- [Interviewer] Sunshine.
- Yes.
- [Interviewer] That tent behind you is where you sleep.
- Yes it is.
- [Interviewer] You're homeless in Los Angeles.
Tell me about it.
- I like houseless.
- [Interviewer] You like houseless?
- Yeah. - [Interviewer] Okay.
- Home's here. You know what I mean.
- [Interviewer] So you're houseless.
- In LA, tell you about it.
Well, I'm from Utah.
I came here four months ago.
I was on a road trip of self discovery,
looking to be an entrepreneur, just passing through,
and a series of events caused me to be here.
And I've been here for about four months.
Before this, I had lived in Salt Lake City.
You know, where I'm from,
in the park there for about two months.
- [Interviewer] Pioneer Park?
- Liberty Park.
- [Interviewer] Liberty Park.
- Mm-hmm, being houseless is new to me, newer anyhow,
in regards to how long somebody,
some people have been doing this, like a year for me.
I was in my car for about six months
and then I've been doing the tent thing
more so since I got here.
Thankfully I come from the mountains
and I know how to camp really well, so it's been good.
- [Interviewer] But this isn't camping.
- No, no, it's not, but I'm blessed.
I try to see it that way, you know.
- [Interviewer] Before, so I prefer homeless.
- Yeah, that's fine, yeah.
- [Interviewer] So before I was homeless, I loved to camp.
After homeless, I don't think I've camped.
- Really?
- [Interviewer] Yeah.
- That's interesting. I still will, in the mountains though.
Not another park. (laughs)
- [Interviewer] Well you're from Utah.
- Yeah, yeah.
- [Interviewer] So how do you survive out here?
- Very carefully.
I survive by the way and means
of the other people that live here.
We don't always like, you know, agree on a lot of things,
but we do watch out for one another.
By organizations such as Street Watch and Path.
There's another new organization,
it's Resilient United or Resilient We Stand.
These people really are out here to help us,
and I actually have a part to play in housing the homeless.
The plan is waiting for me back in Utah.
So, you know, once I get back there, God willing,
whenever that might be, I'm gonna get going on that.
- [Interviewer] I was gonna ask, what's your future like,
so you're trying to get back?
- I'm not forcing it anymore like I was
for the first like month and a half, two months.
I would like to go home, yeah.
I have a 16-year-old boy that I miss very much,
but I have big goals, I have big aspirations,
and one of them is to house the homeless.
And I have, you know, a structured plan to do it.
- [Interviewer] If you prefer unhoused,
I was just saying for me,
when I was gonna talk about myself, so for you,
we'll say unhoused and for me, we'll say homeless
because that's, I believe everybody should be called,
I have a friend that likes roofless,
and I call him roofless.
- Yeah.
I have, yeah, I've been working on a plan
for about three or four years
in order to build homes for the homeless.
And I do believe honestly that
God wanted me to experience actually being homeless
so that I can, you know what I mean?
This is how I see this.
It's been a struggle, I'm not gonna lie.
It's been, you know, a ride and a half,
but it has taught me a lot about myself
and you know, I'm I want to be the change,
I got to experience, so.
- [Interviewer] It's amazing how so many people out here
want to give back, you know?
- Yes.
- [Interviewer] And if, are you okay?
- Yeah, I'm just emotional about it
because it's something I'm very, very, very passionate about
and have been for a long time.
And it's just been, it has been hard here.
I'm from Utah, a small town in Utah
where I'm in the mountains a lot.
It's just me and my son.
I'm very Zen.
It's very, very, very peaceful.
LA is, it has its own peace.
It's just, it's been hard.
It has been hard, you know, like I have a vehicle,
but it's, don't want to, you know, speak ill on anybody,
you know, or the situation, but it's--
- [Interviewer] Well, what always amazes me
is these communities, you know,
have the same drama that the suburbs or Beverly Hills
or an apartment complex,
and probably less drama than our Congress.
You know, you got neighbors, and sometimes you get along
and sometimes you don't and that's humans,
whether you're living tents in a park or in the suburbs.
I mean, here you have added stressors.
- Very much at the same time though,
you know, we do always come back together.
All of us here at the park, we really do.
When one of us is down, the rest of us, you know, assist.
You know, when one of us just needs a cigarette.
Do you know what I mean?
And nobody has one, you know, we go around
and try to, you know, figure out how to help that person.
You know, we, I don't know, it sounds, but it's humanity.
You know, we actually practice in the realest sense,
and I'm not saying the other people
that give and whatnot isn't humanity,
but I mean, I mean, it's, you know,
we have to be humble with one another and we have to be,
it gives me, you know what I mean, a welling in here
just because the four months I've been here feels like
six, eight, 10, it might as well be years.
You know what I mean?
- [Interviewer] Yeah, well, one of the reasons
why I believe I'm drawn to unhoused, homeless people
is there's this amazing tolerance.
So you could be with all the different races,
sexual orientations, mental illness, addictions,
and for the most part, people get along.
Where if you go into an executive board room,
it's normally, you know, white people that
are arguing with each other and have like little tolerance
for their neighbors, you know.
Here, people give grace.
And, you know, in society, the humanity,
so that that's the humanity I think society could learn
from unhoused, homeless people.
- I agree.
I absolutely agree.
- [Interviewer] So with the jets, we're going to have to,
the lovely about filming near LAX is the,
you got jets and you have wind.
So I don't know how the wind's coming out.
- They lull me to sleep now.
At first, when I first got here, I couldn't sleep
because of all the loudness,
but you know, it's comfortable now.
Now I know that when I do make my venture
from here back to Utah to, you know,
do what I need to do to move forward.
