Homeless in a Car with My Kid – One Vet’s Escape (Full) - Solving America's Problems

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
An army vet and ER nurse, Kara Candage,gets divorced overnight — husband
bails, VA disability barely coversdaycare, and boom — she and her
infant son are living in a hot carin El Paso for eleven brutal months.
She still showers at Planet Fitness,drops the kid at daycare, cranks
straight A’s through an acceleratednursing program, and parks every night

(00:21):
in Walmart lots just to stay alive.
All while the system tells her shemakes TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS too much a
month to qualify for any real help.
Jerremy and Dave sit down with Kara to askthe question nobody wants to answer — if
America’s spending TWENTY BILLION dollarsa year on homelessness and the number just

(00:41):
hit an all-time high of 771,000… wherethe hell is the money actually going…
Dave Conley, what are weaddressing and solving today?
In this week's episode of SolvingAmerica's Problems, we dig into a
story that hits hard homelessness.

(01:02):
It's not just numbers, it's lives turnedupside down, testing, grit, and will.
How does someone climb out?
Our guest is Kara Candi, an army veteranand ER nurse who lived that struggle.
She spent nearly a year in her carwith her young child pushing through
nursing school against all odds.
Today, she channels that resilienceinto building hope for others.

(01:24):
And that's this week on solving America'sproblems from Homelessness to Hope.
A Mother Story with Kara Kage.
The numbers do not lie.
Tonight there will be 771,000 Americanshomeless, which is the highest number
as a nation we've ever recorded.
We are spending $20 billion a year.

(01:48):
To fix this, and itapparently is getting worse.
But here's what's really crazy.
We actually know what works.
Houston cut their homelesspopulation by 63% Finland, have
nearly eliminated it entirely.
why are most cities still failing?
My name is Jerremy Alexander Newsom,alongside me is my co-host Dave Conley,

(02:09):
and this is solving America's Problems.
Today we are talking with someone wholived through this crisis firsthand.
Kara Candage is an army veteran andan ER nurse who found herself homeless
living in her car with a youngchild in El Paso now beautifully.
She did not just survive this.

(02:30):
She completed nursing school whileexperiencing homelessness, and
now she is dedicated her life tobuilding real solutions for people
who others have written off.
Kara, welcome to the show.
Thank you for having me.
It's gonna be an absolute pleasureand we're just gonna dive right in.
What was the moment that createdthat homelessness for you?

(02:55):
Oh man, that was, it was aninstant, it wasn't a gradual
creep down into homelessness.
Um, I went through a terribledivorce and the instant I left
that marriage, he abandoned mychild and I, and I had no money.
I had the VA disability.
I had just gotten into nursing school.

(03:16):
It was like that I couldn'tafford the rent, and all I
had was my car and my baby.
And my dog
Wow.
So that was, I mean, it was, toyour point, it wasn't gradual.
As soon as that happens,boom, you have nowhere to
incident.
you just have to stay in your car.
Correct.
How long were you andyour child in your car?
Just under a year.
It was about 11 months.

(03:37):
Just that's such a long time.
Just under a year,
under,
11 and a half months.
It's so long.
Yeah.
So what's a, what's a typical day like?
I mean, like, I, I, I think most peopleI don't know what's a, I mean, what,
what happens, like, we wake up and like,what would we not be thinking about?

(03:59):
well obviously I don't wake up andclean a house in that situation.
Well, it depends if it was a schoolday, so I. Everybody's gonna be
like, wow, you made VA disability.
I literally took every penny to putmy child in daycare and my dog, I
worked out a very cheap boardingsolution, um, where I volunteered time.
So she went to boarding 'cause Icouldn't get rid of my dog either.

(04:19):
And so, typical day, I'd wakeup, take my child to daycare.
After we went to the gym, Ishowered at the gym planet Fitness
membership, $10, shower at the gym,take my child to daycare 'cause
he was just an infant at the time.
And then I'd go to school.
And either do clinicals, classwork,and then I would pick my child up and
then I would go home, quote unquote.
We usually would set at a park'cause it was really hot in
El Paso until the wintertime.

(04:40):
So we'd set at the parkwith other homeless people.
Surprisingly, you'd make a lotof homeless friends that way.
Do some homework, uh, scavengefood, however that looked like.
And then go to sleep somewhere safe.
Usually a Walmart parking lot.
Um, planet Fitness, the dog borderthat I worked with, she said I
could park my car there some nights.
Somewhere safe.
Yeah.
Saying people probably don't realize,like El Paso's definitely hot in the

(05:01):
summer, but it's cold in the winter.
Very cold in the winterit there was two Jurassic.
You never had a happy medium.
We went from a hundred degrees to30 degrees and you can't pack winter
clothes in a car, so you make it work.
Yep.
Well, thank you for making it work.
You, me, you mentioned making friends.
Just gimme a little bit ofinsight of how that transpired.
What did that look like or feel like?

(05:23):
A little shameful at first 'causeyou're at the park and then you
notice other people are at thepark at times they shouldn't be.
Um, a lot of 'em didn't havekids, very fortunately for them.
And you would kind of notice they'rewearing the same clothes they wore
yesterday and the day before and theywould notice I was wearing the same stuff.
And you kind of just mutually have abond you know, especially as a female.
I was a very young female.
I was 20 at the time, turning 21.

(05:45):
Very dangerous.
It's not a very safe city.
It's a great city.
Love El Paso.
Not a very safe city as a female.
So you're kind of shameful,like admitting, Hey, I'm wearing
the same clothes for the lastthree days, so sorry about that.
But you also notice they are, and you kindof form this mutual bond of protection.
I not like a, you're gonna gohave a barbecue at their house,
obviously, but they'll watch.

