Billings' Homeless Youth

'Welcome Home Billings' in Real Life

This mother and her eight-month-old son are residents of Second Chance Homes, a non-profit that works to break the cycle of addiction within families. According to the annual point-in-time housing survey, addiction is the number one cause of homelessness in Billings. Anti-addiction and other homeless prevention initiatives are outlined in Welcome Home Billings.


‘Welcome Home Billings,’ the Mayor’s Committee on Homelessness’ ten-year plan to end homelessness, is approved and the war on poverty begins. Over 400 people worked on the plan and experienced firsthand why the Committee was needed. Interviewing individuals from local shelters and day centers explains why the top four goals of ‘Welcome Home Billings’ are housing, prevention, services and assets. Here are some stories.

Michael and his family arrived in Billings with three suitcases, $81, and a criminal record. Struggling to overcome tremendous obstacles, he applied everywhere for employment. At MasterLube, a Social Enterprise business that employs at-risk populations, Michael was given a job which helped him get back on his feet. “I’m really excited about the opportunities they are giving me,” he said. “I can go somewhere and be something.” ‘Welcome Home Billings’ supports the expansion of community-based, criminal reentry programs and increased advocacy for visionary businesses like MasterLube and the Downtown Billings Improvement District.

Both Audrey and her husband, Mike, worked full time but lost their car and their home. “We would save money,” she said, “but when you don’t make that much, it’s hard to hold onto it for emergencies.” Unable to afford the initial expenses for a new residence, the couple took their children to the shelter. ‘Welcome Home Billings’ expresses the need for more affordable housing and will utilize housing first and rapid re-housing philosophies.

Due to circumstances beyond his control, Stephen found himself homeless with two year old Skylar and was forced to go to the shelter. Without family and few friends here, he struggles to find child care during his late night shift work. Although he has an Associate degree in Medical Science, he is forced to sacrifice opportunities to care for his son. To prevent situations like this, ‘Welcome Home Billings’ plans to establish childcare assistance, mentoring support systems, and life skills trainings.

Sometimes, living in poverty is not a choice. “Lots of people at the Mission have suffered great loss of self-respect. Many have lost the drive to get them out of the rut,” says John, a former Mission resident. ‘Welcome Home Billings’ will provide more opportunities to help individuals succeed.

Homeless not Hopeless: Stephen's Story

Skylar has big blue eyes and soft blond hair. He giggles and makes gurgling sounds; he will be two in September. Skylar is also homeless—he lives in the Women’s and Family Shelter with his father Stephen, a single parent.

After moving from his hometown of Cheyenne, Wyoming with his girlfriend, Stephen had a hard time finding a job to support his family. His relationship failed shortly after he moved to Billings; as a result, he found himself homeless as well as unemployed. Stephen has no family in Billings, and has had trouble finding a dependable support network. “I’m doing it by myself, but it’s making it a lot harder,” he says.

One of Stephen’s goals is to provide Skylar with a stable lifestyle—one that will be very different from Stephen’s own childhood. Growing up, “Mom couldn’t stay still,” he says. “We moved to be with the guy she was with at the time. I don’t want him to grow up that way—that’s why I’m trying to get myself into a more permanent situation.”

Stephen gained custody of Skylar in November of last year when his mother decided to move to the East Coast. “I told her he could stay with me. I didn’t want him going across the country in a bus like that,” he says. Stephen is convinced that his son is better off because he lives with Stephen, but the absence of Skylar’s mother has made life difficult on a number of levels, including financially. Although Skylar’s mother has been ordered by the court to pay child support, Stephen is still waiting for any payment from her.

Although Stephen is eager to get back on his feet, he faces special challenges as a single parent. For example, he would like to continue his education, but isn’t sure he can find affordable child care that would allow him to work and go to school. He has an Associates degree in Medical Science, and says he would like to go into pediatrics. “I have that degree there if I ever need it,” he says, “but it’s difficult to go to school with him and work. I don’t know if I can do it all at once.”

He has also struggled to find child care with flexible hours. Although he has worked late-night shifts in the past, he cannot find child care during the evenings, and is instead forced to give up work opportunities so he can stay at the shelter and care for his son.

On top of struggling to find a proper child care facility for Skylar, Stephen has also had to juggle his job search with attending mandatory classes offered by the shelter. There are “so many classes and stuff, I don’t have enough time to get out and look for a job,” he says. Before he was a single parent, he was able to work three days a week and still have time and money to take his son to his favorite places. “His first camping trip when he was 6 months old,” he remembers. “I made a little crib out of an air mattress and he curled up and slept by his dad.”

“We’re here [at the shelter] to get on our feet and be self-sufficient,” he says. “Hopefully after three months I’ll have money set back to get my own place.” Stephen remains optimistic about his current situation and the fact that “this is the first time in my life that this has happened to me. Skylar keeps me going. It’ll take me a little time, but I’ll get us out.” Until then, he will work toward finding an accommodating job and the resources he needs. He only asks to have his life back.

