Yes, YOU can help end homelessness!

The board of foreverEasterhouse.org (fEh) is 3 older, disabled adults on low fixed incomes who formed a non-profit to help others who are currently homeless, on the verge of homelessness, or transitioning from homelessness. We create a personalized plan to help each individual find a way to get to their goal or at least get well on the path. To do so we take in no more than 1-3 persons to live with us in our rented house. We've been homeless ourselves. We're also professionals, conservative, & Christians. Yet, we definitely aren't mainstream! Our motto is: "houses are temporary but because of Easter, we have Home forever!"

We limped along this past year (our first) using our own personal meager disability and retirement funds & a few small donations. We've not yet established a donor base. Helping you understand homelessness and what we do; might allow you to feel closer to your fellow human beings and be less overwhelmed at the question, "How can I make a difference?"

Chronically, long-term, homeless people have a separate culture. They have their own rules, values, laws, ways to deal with problems, and lifestyles. I was homeless 3 different times but never lived on the streets. By the grace of God, 1 had a working vehicle. I remember living in the Phoenix area. At 117 degrees I kept a large ice water in the car as I drove. I saw a homeless man with a sign, "Please, give me something to drink!" I pulled over and apologized that all I had was water and that I'd taken a few sips already so did he want me to take the straw out? "Lady, I eat out of garbage cans, do you think I'm worried that you took a drink?" he snarled back through his red dripping face. Perspective gained!

Those of you reading this who are working professionals may not realize how much you experience being 'forced' to break the law. You are likely so used to it that it doesn't occur to you that you do it. You have to be at work at 7 or 8 am and you have to take your children to school at the same time. Your doctor has told you that you really need 8 solid hours of sleep but the church meeting didn't end until 10 pm and you didn't get home until 11 or unwind until midnight. What do you do?

You need to build an extra room for your in-laws. You have a large carport and you can do it yourself but the city permit is more than your budget can imagine much less afford. What do you do?

Your car's catalytic convertor is in need of repairs that you cannot afford. You have to be at work, take kids, etc. but it is illegal to drive this way. What do you do?

You probably break some law: --You speed in the school zone. You speed to work. You pay someone off to get a toll booth pass. You go into debt, knowing you can't afford it, to pay for a car that allows you to pass the toll booth or buy the new catalytic convertor. You fudge your clock-in in time or pay a coworker to clock you in. Later you break that same law by clocking her or him in. You take a sleeping pill or justify extra alcohol to help you sleep. You get in the habit of speeding and justify it because "everyone does it." You build the room out of your carport and don't ask or tell. You drink too much coffee or energy drinks or even justify a snort of coke to help you get through the sleepy day. (I had one working mother/homeless client tell me she HAD to use METH because she couldn't work nights and take care of her children in the day!) You lie about one or more of the above. You get angry at your boss, coworkers, children, other drivers, spouse, fellow church members, the Pastor, yourself, God! Now, maybe you are a "good" Christian person so you repent of your anger, lawbreaking, and go on but you likely do not think of yourself as a lawbreaker, liar, thief, deceiver, cheat, or anything like "those people" who work under the table, are REAL addicts, deal drugs, lie to get extra food stamps or any number of other law-breaking deemed necessary by many homeless families.

Maybe you are not so financially well-off or stable. Maybe, like 47 million Americans, you are on the edge of financial disaster at any given payday. You want to help but are too afraid of not having enough yourself. You hate that your house is losing value as homeless people leave trash all over the neighborhood and squat in the empty houses and leave poop behind from their unleashed dogs. You call the police who do nothing OR who 'sweep' the area leaving behind trash beyond belief.

Is it really trash? It is perhaps all a person had left in the world; the only pictures of children, medals, last clean set of mended clothes. A backpack given to them by fEh.

