Homeless man says he often feels safest living on the streets
- EFN Staff | February 27, 2017
Battling with an alcohol addiction and homelessness, Joey Reynolds' life is like a rollercoaster full of ups and downs. He carries a dark backpack with limited clothing and a blanket that he has picked up in the previous homeless shelters he utilized.
Reynolds is originally from Pukatawagan over 200 kilometers north of The Pas in Manitoba. He has lived on the streets off and on since 1995 in Manitoba, Prince Albert, Saskatoon and now Regina. He lived with some family in Prince Albert for a few months but was thrown out on the streets due to his partying.
“I rather live on the street and know that I am safe instead of living in hostels where a lot of people will bully you for your money or the way you look,” he says.
Reynolds recalls being badly beaten up at the Salvation Army in Saskatoon. Since then, he fears for his safety when he goes to homeless shelters. This has caused his mental well-being to deteriorate.
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Currently he rents a small apartment suite in Regina but says soon, he will become homeless again.
“I live in a rough apartment and I get scared to go home sometimes because my next door neighbours are partying so I prefer to be out in the street all night,” he says.
The Knox-Metropolitan United Church located in downtown Regina helped him find his current place but soon he will be moving out as the landlord will be selling the apartment building which leaves him back to square one. The challenge he faces when he’s out in the streets is trying to find a warm place to sleep every night.
“Sometimes I will go to the detox and look for a bed. In order to be at detox, you have to be drinking. So I will purposely go out and buy a bottle of Listerine or something,” he confesses. “Even if you’re trying to abstain, you get drunk to qualify [to get in detox] and there goes your sobriety.”
If detox is full, Reynolds will rush to get a bed at the Salvation Army and if it’s overflown there then he will ask for a cell at the Regina police station – which he’s usually denied. It’s a battle that he deals with everyday – dealing with his addiction and being homeless. In the summertime, he has no problem finding a place to sleep outside with warmer temperatures.
“You want to try find a safe area to sleep where you won’t be kicked around and you want to be safe at the same time,” he says. “I’ve slept in front of the Mobile Crisis. I hid myself in the little bush area and I ran into another guy crashed out there.”
When it’s wintertime and with nowhere to sleep, Reynolds will think hard of places downtown with heat vents including bank entrances to stay warm for the night. He says a lot of street people will hang out at the library that he refers to as a safe haven during the day. It is also a place where he has the advantage to read books, daily newspapers and surf the Internet.
Being homeless, Reynolds says you realize how important time is. His daily routine runs on time from waking up before the city commutes, lining up at places to eat and grab a coffee to making it in on time at the Salvation Army to secure a bed for the night.
Reynolds says there’s a stigma to homelessness where society tends to think those that are homeless are dangerous, have schizophrenia, bipolar or some other mental illness.
“We’re just human beings, we deserve some respect and recognition just to be humanized and not dehumanized or demonized as evil people,” he adds. “Life is hard out there. A lot of want to get a sense of respect and a sense of hope and dignity.”
He hopes the City of Regina can work with the homeless community instead of just making the issue of combating homelessness an election promise.