Homeless Interview of Secret.The Hardest Part Is Watching Friends Die.

Added: 2026-05-19

[00:00:00]Great. Hello. Hello. How are you? Good.

[00:00:02]How are you?

[00:00:03]Oh, fine. Fine? What's your What's your name? Secret. Secret? Mhm. Um how old are you?

[00:00:09]Um 30. 30? Mhm. Okay. Are you homeless, Secret? Yeah. How long have you been homeless for? Over 10 years. Over 10 years? Yeah. Wow. Um and how did you become homeless? Um a lot of a lot of factors to that.

[00:00:27]A lot Uh yeah. A lot of what? A lot of factors. Factors? Well, >> Yeah. give me one of them at least.

[00:00:33]>> Um addiction.

[00:00:35]I'll say addiction. Oh, addiction. Okay, got you.

[00:00:37]>> Yeah. Was that like the cause of you ultimately getting kicked out or losing a place or something like that?

[00:00:43]>> Um no, not really. It It was uh partial of separation and then became addiction.

[00:00:49]Okay, I got you. I got you. Okay, so are you still currently fighting an addiction? Um yeah, partial at times, but I'm doing better. Doing better? Okay.

[00:00:58]>> Yeah, cuz now I have a job and I'm doing a lot better. Okay, well, that's good.

[00:01:01]That's good. You have a job? Yeah. What do you do? Um chicken and waffles.

[00:01:06]Really? Yes. What are your hours? My hours? Well, I don't work for I just clean. I'm Yeah.

[00:01:13]>> Okay. Okay. Yes, I'm the main cleaner.

[00:01:15]That's good. That's good because um there's not a lot of homeless people that I run into that actually has a job, you know? And so Yeah, we're we're hard workers out here.

[00:01:26]>> How long have you been doing that for?

[00:01:28]Um going on this job for a year. The other job I had was um like custodian, janitor.

[00:01:34]>> Okay.

[00:01:35]>> was for 4 years. Well, that's good.

[00:01:36]Congratulations on that.

[00:01:37]>> Thank you. Yeah. So, um what is the hardest, toughest part about being homeless for you?

[00:01:45]Um I don't know. I was telling like it becomes like you rather just be out here than than in a regular house. It's really crazy about it cuz at first it's really stressful cuz you don't know what to do, how to handle it, what how to Okay. you know, live.

[00:02:01]>> But then after a couple years, maybe a year, you get kind of used to it. And then when you try to go back into a house, it's kind of weird to you.

[00:02:09]Yeah.

[00:02:10]>> so used to being outside and Well, after being outside so long, I can >> Yeah. And then you learn how to build your own stuff, so it becomes like um what what's that that >> I don't know. What do they call it? The The great outdoors experience. [music] Oh, I got you. Yeah.

[00:02:27]>> those TV shows that they show? Right, right. I know what you mean. I can >> Survivor. Survivors, yeah.

[00:02:32]>> Yeah, survivor.

[00:02:33]>> Okay. Well, you know, um living in a house is has its, you know, ups and downs. Uh but outside is a different story, so Yeah.

[00:02:43]>> What what What's the downside about living outside? The downside about living outside is the cold. Cold is if you don't have if you don't have shelter, it gets hard. And showering.

[00:02:54]Right. Showering was number one we at for our group here is mandatory. It's just like jail or anywhere else. It's man You have to take a shower. You have to be You have to show present yourself, you know, clean. I mean, homeless is not a bum. We're not bums. Mhm. We just so, you know, we're we're out here for Everybody has a a reason and it's not always because of drugs, either. It could be for other, you know, purposes.

[00:03:21]But we try to keep our our city continue to being healthy. We try to teach them how to clean. We had a clean-up crew.

[00:03:29]And we were working with the city.

[00:03:31]And we would go out there and help the city sometimes, but uh people just don't They don't want to participate, you know? Mhm. They'll turn around and make another mess for you.

[00:03:39]Yeah. But yeah, we we just It's just a survival.

[00:03:44]We don't We choose to be out here. We don't have to be out here.

[00:03:47]We choose it. Well, some homeless people, yeah.

[00:03:49]>> Yeah. Some some uh homeless people with, you know, circumstances, you know.