Maybe you are a small business owner who is swamped with homeless people who steal from you or take baths in your sink or get sick in your toilets so your paying customers start staying away. Maybe you are fed up with beggars and liars, thieves and destruction of what you have worked so hard to achieve or are working so hard to achieve. What do you do?

Once more, you likely break a law; either the law of the land, your own values, or the law of love; the law of God. You teach your children the Golden Rule, share and share alike, but you feel like no one else does it so why should you and yours suffer anymore? ...Oh wait, now you are getting the mentality that creates the homeless culture.

Homelessness can and does happen to anyone. Unfortunately, those who become homeless face a shortage of rentable housing. The city planning commission does not allow building without a permit for which you must pay. They do not consider plans until paid for and do not have printed or written guidelines to share with developers or builders. A rejected plan requires a resubmitted plan AND another fee. Building a deck or extra room on your own house requires permits equal to those of developers. Owners of complexes hire outside Property Management companies (PMs) so they don't have to deal with the hassles of "landlording." PMs only want to make money. Developers build developments or multi-family structures to maximize their investment for resale. You would too if you had money to invest and wanted to get ahead in life. In our town, 8-10K new units are needed per year to keep up with population increase AND housing deterioration or destruction but only 5K are built. There are simply not enough units EVEN if PMs would rent for low enough. People who have HUD housing vouchers (section 8) can't even apply at most places as the PMs and owners or landlords won't make a profit that way and the risks outweigh the advantages. (One client with a voucher called over 1,000 places for rent and was rejected by every one! Another client moved in a house and HUD did not pay the rent for 6 months, then there was no back pay and the lease had to be renewed for an entire year beginning with the housing authority's preferred date. Owner lost almost $10K!) What with offering all utilities, taxes, appliances, yard care, water; he won't make any profit for a year or more. Will he renew that lease at the end of the year? Would you?

Homeless people face all the same problems of living as humans on this planet but they also suffer added prejudice, lack of funds, lack of a place to shower, lack of safety, lack of a place to go to the bathroom, lack of privacy, lack of ability to be hygienic with body, food, or medical needs; lack of a way to sleep soundly and safely, lack of a way to get to appointments in a timely fashion, lack of a way to prepare healthy meals or buy them, (food stamps give permission to homeless people to use their food stamps at approved hot meal places---so far, all are fast food places!) Lack of a way to get medications regularly or take them with food or water at regular times, and lack of a way to store or carry their meager items much less keep them safe, clean, or mended.

There is actually a disorder known as "Homeless Psychosis." It is real Psychosis induced by living with such high stress, so little sleep, poor nutrition, inability to get or properly take medications that may cause problems when stopped and started abruptly, constant fear, frequent rejection, and living around other people who behave in crazy ways. Sometimes these sufferers are pegged as Schizophrenic, or 'druggies' but when allowed to sleep, eat regularly, and live around the general population in a safe environment; in 10 to 30 days the Psychotic delusions, hallucinations, and behavior disappears! The first 30 days at foreverEasterhouse our clients are asked to relax, sleep, eat, pray, and talk to us about their dreams, and hopes. We ask them to write a contract for themselves listing the steps it would take to achieve a real life goal. If the board approves of the goal, we come alongside the client to achieve or at least put it in process.

Many homeless people have income but cannot afford rent or lack of a way to qualify to apply to rent (PMs require 2-3x the rent as income to qualify to even apply for the much fought over few places.) "Welfare" is $90 to $250/mo only. SSI is $950/mo. The average retired American receives $1250/mo SS income. Minimum wage here is $11.80/hr. FT workers take home under $1700/mo. Average rent for a studio or 1 bedroom in Sacramento is $1200. The income is certainly not enough for motels, either. Motels are not allowed to rent rooms for more than 28 days lest they become apartments and have a different set of rules. Motels only allow 1-3 people per room. Sleeping on the street, in the library, in government buildings, in your own car, in someone's back yard, even with permission, in a garage; etc. ... all, illegal. In-home caregivers, even Hospice is for people with HOMES. So now what do people do?

