He Worked His Whole Life — Then Lost Everything: Black Senior Homelessness | Ep. 2
The Color Between The Lines with Esther Dillard
"To live on the streets is very frightening. It lowers your dignity as a man
and as a woman."
Those are the words of Donald Gardner 68 years old, a cobbler, a HUD
contractor, and a full-time caretaker for eleven years. Then the pandemic hit.
His business shut down. His godfather passed. The family took the house. And
Donald Gardner found himself working at TGI Fridays while sleeping outside
at night. Nobody knew he was homeless.
His story is not the exception. Seniors are now the fastest-growing group
experiencing homelessness in America with numbers projected to triple by
2030. One in five people experiencing homelessness is 55 or older. And Black
Americans, who make up just 12% of the U.S. population, account for nearly
32% of everyone experiencing homelessness in this country.
In Part Two of Unhoused and Unheard: The Black Experience of Homelessness,
host Esther Dillard sits down with Donald Gardner and with Donald Whitehead,
Executive Director of the National Coalition for the Homeless in Washington
D.C. to ask the hard question: how does a man who worked his whole life
end up with nowhere to go?
What you will hear in this episode:
How the pandemic wiped out Donald's business and his housing in one blow
What it actually feels like to live on the streets in Donald's own words
How Donald worked at TGI Fridays every day while sleeping outside at night
Why the system is failing seniors and the disabled at every level
What Donald Whitehead says is the single biggest driver of homelessness
The knock on the door on Martin Luther King's birthday that changed
everything
What Donald says homeless people actually want from the rest of us
"The absolute key to ending homelessness is a dramatic production of
affordable housing." Donald Whitehead, National Coalition for the Homeless
"You know what homeless people want? Eye contact. To be recognized as a
human being. Let's start there." Donald Gardner
This is Part 2 of a three-part series:
Part 1: Adaora Onuora's Story Aging Out of Foster Care into Homelessness
Part 2: Donald Gardner's Story Working and Still Homeless (THIS EPISODE)
Part 3: Sharell Matthis's Story A Mother of Six Fights to Keep Her
Family Together
To get involved or find resources in your community:
National Coalition for the Homeless nationalhomeless.org
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Chapter Markers
0:00 Cold Open "To Live on the Streets Is Very Frightening"
0:16 Meet Donald Gardner A Cobbler, a Caretaker, a HUD Contractor
0:37 The Pandemic Hit His Business, His Godfather, His Home
0:53 Donald's Early Life Learning the Trade at Seven Years Old
1:09 Working at TGI Fridays While Sleeping Outside
1:30 The Shelter System People Not Recognized as Human Beings
1:45 Moving Into His 88-Year-Old Mother's Basement
2:01 Working Homeless The Problem Nobody Sees
2:23 Seniors Are the Fastest-Growing Homeless Population
2:41 Donald Whitehead This Is a Structural Failure
3:03 The System Was Not Built for Seniors or the Disabled
3:19 It's Systemic Veterans, Seniors, the Overlooked
3:36 The Affordable Housing Crisis 7 Million Rent-Burdened Americans
4:02 70% of Income on Housing Nothing Left for Anything Else
4:20 Minimum Wage Has Not Been Raised in Decades
4:35 Back to the Story What the Streets Actually Feel Like
4:54 Dignity, Depression, and Not Knowing Where Your Next Meal Is
5:26 Where Do You Use the Bathroom? Where Do You Wash Your Clothes?
5:42 Hiding Food in Trees to Keep the Rats Away
5:57 14 Months in a Hotel Shelter Then a Knock at the Door
6:15 Martin Luther King's Birthday 2021 The Voucher
6:35 Only One Quarter of Eligible People Ever Get Housing Assistance
7:09 Preemptive Eligibility What We Need Now
7:31 Donald's Message What People on the Outside Don't Understand
7:49 Band Aids Are Not Enough People Need Heart Surgery
8:05 Eye Contact The Simplest Thing You Can Give
8:35 You Can Give From Your Heart
8:54 Donald Gardner Not Because He Failed, But Because the System Did
9:10 Visit nationalhomeless.org How to Help
9:31 Coming Up Part Three: Sharell's Story