(06:08):
I
Numerous house jokes.
This is
you,
it.
oh, you have to, uh, my.
My car broke the, uh, othermonth and I was like, oh, good
thing I'm great at house repairs.
You have to make jokes.
Uh, but it's more of a, not a friendshipas, a good bond like I have now.
It's more of a protection.
I scratch their back, they scratch mine.
If they found $5, they buy aHappy meal, they would split

(06:30):
it with me and vice versa.
Wow.
So when you, when you mentionedprotection, like what do you feel
that you need a protection from?
No offense, men.
It's a, you're talkingit's a very scary world.
You're out there 20 years old,21 years old with a baby and
you know, can't do anything.

(06:50):
You can lock your cars, but thosewindows break, um, you gotta be outside
of your car 'cause you can't sit it.
'cause I can't afford the gasto run the AC all the time.
So men, uh, the.
Weather.
El Paso gets really terriblewindstorms and very terrible
thunderstorms, so it's just everything.
Snakes, spiders, they're everywhere.
So everything.
Now how are you stillgonna school at this time?
Like, what did you do withyour, with your child?

(07:13):
He went to daycare.
So luckily my school wasstrictly Monday through Friday.
Like I said, I think I made roughly$1,700 a month in VA disability.
And the daycare was originallya little bit more than that.
And I had talked to the owner,I was like, here's my situation.
I don't know what I can do.
Can I like volunteer a couplehours a week to reduce my tuition?
And they did.
I would go two hours a weekto help with the kids and.

(07:36):
My tuition was $1,500, so I had $200for food and gas, which does not go far.
Were there any other programsthat were available to you?
Could any other assistance?
So funniest story is when you makejust a little bit of money, you
make too much money for all that.
So all the programs werebasically, I was over the

(07:56):
threshold by a few hundred dollars.
And so like you can give upyour VA disability and we'll
give you all these benefits.
You lose that VA disability and then youlose your school and you lose all this.
So we'll give you a house, you know,section eight housing or whatever,
or whatever the city was providing,and we'll give you food stamps.
But right now you makejust a little bit too much.

(08:17):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Wow.
That's kinda wild.
I mean, there's definitely, I can seethe pros and cons of having some type
of cutoff, but like the, does it seemlike there's a lot of discretionary, in
It's kind of a donut hole, right?
You, if you make too much, that'sa problem, and if you make too
little, that's a big problem.
Huge problem.
I think they went off of, they keptsaying, well, here's a room to rent on

(08:40):
the south side of town for $550 a month,and you and your son could live there.
If you don't know anything aboutEl Paso, the closer to the border,
you get a little dangerous.
So at that point, it wasn't worth.
Danger of living in a house ofmen, I don't know, with my child.
And so stable housing, safe housingwas not affordable by any means.

(09:02):
Now, was your son at thetime, was he having a blast?
Oh, he was a baby.
He didn't even know, you know, he justwas like, I'm with mom, this is great.
We're going to the park.
And you know, I did
a
I a lot.
He's like, wow, I never gotto go to the park this much.
Yeah.
And so I really tried toshelter him, although I don't,
he doesn't remember even know.
We talk about it a little bit now,but he doesn't remember anything.

(09:22):
Uh, and like I said, all mymoney, I made sure he had formula
every month, diapers every month.
I had, uh, I'm not gonna lie, everynow and then, I stole some diapers,
but he had to do what you have to do.
Don't come after me.
Yeah, there's a, there's alimitations on that I'm sure.
State of Texas will belike the limitations.
20 years we're coming after you.
That's right.

(09:43):
That's right.
Wow.
Okay.
And this is, I mean, it's sucha cool story of survival and
just kind of figuring it out.
At any point in time didyou feel excited, liberated?
Was this fun?
Was this en energizing in any way?
No, but it's funny 'cause now mypartner, Jerremy, also Jerremy we

(10:03):
are living a very nomadic lifestyle.
Come winter, we're gonna live outof our car and travel the country.
'cause New York's winters are not great.
So it's funny as I. Nomadic is whatI wanna call it, is much different.
That's fun and liberating.
Like we don't have a houseto care for in the winter.
We don't have this, but we'remaking money and it's different.
I'm not gonna lie.
Being homeless was not fun.
There was not one moment that I went tosleep going, wow, this is the best camping

(10:26):
experience I've ever had in my life.
Camping experience.
Yeah.
I mean that's, it's, I'm, Iappreciate you telling me that
because I noticed, and I see atleast depends on where you would go.
But there are, I. A lot of peoplethat are perpetually homeless.
And so I would love to know like,what's your are they having fun?
Are they doing it because theywant to, like did you, did you get

(10:47):
any insight or information on that
I, I did, I, so I met one guy, hewas super nice I forget his name by
now, but he chose to be homeless.
And I would go to him like, whydo you choose to live this life?
Like here I am literally eating dog food.
I'd buy canned dog food 'causeit's cheaper than ravioli.
And I'm like, I'm eating this andyou're choosing this lifestyle.
He is like.

(11:07):
Man, I don't pay taxes.
The government doesn't control me.
I'm on the fringes of societyand I live by those laws.
And I'm like, you know what?
Good for you.
So there were some people, therewas definitely people that choose
that lifestyle 'cause they don'tlike the, you know, constraints
of society that we have today.
I think a lot of people, when we first,when I first started looking at this,

(11:28):
my per percept, perception is that a lotof homelessness is a lot of bad choices.
Yep.
a lot of, addiction.
It's, uh, a lot of crime.
It's a lot of you know, it's a lot of,a lot of different things where you
think people could have made differentchoices, but turns out that most people
who are homeless are exactly like you.

