Meet Rodney, an accomplished musician and Fresno native living on the streets of San Francisco with his dog, Shooka. After suffering a neck/spine injury in 2012, Rodney was put in an SRO.
“I left that SRO for greener pastures, but I lost the green pasture and now I have been homeless for a year and a half - since July 2016.”
Being a musician, Rodney performs in front of hundreds of people each week -- something that was unbearable for him until he stumbled upon Lava Mae.
“I follow Lava Mae around Monday through Friday taking showers. It makes it a little bit more manageable. I mean, quite a bit actually. Just to have a shower is like... I can face people now. You know, I brush my teeth in there. If I haven’t taken a shower for a couple days, I don’t want to face anybody, you don’t feel good about yourself. It helps out a lot. It really does.”
He hopes that Lava Mae will go to Fresno, too, where homelessness is quickly on the rise.
Rodney’s passion for music and performance is palpable. Despite his injury and continually numb hands, he “[hasn’t] stopped playing for 20 years.” He even has a consistent gig with the Condor club, playing every Thursday and Friday and earning 10% of the bar plus tips.
Rodney’s other point of pride is his dog, Shooka. Shooka came to him when he was suffering his injury, and the two have been inseparable ever since.
“He was my next door neighbor’s service animal. He treated the dog really bad. He had wild parties and the dog was always hiding. Instead of getting on his case and telling him what a shithead he was, I made friends and offered to watch him. We really connected. He saw how much we bonded and he just gave me the dog.”
When I asked Rodney about housing and homelessness in San Francisco, it was clear he had some strong opinions.
“As far as housing, it ain’t gonna happen here in the Bay Area, I’m thinking of moving back to Fresno. It has just gotten so out of hand. They are letting too many immigrants in, and ignoring all of us old people. I’m an old person that’s disabled, and they are getting all of the housing instead of me. People accuse me of being racist, but I’m truly not -- I love the immigrant people, I just see what I see with my own eyes, and it’s like why is this happening?”
Stunned but appreciative of Rodney’s honesty, he went on:
“Let me tell you something. This is the first time I’ve ever been homeless. But I was a drug addict. They were the only people that you would see homeless. Now, I’m not on drugs. I’ve been off of drugs for years. The financial thing -- never in my lifetime have I seen it this bad. And now, I mean regular people are homeless. I mean they even have jobs! Half the people in the shelters wake up every morning and go to work!”
Regardless of my own opinion on immigration, there was one thing Rodney said that has always stood out to me. Most of the homeless in San Francisco are getting up everyday to go to work. They have jobs. They are productive members of our society, trying to support their families, but stuck in this oppressive cycle of homelessness that won’t break until we start to see affordable housing. And Rodney reiterates that shelters aren’t doing much help -- “I’m sick and tired of getting my stuff stolen all the time.”
As Rodney rushed off to get lunch, he left me with these parting words:
“Housing and everything will only get worse. They don’t want us to get better. All the way around, it’s really hurting everyone I see, including myself and my dog. I’m glad I got Shooka and my truck. This is real, man. We are in for a really rude awakening and there’s nothing I can do about it. If I say too much, they will take me away. That’s the reality of it. We will survive, though.”
