- [Interviewer] Tammy, we're here in Denver.
You're homeless.
Tell me about it.
- Well, being homeless, it's,
it's very stressful,
and I stay at Catholic Charities off Smith Road.
It's a overnight shelter.
They wake us up at 4:30 in the morning.
We have to be out by 6:45,
and it's still,
it's still kind of dark out.
I catch,
I catch RTD over there
from over there to downtown.
And it's hard for me to get bus passes and everything
because I don't have a income coming in
or I don't have,
it's hard.
I wish,
I wish there was more services out here for us.
I wish we had a day shelter to go to.
That way we're not out here on the street.
You know?
And more,
we need,
if we was to camp out, we need sleeping bags and tents.
- [Interviewer] So the shelter lets you in at night,
but then there's nothing to do during the day.
- Right.
- [Interviewer] So, and you're disabled.
- Yes.
- [Interviewer] Do you get social security?
- Well, I signed up for SSI,
and I'm just waiting for a letter to come in
to see if they accepted me and stuff like that.
- [Interviewer] Yeah, most people the fist time are denied.
- Yeah.
- [Interviewer] Even no matter what the disability is.
- Yes.
- [Interviewer] How long have you been homeless.
- I've been homeless now for about five months.
- [Interviewer] What happened?
- I,
I went to,
I went to the hospital.
They did surgery on my left knee,
and without a income it's hard for me
to have a apartment and everything.
And I'm walking bone on bone.
I don't have a cartilage in my left knee, and I fall a lot.
That's why I'm on a walker.
- [Interviewer] Oh my gosh,
and you're just out here all day?
- And I'm out here all day.
- [Interviewer] Rain or shine.
- Rain, shine, I've been out here in the rain
when it was hailing and everything.
- [Interviewer] And they don't open the shelters
during the day at all?
- No.
- [Interviewer] And people don't understand that, you know.
They do this night shelter thing,
and then they kick people out during the day.
And then there's no place for people to go during the day.
And sometimes they build day shelters.
- Well, they got, they got St. Francis,
but when that place is full,
you can't even get through the door with the walker.
And I have to turn around and be outside all day long.
- [Interviewer] Oh my gosh.
- Yeah.
- [Interviewer] And you can't work because you're disabled.
- No, I'm disabled.
I can't work at all.
- [Interviewer] So this is your life.
- This is my life for right now.
- [Interviewer] I'm so sorry.
- It's okay.
- [Interviewer] What would you want housed people
to know about homelessness that they may not know?
- That
we can't,
we can't afford
a thousand dollars for a apartment or anything.
If we had some low income housing
you know, for some of us
disabled and stuff like that, elderly,
we would be glad to go in a apartment.
You know?
But other than that, rent's too high
and we have to be out here.
- [Interviewer] If you had three wishes, what would they be?
- Three wishes?
My wish is having a,
having a,
having a apartment, having a house with a big yard,
flowers around it, and a dog sitting by my side.
- [Interviewer] Great wishes.
House, flowers, dog.
- Yes.
- [Interviewer] Great wishes.
Thank you very much for talking to me.
- You're welcome.
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