And again, by the God's will, honestly,
I am just following the Lord and doing what he asked me
and what he wants me to be doing,
that I'm gonna miss this place.
Do you know what I mean?
Like, it is my, this is my community.
- [Interviewer] Yeah, I miss homelessness in a way.
But you know, it was a season.
It was an exceptionally long season for me.
I hopefully it's a short season for you.
- How long, can I ask you?
- [Interviewer] Oh yeah, I lived in a homeless shelter
for seven effing years.
(laughs nervously)
- I'm like six, seven months in.
We're gonna be all right.
- [Interviewer] I had to add the effing.
- I know, I love it.
- [Interviewer] It was a faith-based shelter
to make it even worse.
- Oh my goodness gracious, like religion.
Not just spirit, but like religious.
- [Interviewer] Yeah, forced Bible study twice a day,
forced prayer, forced church, seven years.
And you know, there are some good to it too.
And, but you know what, you know why I'm sober today?
It's because I'm never going to live in a homeless shelter.
- Oh my gosh, yeah.
- [Interviewer] You know what I mean, ever again.
- I'm actually reading the Bible
for the first time in my life.
I just started like three months ago, you know?
It's a pretty good book.
- Well, you know, it's interesting also,
so many Christians believe homeless people are heathens
and they got to come save you,
where most homeless people have to have Jesus
and spirituality and faith just to survive.
You guys already know Jesus.
It's the church that, oh you're gonna get me going.
It's the church that needs to learn,
you know, I say it like this,
homeless people don't need to say a prayer.
They need Christians to start being an answer to prayers.
- If I may, I was atheist until about two years ago.
I didn't, I didn't believe in much, you know,
other than what I could, you know,
see in the physical and experience in the physical.
And then I said a prayer with my father on the phone,
I was just having a hard go at life and I remembered God,
and I do claim Christ as my savior.
And since then, it's been a little rough
because it is a whole new thought process.
You know, it is a whole new experience.
I will say this,
I want Christians to get on board too
and really not use any sense of judgment
because that really is our father in Heaven's job,
it's his title, he's the judge, not us.
And I, just to put this out there,
I did not plan on being locked in LA for four months.
You know what I mean?
Like this homelessness, houselessness,
whatever you want to call it, can happen to anybody.
You know, back in Utah, I have success
and I have loved ones, but I got out here
and my phone went missing day three.
And I've been here for four months trying get things done.
- [Interviewer] You're gonna have to speak up,
you're getting a little.
- I've been here for four months trying to get things done.
And it is slowly but surely, but you're not wrong.
We in the homeless community, we have to have reasons.
We have to, I didn't become homeless until I found
and remembered that he was my savior.
You know what I mean?
And then this is just by happenstance,
but it's, it's amazing and crazy.
- [Interviewer] Looking at you, you don't match
the stereotypical homeless person.
If I saw you walking down the street or in a mall
or in a grocery store, I would never expect
you were a homeless person or an unhoused person, excuse me.
- That's okay, thank you.
- [Interviewer] And you're wearing makeup
and we had a little conversation about this,
'cause you were willing to take it off.
And I said, no, no.
And I had mentioned Brenda,
and I'll link to Brenda's because Brenda is very vocal.
I'll send you Brenda's video about wearing lipstick
and how it made her feel better.
I mean, and self-worth, and your makeup was given to you.
Some reason, society feels poor people
shouldn't have makeup.
- Come on. Are you serious?
Look, I am a practitioner of self-care and meditation.
I do chakra balancing work, I'm a life coach.
I do Reiki, all the good stuff,
all the good natural healing stuff.
The most important part of the 13 years that I spent
developing that for myself so that I can use it
to assist people was the self care.
If I don't take care of myself to a point where I can
look in the mirror and not feel, shit, stuck, lost,
like there's no way back to my, you know,
to my home in Utah where everything I love,
and I've let it go to God, I have.
I sacrificed everything.
Everything is in Utah.
It has been for awhile, you know,
without communication because of the no phone and whatnot.
But if I don't take care of myself and I don't
make sure that I feel good, I would die out here.
I literally would.
I'm from the mountains.
I don't understand how LA operates necessarily.
You know, like I'm a business woman,
but I have to make sure that like I'm feeling good
or else I will fall into a pit of misery
and I probably wouldn't be able to get myself out.
So I say wear the makeup, nail polish,
and people have given me paints because I'm an artist.
And they know I like to do art.
You know what I mean?
I have fun on my days off, you know what I mean?
- [Interviewer] You're a person.
- I totally am a person. - You're a woman.
- Yeah. Yes.
Yeah, and I say take care of yourself.
Self-care is so important.
- [Interviewer] If you had three wishes, what would they be?
(laughing)
Well, that's it.
- To hold my son.
- [Interviewer] I've never had anybody laugh
when I asked that question.
- I don't know that I've ever been asked that question.
To hold my son.
To remove fear from the earth, to be completely honest.
And I want a house.
I want a house, those are my three wishes
- [Interviewer] Great wishes.
- Thank you.
- [Interviewer] Right when a plane takes off.
(laughs)
Welcome to LAX.
- You know, I am getting used to this,
the LA streets, I am.
It's crazy compared to where I'm from.
Small town, but it's okay.
- [Interviewer] I like Salt Lake.
- I love Salt Lake.
- [Interviewer] You know, I need to get back there.
- And let me correct myself, not crazy,
just faster and different.
- [Interviewer] Well, thank you very much for talking to me.
- Thanks. Yeah, no worries.
Thank you, it was good to meet you.
Appreciate it.
(chuckles)
(relaxed music)