[00:03:54]>> We try to look out for the ones that are sick.

[00:03:56]The ones that need you know, care.

[00:03:59]Ones that are not all you know, mentally there. Right. Right.

[00:04:03]>> So, we try to be like sisters and brothers to them. We try to be nice to everybody, you know? It's just that we have a lot of problems with stores that don't accept us or they treat us differently.

[00:04:12]I don't think it's right. Yeah. Cuz we're we're customer anywhere, you know?

[00:04:16]Like we have money here. They shouldn't look at us any any any gray different.

[00:04:21]Mhm. Our clothes are fine. We look okay, you know? I don't know how they say how they could judge you so quick like just oh, she's homeless, you know? It's just I don't know.

[00:04:31]>> Well, some I you know, I've interviewed a lot of people that you can't even tell. I mean, from looking at them, right?

[00:04:39]>> Mhm. You can't even tell that they're homeless. I mean, you know, because they dress like normal people, you know?

[00:04:44]So, you have you know, you have some homeless people that um they really take care of themselves the best that they can. Yeah.

[00:04:53]>> You know, and then you also have mentally ill where Mhm. you know, you can kind of tell by the way they look, the way they dress, you know, and stuff like that. It could be 100° outside and they'll have like three big coats on or something, you know what I mean?

[00:05:07]>> You know? But uh anyway, um so yeah, speaking of showers uh well, how do you guys take showers?

[00:05:13]Well, we have places we could take showers. There's the restrooms. People could shower up in the restroom if if the restaurants let them. Um Like bird bathing or something like that?

[00:05:23]>> Yeah, bird bathing. Um some people have houses they go to bandos or they go to friends' houses and they take showers. Or they got the wash.

[00:05:32]When the water's running and it's clear, you could just go out there and bathe.

[00:05:36]Right. There's a lot of places you could take a shower at. There's a Flying J's.

[00:05:39]Yeah. There's a lot of homeless people that go there. I mean, it costs money, but >> Uh-huh. you know, it is you have options.

[00:05:46]>> Yeah. And if there's there's homeless people out there with money. So if they really want it, they could even order a shower.

[00:05:52]Yeah, cuz they have those outhouses and then they have the showers in those outhouses. Yeah, where you can order those and I think they're like $200 a month or something like that. And you can order one and they'll come and fill it up. Just have to put it in a place where you you know, it's it's legal to do it. Right.

[00:06:08]>> But there is I've seen a lot of stuff, a lot of different options. They got the shower bags. They do it right there in their house. They just warm up the water. You know, in a bucket. That's how we do it. Yeah. And we use hand sanitizer to start fires instead of wood. A lot of times we don't like using wood it's not good for your lungs.

[00:06:24]So we use hand sanitizer. You just pour like bottles of hand sanitizer in it like a pot and you turn it on and it works on like a like a candle.

[00:06:33]Wow. And it gives you heat at night.

[00:06:35]Okay, that's something new.

[00:06:37]I just learned something >> yeah, definitely.

[00:06:40]>> Yeah. So let me ask you this as well. Um What kind of experiences have you had?

[00:06:47]Have you had any kind of crazy experiences in your in your 10 years?

[00:06:50]Like what's what's one of the worst?

[00:06:52]A lot of my friends passing away.

[00:06:56]A lot of death.

[00:06:57]A lot of sickness and death.

[00:06:59]A lot of just like >> I bet that can be tough. It is tough when you know, one minute they're there and the next minute they're gone, you know? Yeah.

[00:07:07]>> Or even just your own child.

[00:07:10]You know, losing a child is the worst.

[00:07:11]Wow.

[00:07:12]>> That's another reason you know, why a lot of us are We all are broken, you know, there's always something out there that's missing and we just Yeah.

[00:07:21]What's your what's your worst fear?

[00:07:24]Being homeless.

[00:07:26]Being alone.

[00:07:29]Being alone.

[00:07:30]I think that's a lot of people's fear.

[00:07:32]It's being alone cuz you you need somebody.

[00:07:36]Being alone.

[00:07:37]Being alone.

[00:07:39]What is it about being alone?

[00:07:42]Just say that's when the most times when you want to kill yourself if you're alone.