(11:49):
It went from homeless, it wentfrom being home to homeless
and by no choice of their own.
was your experience like?
Did you run into a lot of that?
Yeah, I mean there's definitely somepeople who made awful choices, right?
Um, did some horrific crimes, went tojail, got out, were homeless and then

(12:09):
people who had really bad addictions,mental health issues that they just
couldn't get the help for, and theycould not maintain a household or a job.
And so you have that, and then youhad, it was a lot of people like me,
whereas, divorce was a huge thing.
You people went from a twoincome household or a one income
household to a no income household.
And that's, and you don'thave an education, you know,

(12:30):
I just got the military.
I didn't have an education,um, outside of high school and.
I would say that wasmajority of the population.
And then what happens is it leadsto the addiction and the mental
health issues on top of that.
So I don't think they startedwith that necessarily majority.
It led to that.
That's an interesting take.
Just meaning like it, I think alot of people probably feel it's

(12:50):
probably the other way around.
Like the majority of
Start as homeless start from anaddiction or mental health space.
it's probably my thesis toothat it, that's probably the
gradual effects something crazyinsane happening in their life.
And again, to your point, the educationalaspect not having awesome education.
And then at the second time sec, the sametime all the income goes away through a

(13:13):
loss of a job or divorce or some type of
Have one or two incomes,now you have zero.
And if you have zero incomeand bill bills are due, they're
Bills are due.
Yeah.
That's really, really interestingthat, um, that you feel that, that
you noticed that, that you saw that.
And I think that thatmakes a lot of sense.
at what point as you're going throughschool, what kept you going to end up

(13:37):
getting and finalizing that degree?
As my child without my son, itwould've been so easy to just be
homeless and on those fringes ofsociety and stay where I was at.
But I saw this baby, right?
So he is still a baby, and I thoughtif I could just make it, because if
I drop outta school, I'm gonna get aminimum wage job, and it hasn't changed.

(13:59):
$7 and 25 cents minimum wage in Texas.
Do the math.
It's like $1,100 a month.
Can't do anything with that.
And I just kept thinkingI can make it a year.
I did this accelerated nursing program.
I can make it the year for this baby.
And I don't know if I didn't have him,if I would be right here in this gorgeous

(14:21):
little cabin excuse little fire detector.
But you know, I. I wouldn't be hereI don't think, without my child.
That was a huge driving force for me.
Yeah.
It's good motivation and hey, congrats.
Like well done.
Pushing through.
Yes.
What was the moment thatyou became not homeless?
Like how did that shift
Oh my gosh.

(14:41):
It was funny.
You would think it'dbe the day I graduated.
Oh my gosh, you graduate nurse.
It wasn't.
would think that I did.
It wasn't.
So when you graduate nursing school, thenyou have to take the nclex, which is,
you know, this national test for nursing.
It's by state though.
And so it takes like a monthand a half to get that testing.
So now I graduated school, which stinks'cause I had nothing to do during the day

(15:04):
Oh
sit around and be homeless.
And so I had to study for thistest and then I pass it and then
I had to make that decision.
Where am I going?
Because now I have this nursing licenseand am I staying here in El Paso?
Am I, I did make the move backhome to Florida, which she would
be like, why didn't you go toFlorida in the first place?
That's a long story.
Couldn't really afford the gas,nor did I have that family support.

(15:26):
But it was like a month and a halfafter graduation that I. Got off
and uh, then you have to get a job.
That's the hard part.
Then it takes like a month to gethired, and then it takes, you know, a
couple weeks for that first paycheck.
And that first paycheckisn't enough to get rent.
So a month and a half to testland a job about a month after
to actually start the job.

(15:48):
So it's probably a good three monthsfrom graduation to the time that
I signed for my first apartment.
Yeah.
Well, I mean, here's the part thatstill kind of blows my mind and I
see, or at least I feel this, I don'tknow what the disconnect is here,
and I, I would love to get probablylike a longer thought on yours from
this, but you had military experience,

(16:08):
Yeah.
you went to the Army, so you
Yep.
trying to get help,
Yes.
VA housing programs.
Is there a process there?
Is there something like how are so many?
I feel like a lot ofhomeless people are veterans.
Yes.
Because the VA gives you this disabilityand they're like, that should be enough.

(16:30):
Because you should be able, like let's sayat the time I was 70% disabled and they
were like, you should be able to work at30% capacity, so make an extra income.
And they don't take in the factor thatthat's 30% at minimum wages, $300 a month.
No, there is not much.
They had they gave me a cardfor a shelter there in El Paso
and it was a co-ed shelter.

(16:51):
And I said, I am not going to be asingle female with a baby sleeping in
a dormitory style on cots with men.
No offense again, but just not happening.
I'm not doing it.
And that was all they did for me.
Wow.
It just seems wild.
It just seems strange,
Right When you have the, whenyou look at the VA budget and

(17:13):
yeah.
what they allocate to the veterans,and you really wonder like, I would
love to go in the books and see wherethey're going because I begged for help.
And they were just like, yeah, I gotyour disability and your healthcare.
What?
I don't know what else you want us to do.
It's funny you say that.
Jerremy and I keep on doing thesetopics and every single time we're like,
we, we need to look at these books.

(17:34):
There's so
Going into this.
Like I, this doesn't make any sense.
yes.
Yeah.
okay, so we are spendingbillions of dollars
20 billion,
Yeah.
2020,
20.
Yeah, right?
What should the system look like?
What, where is it missing the mark?
I think what's occurring is the analogyI like to use when people are like,

(17:58):
I wanna solve homelessness is kindof like saying I wanna cure cancer.
Noble super awesome.
It should be done, but I. To curebreast cancer is different than curing
brain cancer is different than curingcolon cancer and so on, so forth.
People wanna make this blanketstatement for homelessness and the
solution for it, not realizing thatyou have to solve the reason and

(18:20):
everybody's got a different reason.
Um, you could probably break itdown to like four or five, you
know, loss of income, mentalhealth, addiction stuff like that.
And some people aremultiple, they're like.
Poly issues.
So I think the big solution everybodyhas is we have all these empty houses in
Detroit, just ship homeless people there.
It sounds great in theory to give peoplehouses, but people don't know how to

(18:40):
live in a house and therefore they'regonna end up right back on the street.
Some people dunno how to conformto society and it's easier for
them to live on those outskirts.
I don't know if there is a. Broadsolution because there's too many
avenues that lead to homelessness.
I think when people think I wannasolve homelessness, they're like,
you know, San Francisco, everybody'ssleeping on the streets there.