Sleep 8 in that motel room, sleep in the library behind a book with headphones on and apologize and lie each time caught, pay someone to make fake wage stubs to apply, share rental units with each other but only have one tenant apply and be on the lease, get pregnant to get faster and higher value motel vouchers, more welfare funds, more foodstamps, WIC! You dive in the dumpster for recycleables or useables or even food! You learn what time the grocery store dumps its out of date refrigerated items, you wait for the guard to look away (he is guarding so the store can't get sued for you getting sick from the expired food!) You park in a different neighborhood each night, sleep in the park, steal a grocery cart, use a stroller to carry things but disguise it as if you really have a baby in it, sleep in garages and sheds with or without owner permission, cluster together in encampments for safety and enforce your own discriminatory practices or laws and punishments (shunning being first, doing unto the culprit what the culprit did (reverse of the Golden Rule) snitching, beatings, murder; kind of follow in that order.)

It is very bad manners to ask a homeless person where they are sleeping. It is unsafe to allow someone to know that, it is a violation of privacy to ask, it might mean you are eyeing his bicycle with an plan to steal it later. The police will not be called if you do steal it so the homeless people have to have their own means of enforcement for protection. They aren't called "the mean streets" for nothing. Don't approach a homeless camp if you aren't invited or aren't homeless.

If you go are homeless then DO go to the shelters and missions first thing you become homeless. Arrive BEFORE 8 pm. Curfew is often 8 pm and there is a line that is first-come, first-serve. Men and women sleep in different facilities. Sleep with all your clothes on and if possible with your belongings under you. Take advantage of everything the shelter offers. ASK lots of questions of EVERYONE, homeless or helper alike. Don't give much information. If you aren't homeless and want to help; call the organization during business hours and ask them what they need.

You and I aren't so different from homeless people. Nor than "Rich" people who look for every loophole in any law they can find to get around paying taxes or building a new store for less investment. If it was required that you wear a red shirt to buy groceries but you look terrible in red, then you'd wear that red shirt and sew blue stripes all over it so close together as to cause it to look purple. You would be upholding the law and not seem to be wearing the red color you don't like.

You have a non-obvious disability but the disabled sign in the line shows a picture of a wheelchair. The non-disabled line is a 2-hour wait with a 2-5 hour wait once past the line. You know you can't tolerate the stress of that many hours waiting in a crowded, loud place. The disabled line is empty. You fear having to explain being disabled. Will you borrow a wheelchair and jump in that line or not?

Many will feel too squeamish to do such a thing but will not be able to tolerate waiting in such a stressful situation. More than one client has come to us having lost valuable identification but not been able to tolerate the troubles obtaining a new one or ones. One client took 6 months to obtain a new SS card. Meanwhile, she could not work and was too ashamed to apply for disability due to mental disorder. Another client has an appointment to renew her state ID card but it isn't for 3 months. Meanwhile, she can't renew her medical insurance, see a doctor to obtain medication, renew her bus pass, get a new government phone, or live any other way but "off the grid." She feels it would be dishonest to use my wheelchair to get in sooner. What would you do?

These are some of the questions we ask one another at foreverEasterhouse.org. These are things we take to our Pastor and discuss with others. These are things we cry over, pray over, and then boldly go forth and make the best decisions we can, we survive, help others, and thrive.

We believe in weeping with those who weep and rejoicing with those who rejoice. We believe that the leaders who make laws have the right to do so and those laws are to be obeyed. We are to obey God rather than man. We believe lying and deception are wrong. We believe the Bible when it says to be "wise as serpents" or to "spoil the Egyptians" or to "be shrewd" like an 'unjust clerk.' We have hope when we are promised judgment by "the light we have." We do not "sin that grace may abound." Thus, we do not worry all day about whether we have or haven't as we know we are forgiven and are too busy moving to do His will than to stew over every bit of perfection or right and wrong. We are open to input on these ideas.

