we had one guy stabbed a few days ago.
- [Interviewer] Oh jeez.
- And they were best friends.
- [Interviewer] Mike, again, I'm so grateful
that you walked up and said hello,
but my heart really breaks for you
that you lost another son, and that you have cancer.
I really, oh my gosh, I pray for you.
I wish you all the best, man.
- Well, thank you so much.
- [Interviewer] Yeah, if you had three wishes,
what would they be?
- That my boys were back,
everybody would be off the street,
and it wouldn't snow anymore.
I'm tired of the snow.
- [Interviewer] Yeah, I come up here, it's like 68 degrees
and there's piles of snow.
- Well, it's supposed to snow tonight, so.
- [Interviewer] No way!
- Yeah.
- [Interviewer] Oh my gosh.
Well thank you very much for talking to me.
- Thank you.
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