(19:03):
It's huge because when it'sa cool climate, you know,
it's mild and they allow it.
And people wanna cure thathomelessness because it disrupts
the visual aesthetics of the city.
They don't really care so much of thefact that the people are homeless,
they just wanna make the city pretty.
Whereas me living in a car aisles,idle site, I mind, they probably
didn't care as much to solve that.

(19:23):
No, like in the reality, I don't know,$20 billion I think is just asinine
and there's no good solution for it.
I think if we really wanna get downand dirty, the mental health crisis
in America is probably a big one.
As a nurse emergency room, Isee it all the time, right?
We have no access here in NewYork to good, uh, mental health

(19:46):
services and they're just flooding.
And these people are goingright back to the streets.
I. Employment.
Right now we're just in this weirdmarket where there's all these
jobs, but none of them are paying.
So what do you do there?
I don't know, and I wish I had an answer.
'cause if I did, I'd probablybe $20 billion richer.
Yeah, well, there's, there'salways solutions to every problem.
And, uh, and to your point, whatI love is if we had to use the

(20:10):
analogy of cancer, different cancers,and if we go, okay, well, which
one is the largest and the mostastronomically offensive and effective?
And, you know, innovative or, uh,or innovative is not the right word.
One that's affecting the most people,the most negatively impacting.
And to your point with homelessness,if there is, let's say four or five

(20:32):
major categories, if there was like,okay, let's make sure that the veterans
just fun fact who served our countrywho don't wanna be homeless, let's
make sure they're not homeless first.
And potentially by using some type of.
Government programming that says,Hey, this is where you can live.

(20:53):
This is, we have women's shelters,we have men's shelters, we have,
barracks, we have places that are neara military base or where you used to
be, uh, in the military close to there.
There's something some way.
the people who don't wanna behomeless, I'm sure there's a much
faster way to create that solution.
And then you start breaking it downinto the different barriers, right?

(21:17):
Into the different columns orsections, if you will, of the
individuals who don't wanna be at all.
And the people who are and who wanna be.
Then the people who don't knowthey're homeless potentially.
Right?
Because again, mental healthor massive drug addictions.
And then you start categorizing on,okay, let's fix a certain portion
of a certain type of a certain kind.

(21:38):
Uh, you're mentioning that SanFrancisco make it super made it legal.
And then to your point, they justwanna have their streets clean just for
aesthetic looks and not, they didn'twanna actually solve the problem.
So they're kind of like putting 'emin camps and like shoving 'em into
like a very small little area, which.
gonna help the problem.
I'll ask you this question.
Do you think homelessnessshould be illegal?

(22:02):
That's a good one.
I we're talking legitimate, notlike a nomadic living in our rv.
We're talking legitimate on the streets.
Yeah.
They're choosing not to have a home.
I. Like your buddy that youmentioned earlier, like, ah,
dog, I wanna live on the fringes.
I don't
Right.
taxes.
I just wanna eat birds and eat pigeons.

(22:22):
I think, and this is a very personalopinion, I think as an American,
we have a duty to our country tobe productive to society within our
capabilities, and that's kind ofwhat our country is about, is this.
You know, melting pot of people.
I do think there should besome laws constraining that

(22:44):
ability to just say, oh, deuces.
Because what's gonna happen is thatyou're gonna get hurt, you're gonna
get sick, and then you're gonnause those public services like
hospitals or you know, you're usingthe public services like roads, but
you're not contributing to them.
And you're creating more of a problem.
I don't think like the nomadic lifestyle,like living in a RV or a van and traveling
and, you know, still contributing.

(23:06):
Those are different.
That's a nomadic.
But this choosing, like thatgentleman who had no problems, right?
He just quit.
His job might be homeless,but like if he got sick, he
would still go to the hospital.
And that's paid for by taxpayers.
That's paid for by the people that arecontributing to society in some form.
And I do it, and I've always hadthis standpoint on any sort of
welfare, you know, contribute tosociety within your capabilities.

(23:28):
Doesn't mean that everybodyneeds to be a doctor.
Everybody needs to be a lawyer.
Everybody needs to be, you know, a roofer.
But if you could sit at a desk andbe hr, if you could do anything,
work at a gas station, do.
Something you should, because it isour duty as Americans to do that.
Kara, I'm also hearing that.
To be fair, your needs were very basic.
You needed a safe roof over yourhead and your child and care for

(23:54):
your child while you did educationand food, and that we should be
able to provide that for everyone.
That seems like a basic human right.
Wouldn't you say that?
I would, I'm not sayingeverybody needs a mansion, right?
Yeah.
these little tiny homes, right?
They're so cheap to construct.
And when you break down what itcosts to actually be homeless,

(24:15):
what that cost is on society.
It probably would be cheaper to buildthese little tiny housing communities.
You know, a little one bedroom,just, it doesn't have to be
anything big, but that was my thing.
It was a safe placeand I didn't have that.
And you know, with food stamps I madejust a little bit too much for that.
And so I had to live off that $200.
I had to cover, gas and diapers andformula and whatever left I had was food.

(24:39):
What do you think, Dave?
Legal or legal?
I think it's tremendouslycruel to let anybody sleep
on the street for any reason.
I think we don't treat people like that.
I think it's inhumane.
So illegal, or not illegal, I don't know.
Uh, that, you know, sort of classifyingit like that doesn't make sense to me.
I think it's just like, no,like people aren't going in my
America, one sleeps on the street.