Besides responding with that input, consider what you can do right now to help some of the people and needs that arose just this week. If you help just once or just one person; 'you have given a cup of water to Jesus when He was thirsty,' and you didn't even realize He was the one asking.

63yo disabled woman (1 mo homeless due to sale of her apt. complex) finished her 30-day grace period & created a contract with steps toward the goal of her own place. She made plans to stay another 60 days. She needs $1200 toward the security deposit. (FYI: no cash is ever given to a homeless person except for bonified labor. We pay toward whatever is to be purchased or directly on a bill.)

45yo disabled man (in-house only 2 wks after 2 yrs on the street due to severe medical issues leading to loss of job & ability to work) receiving comfort here following 2 family deaths, a severe betrayal, being forced to move out of his new place (due to a bureaucratic snafu) into another, then threatened with its loss too! $1500 for Service Animal training.

52yo man stayed w us 5 mos beginning his recovery from 34 yrs of drug addiction & 12 yrs off & on homelessness; reached 11 mos clean! Agnostic, he requests prayers to Jesus re: application for 'beyond-his-wildest-dreams' job. $4500 to reimburse fEh a portion of expenses incurred & save toward emergency inpatient treatment fund for others.

58yo woman lived w us 2 yrs (homeless off & on16 yrs) and is now renting a room, just started a 2nd PT job. $18,000 to reimburse expenses & toward possible permanent housing promised by another person IF she could find work & achieve the down payment!

Two 30-something sisters (1 disabled) made homeless by the death of a parent, illness of the other, & sale of the duplex in which they all lived; achieved their 30-day contract creation & are fixing up their own private space here while working on ways to manage their equally homeless animals. $20,000 to remodel living space to code! Can you provide doggy daycare or foster care or offer of new homes to the dogs? SMUD is donating non-code insulating materials. Your on-site labor?

The Sacramento area Bayside churches are donating some labor to build an outdoor worship space, some raised garden beds so those of us in wheelchairs or seated walkers or with bad knees can help grow food to feed the household. You could donate cement for paths or Lowes or Emigh's or Ace hardware cards. Costco or Walmart too!

We renewed the street-survival backpack program & we're gathering supplies to create 30 new backpacks. Compact & comprehensive kits for distribution to persons surviving the mean streets. SMUD is donating wool blankets. $1050 for supplies, $35/filled backpack.

1st full website is in production. URL is still foreverEasterhouse.org. $800.

Perhaps you can make a 1-time gift for any of the above amounts. OR

Adopt-a-client, $750/mo covers rm, board, transportation & individualized care. OR

Pledge monthly -- $1000, $100, $50, $10 or even $5. OR

A 1-time donation now @ foreverEasterhouse.org or by using Zelle Quick Pay (or other instant cash pay plan) through your Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Chase or other banks to [email protected]. OR

Set up an autopayment through your online bill pay program. We can send you an invoice.

"Be As Wise As Serpents": Hire one of our homeless persons at an extremely high rate of pay to do a real task for you. Bring your mail from the box to the door and hand it to you. Rate of pay is $300/day! Wash your car for $3000. Then charge them a site access fee, uniform fee, tool use fee, meal fee, parking fee, water use fee or anything equal or nearly equal to their income so you are not out money but still helping them establish a legitimate record of a high enough income to qualify to apply to rent with their low incomes where landlords require 2-3x their income to qualify otherwise. OR Hire a homeless person to convert your space for them to rent for no more than 1/3 their income. Pay them by allowing them to dwell in the space while in the process! Have them remodel your shed into a tiny house; your basement, attic, sun porch, family room, or RV into living space. If they don't have the skills, work with them!

Pray! Follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, foreverEasterhouse.org, and elsewhere. Interact with your ideas, tips. If you aren't local, find someone else in your area you can partner with.