[00:07:48]You know, cuz everybody's going through something and we all got our our reasons and our tragedies.

[00:07:54]Yeah. And to stick together as a group helps you.

[00:07:58]Cuz we all got problems and we all sit down, associate. We're just like normal people, you know, like going to a counseling.

[00:08:04]You know, we have our session, we sit, we smoke, and we talk. And I don't think there's nothing really wrong with it, you know? I think that we're opening up to one another. It's just like you going to a party or picnic with your family, you're drinking beers, smoking some weed or something, you know, it's the same thing. Just a little bit different, but Right. I don't judge nobody by the book of their cover. I don't I don't look at anybody different. I say we're all the same, you know, we're just we all got we're all have had it, you know, we're an all an addict in some way. There's addictions for everything.

[00:08:36]Yeah. So, you can't just say, "Oh, they're on meth." Or "They're on crackers." Or they're like that. Like, what's the difference? There is no difference. It's still an addiction. Got you. Got you. So, I'm not I know that there's addiction where it brings you down to the floor.

[00:08:50]And you let yourself fall like that. You can't. If you have an addiction, you still got to get up and try something to help you to at least get going for the day cuz I got pushers out there that push me. "Hey, are you going to get up?

[00:09:02]Are you going to get up and go out and do something for the day?"

[00:09:05]You know, you can't be laying down all day.

[00:09:08]You can't just be here smoking all day.

[00:09:09]Get up and go out. You know, that's what we need. We need push. Right. And if and if we're alone, we're not going to get that push. Yeah. You know what I mean?

[00:09:17]Cuz we're going to be all depressed and that's when people die on you.

[00:09:21]Being left alone.

[00:09:23]Do you have um family in the area? Yeah.

[00:09:28]Sure do.

[00:09:29]I have children.

[00:09:30]I got kids. How many children do you have?

[00:09:32]>> Nine.

[00:09:34]Are they aware that you're homeless?

[00:09:35]Yeah.

[00:09:36]They're older than They're older.

[00:09:38]What do they How do they feel about you being homeless?

[00:09:40]>> Um I try not to put it as homeless. I make it more like Yeah, it's a lifestyle. They think I'm crazy.

[00:09:48]But, they still support me and they'll come and visit me. I go and go take care of the grandkids. You know, I go help.

[00:09:56]So, it's not It's nothing different being out here than at home. The only thing is I'm not with the family all the time doing the family activities that I'm that they do, you know, daily.

[00:10:07]Right. It's a little bit different. You know, I got my own thing going on. They got their own thing, and that's how But, we do see each other. Like this weekend, I'm going to go clean the carpet in my daughter's house. She needs her carpet cleaned. I bought her a brand new carpet cleaner. So, we haven't used it yet.

[00:10:23]She's waiting for me to use it.

[00:10:24]Yeah.

[00:10:25]>> Okay. Okay. So, yeah.

[00:10:26]>> So, I I'm going to assume This is usually one of my questions, you know, are you Have you gotten comfortable in your situation? And it sounds to me like you're kind of content, you know, I got a lot of good people around me.

[00:10:39]I got I got everybody around me. I mean, all these workplaces, they all know me.

[00:10:44]I've been here for years. We all became a family. Yeah.

[00:10:47]And that's one thing we all look out for one another. Well, you got you have You guys have like a little community going on.

[00:10:52]>> Oh, yeah. We got We put people in check. Hey, you up over here in this store, uh uh you know you're going to get your ass beat when you get out of that store now because you know you're not supposed to be acting up like that. That's our family. That's People they they take care of us. You got You can't be acting like that. You get checked. Yeah. You'll get checked.

[00:11:10]>> Got you. You know, like not a big ass whooping, but you going to get checked, you know, cuz you need to straighten up.

[00:11:15]You can't be acting like that. We got people that know us, you know, like You have to put some kind of you know, authority down too because if you don't have no authority out in the streets, we got our little groups and they have authority. And you got to go by them, just like like anywhere else.

[00:11:31]There's still authority.

[00:11:32]You have to go by abide by the rules.

[00:11:35]Right.

[00:11:35]All right. Well, it was nice talking to you out here, secret.

[00:11:39]And you be safe out here, okay? And you take care now. Thank you. You're welcome.