(25:02):
that's, yeah.
That's a hard no for me.
Even if they want to though, like I wannasee on the street, they like the street.
The street's nice.
I don't know.
That affects other people though.
You know, like once you start like,like doing that to communities, it's
you can go camping, but, you know,sleeping on the street, by choice.
I don't get it.
You know, so it's, it's justnot, that's not the place, right?
You know, like people, I mean,people want to be naked in the

(25:24):
street too, but that doesn't happen.
You.
Yeah, that's a very valid point.
Very, very valid point.
To your, uh, to your thought processon, you mentioned mental health a
couple times, Kara, what's for that?
Like, when do you think that startsbecoming an obvious challenge and
situational awareness piece foreither the American public or for

(25:47):
the local counties to step in?
What do you think we should dofrom the homelessness aspect
to the mental health aspect andfigure out a way to bridge this?
that look like?
I.
Ooh.
I have seen some really awesome programsin different cities I've lived in.
So now I've been traveling and livingin different cities and I've seen a
whole bunch of different mental healthfacilities, not as a personal, but

(26:10):
as a nurse and everything like that.
And one thing that's really good arethese pseudo inpatient, outpatient.
They're neither inpatient nor outpatient.
Um, I think people, when they.
Do an inpatient therapy session.
It can be very institutionalized.
And then they leave andthey lose that structure.
I think if we have a setup whereit's like a couple hours a day,

(26:32):
you go to a facility, it's safe.
You can, get your basic needs met a meal,a shower, get the mental health treatment,
go back to where you were from, and keepdoing that, and then they can you know,
incorporate themselves into a livingsituation of like an indoor facility
where they have that structure of food.
I don't think doing these likegroup therapies on the street,

(26:54):
which also happens, or youknow, once a month meetings.
I definitely think that structuredinpatient outpatient situation would
be very ideal for people like that.
I,
No, go ahead.
Go ahead Dave.
I'm just kind of curious didpeople know you were homeless?
Like your friends, your family,your teachers, your like, I'm,

(27:15):
I'm wondering about sort oflike the community around this.
So I did inform my instructor,instructors that I was homeless.
I let them know because I was like,Hey, I may need to come in a little
late 'cause of whatever situation and.
At one point they noticed thatlike things just weren't adding up.

(27:38):
And, you know, and I was like,Hey, yeah, I am homeless.
I really tried to hideit from my classmates.
I was excelling in school.
I made straight A's.
And that's not a humble brag.
That's, you know, I will brag about that.
That was very hard and my situation to do.
But I didn't want them to pity me.
I didn't also want them to thinkshe is not, you know, worthy of

(27:58):
my company because she's homeless.
'cause that does have a dirty con, likea stigma around it, of being homeless.
I did ask a classmate one time, I waslike, Hey, could you buy me some food?
I left my wallet and she went to go buyme frozen chicken breasts and veggies.
And I was like.
Oh, could we get like canned food instead?

(28:20):
And she asked why, and Iwas like, my stove's broken.
So I really did hide it frommy peers and let just only a
certain amount of people know.
Fair.
I mean, it's probably.
think we can all kind ofunderstand why humanistically.
And you mentioned the word cyclingan ER nurse a couple times or
just, you know, being in the er.
What's one breakdown that you seecontinually I. Fuels homelessness because

(28:46):
my my story recognition that I am awareof, I've had a few clients that were or
are er doctors and they mentioned thatthey start to see us, a certain clientele
kind of frequent over and over and over.
What's, what do you see?
What do you witness?
What's one breakdown that you see often?

(29:07):
There are two frequentflyers on the homeless side.
Those that have severe mental disorders.
I'm talking true psychosis, verysevere schizophrenia, not the,
I'm depressed every now and then,which is also very significant.
Disorder that needs treatment.
But these are true psychosis.
They cannot depict realityfrom what they're seeing.

(29:28):
And you have those, and then addicts.
And I know, like right now in Central NewYork, the big thing is this fentanyl meth.
So they're getting into these, you'rejust these two big building blocks that
severe psychosis and severe addiction,and we are just cycling through the
same, you know, community of peopleevery single day in the emergency room.

(29:53):
Yeah, that's.
What do you do with 'em?
I, I mean, you treat them like are
Yeah.
to do something specific?
Are you allowed to tell them ordo you call, uh, is there a center
that you can call that would takethose individuals on and kind of
pour into them that you're aware of?
So a lot of the shelters, youcannot be actively using drugs

(30:14):
or drinking, so that eliminateshalf the population right there.
Half the homeless populationcannot go there because they're
addicts or they're drunks.
Which is a shame, right?
Because I feel like they couldget over their addiction.
They had a roofer over their head.
We could basically just set 'emup with a addiction line and
it's a one 800 number and they.
Never call it in terms of thepsych, like the psychosis.

(30:35):
We set 'em up with an inpatient therapist.
They maybe stay 24 hours unless they denysuicidal ideation or homicide ideation.
Then we just kick 'em to the street.
That's, it's, there's a hugepitfall into what we do after we've
initially treated these patients.
And it, it really is expenses, right?
Because it's,

(30:55):
Yeah.
know, like, like an addiction.
You know, like, I don't know if you'regonna get anywhere without a 30,
60, 90 day, like in-house, in, youknow, like you're not going anywhere.
Treatment program and for severemental illness, you know, like it
takes a while to figure out whatcocktail of drugs might make somebody.
Here, and maybe even then, right?
Like, they may not be in asituation they might need, a

(31:16):
lifetime of some sort of care.
It's just
Right.
Hey, uh, we're, we're just saying we'renot willing to spend the money on this.
I think until they hit acertain threshold, right?
So when these people come to the emergencyroom, it's several thousand dollars.
'cause we have to treat 'em asif they have a real emergency.
We can't just be like, we know youraddict, Joe, and you know this is just
you trying to get somewhere dry to sleep.

(31:38):
If we have to run the whole test, ifthey say their chest hurts, you're
getting a whole chest pain protocol and.
It's not them payingfor it, unfortunately.
And so I think it's once they, once theyhit a certain threshold, then society,
like the community, the hospital's like,you know what, maybe we will pay for
inpatient because they've already rackedup $150,000, $200,000 worth of bills.

(31:58):
And that's not an exaggeration.
That's what some of these peoplewe're seeing 'em two times a
day every single day for months.
And it's not until they hitthat threshold, it's like you
could have saved yourself.
Yeah.
So much money.
If you would've just saw the problemin the beginning, knew the solution
and just went directly to the solutioninstead of beating around the bushes
because you're hoping maybe somethinghappens, whether that's they die on

(32:21):
the street and that's very unfortunate,or they spontaneously cure themselves
of addiction or mental health illness.
It's if somebody spontaneouslycures themselves, come
find me 'cause I need them.
I, I don't think we've heardthese stories where, you know,
Deep in addiction and somebody whohas severe mental illness, like
magically makes their way out of it.
It's rare, right?
Very rare.

