Reighna is an unhoused woman in her 40s. In her past, she’s dealt with substance use disorder, as well as abuse and domestic violence.
She spoke about some of the systemic challenges that can make it hard for people to climb out of homelessness, but also about the community that supports her.
For the month of June, we're focusing on the health of Columbia's unhoused community – specifically those who stay at the local overnight shelter, Room at the Inn
Reighna: There are a lot of services, but we don't, like, I don't have a phone. As soon as I get a phone – it's stolen.
I've gotten my identification three times this year – every time it gets stolen, or I lose it, or it gets poured on with rain.
We carry everything with us, every day, and I’m sure it's frustrating when you're waiting in line at the store, the gas station, and we're fumbling through our 18 bags. Please don't think it's any less frustrating for us and it's embarrassing.
But it's not so simple. You don't go to a place and get a housing voucher and magically find a house. You're supposed to go through all these hoops, and you can't – Hell, most of the time, we don't even know what day it is.
I don't have phone. I don’t have an alarm. I don't have a way to charge it, if I do.
It's not like people think it is. There's no organization whatsoever, and it leaves our caseworkers.
Well, first of all, they're overwhelmed. They've got too many clients, too many things going on to manage, too many things to remember.
And these people that do this are angels. They are herding humans, and we are already go through so much that we are easily emotionally triggered – most often that comes out as anger, and it's not. It's frustration. It's sadness.
And I don't want pity, but it is very hard to look around and know what it's like to be loved and to have someone and to feel so alone and wonder, “What did I do to deserve this?”
And that doesn't apply to me, but to every single one of us out here. I hurt for every single one of us out here.
I want to figure out how I get out of this so that I can come back and help, and I fully believe that is by somehow changing the system, but I also wonder, “Well, how do I do that? I'm one person. Look where I'm sitting,” you know?
I guess if I feel like if I had the answers, I wouldn't be homeless.
Laughter
But we are, these people have taught me how to live, have taught me how to love, have taught me how to survive, you know, and we don't thrive without each other.
