- [Interviewer] Deborah we're in Venice,
you're homeless, tell me about it.
- It's a every day struggle.
- [Interviewer] How do you survive?
- I gotta look for people's help to take showers
and now my cell phone, it got wet
and now it's not working, so now I have to go out
and spend another three to 400 bucks for a new cell phone.
It's a big hassle besides a struggle.
I am hating life and the police don't make it any easier.
- [Interviewer] What do the police do?
- They harass you for no reason.
They tell you, you got to get off the beach,
you can't be here.
They bothered me at Penmar Park.
They bother me here at the beach.
I'm a witness to a stabbing,
and I'm sick and tired of this place.
- [Interviewer] So, you've been out here how long
and how did it happen, how did you end up homeless?
- My roommate he had emphysema
and I found him dead in the kitchen.
- [Interviewer] Oh my gosh.
And then you lost your place to live?
- And then I lost my place to live,
because the son told me I had two weeks,
and two weeks to clear out.
- [Interviewer] My gosh.
And how are you surviving out here?
If you can afford a cell phone.
- I live off my SSI that I get.
- [Interviewer] So you get disability,
it's just not enough for rent.
- Correct.
- [Interviewer] And you were telling me
they want you to go in a shelter, but you tried it
and you got stuff stolen.
- Yes, the shelters are no better.
- [Interviewer] You feel safer out here on the streets.
- Yes I do, at least a little bit safer.
- [Interviewer] So what's it been like with the coronavirus?
I see you have your mask.
- That's not easy either,
I'm sick and tired of this coronavirus.
I wish it would just disappear and go away.
- [Interviewer] I'm with you there.
What would you want housed people to know
about homelessness that they don't know?
- [Interviewer] If you don't keep up
with your rent and stuff, you can and will be tossed out,
on your behind.
- [Interviewer] And homelessness ain't nothing nice.
- No it's not.
People steal and then you gotta go
and replace whatever they took.
- [Interviewer] Well we were talking earlier,
you don't know what homelessness is like
unless you are a homeless person.
- Yes that is so true.
- [Interviewer] Now how often do the police harass you?
- They haven't harassed me very much
but now they're talking about throwing me in jail,
just for being homeless.
- [Interviewer] Oh that's right,
they tried to arrest you for being homeless.
- Yes.
It's ridiculous.
- [Interviewer] And you're 55 years old.
A woman with no place to go,
and the police are going to arrest you.
- Yes.
- [Interviewer] So what is the solution to homelessness?
- I don't know, maybe there is a solution
and maybe there isn't.
- [Interviewer] Well you want out,
you don't wanna be out here.
- I don't wanna be out here.
I prefer to have my own little apartment
where I know I'm safe, and nobody's gonna get to me.
Nobody's gonna steal my stuff.
Nothing is gonna get shorted out by water.
It's no fun.
- [Interviewer] If you had three wishes,
what would they be?
- I wish for a place, and I'd wish for a car
and my license back.
- [Interviewer] Good wishes.
- Good wishes.
- [Interviewer] Yeah.
You have one more wish.
That was two.
Oh car and your license back, I guess that's three.
- Yeah.
- [Interviewer] Well it was an honor to meet you.
- Okay, and I hope you have a beautiful day.
- [Interviewer] And I hope your phone dries out
and it works.
- I'm probably just gonna have to buy
a new cell phone tomorrow.
- [Interviewer] Yeah, I mean it's hard to live out here
without a phone.
- Yes it is, because I rely on my phone for everything.
- [Interviewer] And how your phone
got damaged is sprinklers.
- Sprinklers yes, they came on at
2.00 o'clock in the morning.
- [Interviewer] Crazy.
- So I had a rude awakening.
- [Interviewer] Yeah, well thank you very much
for talking to me.
(upbeat music)