(32:41):
I mean, very rare.
Uh, I have yet to see it, to wherethey didn't require some sort of
outside therapeutic assistance.
Yeah, looking at the numbers,so 717,000 may sound like a
lot, but that's also 0.002%.

(33:02):
Of our nation is homeless.
And again, I don't know whatpercentage of that, probably say
30% or less are those who are like,I really don't wanna be homeless.
And those who really don'twanna be homeless like you were
eventually become not homeless.
I would say again, probably a lot.
earlier in the show, I mentionedat the very beginning that Finland

(33:23):
kind of solved homelessness.
And the way they did it is to make surethat every single person had a home.
So they essentially built homes for everysingle person said, listen, you have a
house, doesn't matter how old you are.
No sobriety requirements,no employment prerequisites.
So you got safe, permanent housing.

(33:44):
And you mentioned theword tiny houses earlier.
Kara, do you think thatwould work in the us?
And if not, why?
It would work if our social construct of.
Society changed a bit because rightnow it's expected you have a house,
you gotta work, you gotta pay yourbills, you gotta pay your taxes.
Nobody wants a handout for free.

(34:06):
I mean, some people probablywould want that, but um, society
doesn't wanna pay for handouts.
I would like to see Finland's numberson what their minimum wage is,
what it's required to live there.
Because I can say right now, ifyou just gave somebody a house with
no education and said, here arethe three jobs you can pick, a gas
station clerk, you know, retail,whatever, they're all minimum wage.

(34:27):
Good luck.
You would have to raise thatthreshold of assistance.
'cause right now the assistancethresholds below that minimum wage.
I think just giving houses wouldn'twork just because of how our society
is based on employment taxes, whatit's costing, inflation, all that.
I also know in San Francisco, theywouldn't put homeless shelters in

(34:48):
where the, where the jobs were.
It's like, so there was abig, there was a big distance.
And if
Right.
any public transportation, likehow are you gonna get someplace?
Yeah.
I think I. You would have tomove 'em out of these big cities.
I know everybody wants,that's San Francisco.
It's a, it's a beautiful city.
I've been there a couple times.
Um, the climate's mild.
It's easy to be homeless there and youbuild this thing, but look at the Midwest

(35:11):
and they have a population crisis, right?
Nobody wants to move there.
Nobody wants to work there.
Nobody wants to stay there.
I think if we're gonna look at movingthe homeless population into housing,
we need to push 'em to where there'sthese population crisis where nobody's
living, but there's jobs that are needed.
You have like these industries,these warehouses and you know,
you can't be like, okay, it'snot a glorious job, right?
It's a night shift in awarehouse, but it's a job.

(35:32):
It's a job you're capable of.
I think if you, it'd be naive tobe like, you could live in New York
City, LA San Fran, Miami, these.
Cities that cost money.
Right.
And they should it.
There should be a privilege, and I hate tosay that, but there should be a privilege
to live in nicer areas, to work hardfor that income to be able to afford it.
But take these homeless people likeKansas, no offense, I was stationed there.

(35:55):
I. I
Put him
know.
May
That's what
don't,
saying.
I'm ready for it.
I don't know how many people arelike, I'm leaving Miami, Florida
to go live in Wichita, Kansas.
Nobody, nobody
that.
I've never heard one human.
not.
If that's you out, they're good for you.
But I can tell you rightnow, Kansas was desolate.
But that may be where we need to startlooking at these little communities

(36:17):
and building up those areas.
'cause California.
They got enough population Florida,they got enough population New
York, we got enough population.
It's these areas that really need people.
I think that's wherethe solution would lie.
I kind of like that idea.
I like that idea.
Jerremy Newsome, tinyHomes in Wichita, Kansas.

(36:37):
yeah.
don't you think we.
Yeah.
there's a lot of places,not just Wichita, but
but yeah,
Arkansas,
Nebraska.
Nebraska, South Dakota, Oklahoma.
There's a lot of places
it is.
the flyover states andthere's tons of room.
And
There are.
man, 1700 thou, you know, 1700, 20,000individuals are homeless, and you go out

(37:02):
and build a apartment complexes or tinyhomes or places that again need jobs.
And your point earlier,okay, you live here.
And while you live here in the, in a 30mile square radius, also need to get a
job and to work at the grocery store orto work at the facilities that are there,

(37:23):
like the loca, the post office, likewhatever, like you have, you get a job.
Um, you don't have to pay forthe home, it's yours, but the
requirement is you need a job.
And if we did that.
a smart way, and you had a feasibilityunderstanding that there's also easy ways
that real estate, companies, developers,contractors, investors could also

(37:45):
contribute to that as well so that they,because we don't want the government
to build those houses, I don't think.
Want some really fun, useful,creative, thoughtful individuals
to put these together to so thatit's also beautiful and stunning.
'cause right now we knowwhat government housing is.
We know what Sectioneight housing is like.
We know those.
Yeah.
Cara is a veteran.
She knows exactly
You know.

(38:05):
Exactly.
Yeah.
Which is crazy.
We also know they don't work.
They're ugly and they, they probablycreate more because you also have this.
Essentially you havethis, uh, fear, right?
You have, you have a lot ofcontention in these localized areas
because you are your environment.
So if you are around 48 otherindividuals that want to be or are

(38:26):
currently homeless and you're currentlyhomeless and you don't really wanna
be homeless, it's gonna be very hardto kind of break free from that cycle.
But if we found 700,000small cities in the US put.
50 homes up sprinkled around thecity and then made it illegal
to be homeless voluntarily.
Again, maybe to Dave's point, wedon't frame it as legal or illegal,

(38:48):
but we said, listen, not allowed tosleep on the streets 'cause we don't
want you to sleep on the streets.
It just shouldn't be donelike you need a house.
So poof we go and put that person in thathome and kinda redistribute the homeless
population either in the US or maybesomewhere else that needs more population.
Have like a. SA program, be like, we haveable-bodied people and you need people.

(39:11):
And, um, I think your point about theenvironment, um, that's a big thing.
If you've ever toured sectioneight housing it's in shambles.
Right.
And I think people would care for theirhomes better if it looked stunning.
It's just like me for this podcast, right?
You're not gonna see me.
But I still took a shower, didmy hair, makeup, put on a nice

(39:32):
outfit because it made me feelgood if people went to their house.
And Dave, I take it, you did not shower.
No,
I
did.
You know, and I think if people had, andit doesn't have to be an extravagant, they
don't need marble countertops or theseItalian tile stone, but if it looked.
Decent like a modern house, whichisn't very expensive to do nowadays.

(39:52):
Yeah, it doesn't
would care.
for something to look good.
They would care for it.
They would care for it andthey would be proud of it.
Whereas right now they'renot proud of that home.
It's leaking, it's thepaint's falling off.
It's probably got lead in asbestos.
I don't, you know, it's, but, and itwould also be cool to see like what
countries would be willing to take, likeif we vetted these people and be like,
listen, this person was educated, right?

(40:14):
So this person has military background.
They have a high school education,which is worth something.
They have a clean criminal background.
Could you use this person in your country?
Let's give them a five-year trial visa.
And if they pass it, then you'd give themthe option to become a citizen there.
Or they can come back and maybeif they had that structure coming
back, they'd be much more, youknow, apt to being not homeless.

(40:37):
yeah.
And then also for medical students who areworking, tirelessly in jobs for 60 hours.
Every three week, every three days,
Yeah.
know, and during residency, it's likepotentially for those who are affected
negatively by, addictions or mentalhealth those can be the individuals that

(40:58):
the doctors who are training can alsobe overseeing, You build facilities or
centers and say, Hey, instead of just.
Making rounds to make rounds tojust try to kill yourself, because
we're trying to create an enduranceathlete that's also a doctor.
Give them time and energy and effort toincrease their skills and to also care
for other people who need it and placethem over those individuals, right?

(41:22):
Have them
Right.
give guidance and attention tothe individuals that do need
medical treatment through.
Through people that actually care for herwho need it, who want that experience,
And that could even be balancedby residents make almost no money.
Right?
So, fun fact, I got to med schoolrecently dropped out because the whole

(41:43):
structure of med school and residencyand at my advanced age just didn't align
with my purpose in life anymore, but.
The residents make no money.
They're, you know, they, they makelike $50,000, but after you break
down the hours they're working,it's less than minimum wage.
If you could be like, listen, we'llgive you an extra $20 an hour on top

(42:05):
of your thing to go give four hours,they would be happier than pie.
They, or be like, we would knockoff some of your student loans.
Like if this is a state funded program,
Off some of those student loans andit would be beneficial to all parties.
Yep.
And I really like the idea of the,uh, hey, this is a, this is someone
that doesn't have a criminal record.
Or, or maybe a light criminalrecord, misdemeanors or something.

(42:27):
But uh, and has the, thedrive, has the excitement.
Would like to travel.
I mean, there's a, probably, off the topof my head, at least 30 countries, New
Zealand, Madagascar, there's probablysome places like, man, we'd love some.
people to come in to some Americansthat would love to be here, to just

(42:48):
to help, to learn new culture, tobe here, to work here, to energize
us, to excite us to whatever, right?
And we put it on and make theonus of those countries to
to help with this situation.
A possibility.
Dave has a really weird looking face, but,
I gotta think about that one.
We're talking about exportingour homeless people.
I, I don't know, man.
It's a big country.

(43:08):
We got a lot of.
Opportunities
Tons.
places that,
We have tons.
I don't know.
And I think you also get abit of a nimbyism, right?
Like, it's like, are peoplein Wichita gonna wanna accept
homeless people like this?
Are people gonna wanna live in, likethere's a reason why people wanna
live in these beautiful cities.
And so I, I don't know.
I, those are tricky.
I mean, I, I like the idea of, of, placingpeople where, where they're needed,

(43:31):
if you go around and go, Hey,who, what countries or what?
Cities need jobs
Yeah,
need able bodies give themjobs, give them people.
it should be easy to, for somebody toget from one place to another, be like,
okay, hey, look this isn't working here.
It's too expensive here.
There isn't the job it's gonna pay.
Let's go back to this, uh, the, themath seems absolutely wicked, right?

(43:52):
If
Still trying to figureout where it's going.
As usual.
there's that and there's that donut hole.
you get rid of like theseminimums and maximums and can
you get rid of that piece?
Here's also this wild man.
I mean, again, to break down thenumbers I'm sure there's massive
inefficiencies here, but 20 billion at1700, 17,000 individuals, that's each

(44:16):
person's getting about $28,000 a yearof whatever it is, assistance or help.
So in employee costs factor in.
Government costs factorin some other things.
That's also not that muchfor the individual either.
And again, I don't know where it's going.
No one does.
And it's definitely notgoing to the people, right?

(44:37):
It's not going to those whoare affected by homelessness.
But if you figure out a way tocarve out that budget and go, okay,
listen, out of this 20 billion, 10billion does go to those who really,
really do not wanna be homeless.
Like Kara, she signs a thinglike, listen, here it is.
I don't want this situation.
me get on some type of.
Government program where Ido, I will, I'll pay it back.

(44:57):
me a house, give me a place to live.
Gimme a 10 year 0% interestor 5% interest loan term.
I'll take care of it.
It's like that would, I am sure solve85,000 of that 717,000 uh, individuals.
I mean that two grand, what?
That's like about a little,about two grand a month, right?

(45:19):
grand a month would've made all thedifference in the world for you.
Oh, I would've beenliving in an apartment.
I mean, I would've had a very niceapartment, but I would've had an
apartment and would've eaten human food,
Yeah.
dog food.
And it, it would've been life changing.
I do think, and a little sidebarhere, if I. People in Wichita, don't.

(45:41):
People in Wichita gonna listen to thisand be like, Kara, stop saying the city.
We don't want 'em.
Stop saying what To
Stop saying Wichita.
But Wichita, you're on my radar and I knowsome real estate people, so we're gonna
Figuring this out.
But, I think you have to almost sellit as like this grand social project.
Not we're bringing homeless people.
'cause they're not gonna behomeless when they get to you.
Correct.
and you'd have to, you'd have to presentthe math, be like, as a nation, these

(46:05):
people in San Francisco, you thinkyou're not affecting, you listen to
what it costs on a federal budget.
What homelessness costs and thenon a state budget and what it's
costing, what would it save us ifthese people had a job and a home
and could contribute to the economy?
So it's not, and people get somad, and I used to be like this.
I grew up in Naples, Florida.
If you have no idea where that'sat, look it up, it's affluent.

(46:28):
I had a very negativeview on homelessness.
I thought nobody should get free handouts.
Nobody should.
The government should just let 'em be.
Until I was in that situation, Iwas like, no, government help me.
But if you present it as
They can now contribute.
'cause they're gonnaspend their money, right?
They're that that $10 they get on theirfirst paycheck is gonna burn a hole
in their pocket and they're gonna goto the store and spend it and they're

(46:50):
gonna keep doing that and they're justgonna keep contributing back to society.
So I think we would have to spin itas this social project, present the
numbers of here's what's costingyou now versus here's the net.
Oh, she might have froze.
You cut out for 20 seconds.
Kara, you
Oh no,
it's okay.
Uh, you said here's the net, like lookingat the numbers, presenting the best case,

(47:10):
making it a, a really powerful experiment.
that's where I left off.
Oh no.
See, my brain goes.
Oh, that's okay.
know, but I'm just.
downloading.
I was, what I was hearing,Kara, is that we're paying for
it one way or another, right?
A hundred percent and I thinkwe're paying for it more.
Yeah.
being homeless then, and 'cause you'repaying for them, but they are not

(47:31):
contributing to us, not at their faultor whatever, but if we could pay a little
bit for them and they can contributea little bit more to society, then
that balance flips to the positive andit's actually a positive turn for the
economy and for that neighborhood thatthey're in or their community or Wichita.

(47:51):
Yep.
That's a really cool way to spin it.
And I think that there'sdefinitely something there.
And in our last five minutes remainingcare, I'll ask you two other questions.
So, question one, do you think aindividual individuals, call them
real estate investors, would havethe ability to pull their resources,
time, talent, and treasure?

(48:12):
And create a solution for anyonewho wanted not be homeless.
1000%. I know a few.
I know you.
I know a few others that are out theredoing great things in real estate
and others that repurpose people.
And that's just the same thing.
These people need repurposing,

(48:33):
And if you give 'em a placeto go and have it set up.
For that.
I'm not saying it's gonnacure everything, right?
There's definitely some extremes,but it would take a huge chunk.
It would take a huge chunk, I think.
And like you said, if you did a 5%interest rate and then you get to,
you know, have a chunk of ownership ofthis, it gives them a sense of pride.
But then you also get a littlebit of change back, right?

(48:55):
Because you know, as an individual realestate person, you need a little bit.
Kicked back too in whatever way.
So if you could do a 5% interestrate and you're contributing to
society and you're getting a littlebit, you know, on the backend, I
think it's a win-win win communityperson and the real estate investor.
Agree.
Glad that we're alignedon that last question.

(49:17):
Yes.
So what would you, what do youwant your son to hear you say about
that moment and that time whileyou were homeless in your car?
What do you want him to know?
Oh, that's, that's thought provoking.
I one would want him toknow it was not his fault.
And we have talked about, he's nowa teenager and he asked me about it.

(49:39):
'cause I have brought it up.
I. Let him know that in lifeyou're going to have struggles and
you're going to have downfalls.
It's inevitable.
But as long as you have that mindset andthat grit and that determination you are
going to get out of it, whatever, howeverdeep that hole is, you can get out of it.
'cause God's not gonna put you ina hole too deep, even though it may

(50:01):
seem like that, but to also thenhave compassion for other people.
It's very easy for you to lookthrough those rose colored glasses
and be like, I will never be inthat situation, or shame on those
people, or how do they get in there?
And just, just know you havedetermination, but also have a
lot of compassion for people.
And don't say anythingunless you have a solution.

(50:22):
If you cannot offer a solution,just keep your opinion then to
yourself because it does no good.
I feel like we got a lot of goodsolutions and feedback and takeaway from
today's call and podcast and discussion.
So, Kara, thank you
You're welcome.
Yeah.
Poor Wichita
don't.
Hey,
they're,

(50:42):
certain people are like, Hey, thanks man.
Bring us some people.
We need people
yes,
on farms.
We need people to work on our roads.
We need people to work on our roofs.
absolutely.
Every single place gets biggerthrough the, uh, impact of Americans.
'cause, like you said, I think also as ourvirtue, as Americans living the greatest
country in the world to a, a net positive.

(51:05):
To really por into this countryand say, Hey, wherever I'm at,
I'm gonna be a net positive.
I'm gonna add real value to the world.
I'm gonna add a real impact.
I'm gonna really create something that'sinspiring and useful for the future.
So for those of you who are listening,I want that to continue to be you.
Make sure I. That you reach outto us solving America's Problems
podcast on Instagram, or perhapssolve USA Pod on X. Let us know

(51:31):
your thoughts about homelessness.
What would you do?
What stood out to you inthis conversation today?
What would you like to seereally be created in the future?
And most importantly, feel free to sharethis podcast episode with someone that you
know who was affected by homelessness or.
Is in the midst of creatingtrue change and true solutions

(51:53):
for this global problem.
Thank you.

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Homeless in a Car with My Kid – One Vet’s Escape (Full)

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