HERE'S MORE ABOUT STEPHEN AND SKYLAR IN THE BILLINGS GAZETTE (JAN. 31, 2010)
http://www.billingsgazette.com/news/local/article_c76d6fbc-0ee6-11df-8a2d-001cc4c002e0.html

Homeless not Hopeless: John's Story

Based on an interview by Lisa Harmon on March 13, 2007
by Julia Guarino

John has been a resident of the Montana Rescue Mission, Billings’ homeless shelter for single adult men, for many years, but if you met him, the word “homeless” would likely be far from your thoughts. John is clean-cut and well-spoken, his deep, even voice giving away his intelligence and education. John was born in Billings, and grew up the oldest boy in a large family. He speaks of his childhood, and the sense of community and security, with nostalgia. “The feeling of neighborliness and community now is so far removed from what it was like when I was growing up” he says with a touch of sadness. “It’s like two entirely different worlds.”

After he finished college, John moved to California for a while to work. He returned to his hometown after a few years, where, as he puts it, he “just ran out of money,” and found himself in the homeless shelter. He explains that life at the shelter offers little more than a place to sleep and three meals a day, with the only daytime activity offered being “The Brotherhood,” where residents who are interested can participate in basic Bible study. For some, he says, this leads to further study, and eventually a career in the Ministry. Most individuals, he explains, even those uninterested in Bible study, are interested in working. “In my experience, the majority of people I’m acquainted with through the Mission, them being generally homeless …do want to work,” he says. And many of them do. He estimates that more than half work full or part time, some holding a regular job and many working as day laborers or doing odd jobs around town.

A great barrier to this work force, however, is a lack of job skills; from unfamiliarity with newer technologies to functional illiteracy, which he says he sees frequently amongst his fellow residents. However, with a little job preparation, he is confident many of them could get back on their feet. “They can learn, and they will learn,” he says. “But it is a matter of finding someone who will take them on, give them a chance, and the person being hired… they’ve got to prove their ability, to prove their willingness to be loyal to the employer.” The Social Enterprise model, where businesses employ at-risk populations, is currently being practiced in town by employers such as MasterLube and the Downtown Business Improvement District. This certainly requires trust and faith on the part of both employer and employee, but as both these examples prove, it can be a tremendously successful business model.

When John speaks about what he sees in those he interacts with at the Mission, he highlights the importance of this kind of trust and faith for an individual who is experiencing homelessness. He explains, “A lot of the people we see at the Mission may have suffered a great loss of self-respect, many have lost that little bit of drive that would get them out of the rut.” When asked what a homeless person needs, he is quick to answer. “A homeless person needs self-confidence, a feeling of being respected… needs a great deal of encouraging,” and he enjoys being the one to give that encouragement. As for himself, “I don’t really have a firm, solid, shining objective at the moment. I’d like to be helpful to people who want to be helped.”

Update: John moved into housing in the summer of 2009 – Congratulations, John!

Homeless not Hopeless: Audrey's Story

by Jessica Mowry
Based on an interview on July 29, 2009


Audrey is a happily married mother of three. Although her children are the center of her world, she has worked full- and part-time, on and off over the last eight years, to make ends meet. She works hard, makes good choices, and considers her children her number one priority.

But Audrey lives in a shelter—the Montana Rescue Mission’s Women’s and Family Shelter in downtown Billings. Her first shelter stay was last December, as the country was gripped by recession; she and her family spent Christmas there. Audrey and her husband, Mike, worked hard to get back on their feet, and they did so—but only temporarily. They moved back to the shelter in mid-July. “I’ve been humbled in so many ways in this past year—you have no idea,” she tells me during the interview. “I don’t want my kids to be at the shelter; I don’t want to be poor.”

Audrey’s life has been difficult from the start: when she was just a year old, her father committed suicide. Although she has no memory of her father, she knows things changed after his death. “He was a bank manager; we had a pool, a house and our own rooms. To a lot of people that’s average stuff, but for me that seems like a whole different life,” she says. Audrey’s problems were compounded by her mother’s instability; for years, Audrey’s mother suffered from bipolar disorder and was suicidal. “I went through a lot with my mom, and there were times [growing up] when we would have to beg her, ‘No mom, please don’t kill yourself. We love you.’” Despite this, “I don’t blame her for anything, the stuff we went through. I still love her,” she says. “Even though things were hard, it made me who I am today. It made me stronger as a person, and I realize certain things I wouldn’t do with my kids.”

“Growing up in a big family, I knew what it took to raise a child,” Audrey says as she thinks back to the news of her first pregnancy. Then 18, Audrey had dropped out of high school and has been on her own for a year with her husband, Mike. Smiling, she launches into her “sweet love story”: from their first meeting at age thirteen, Audrey was smitten with the boy who would become her husband. As the years went by, their friendship turned to love, and Audrey gave birth to their first child, Dylan, just a few months shy of her nineteenth birthday. Baby Aiden arrived eighteen months later.

To support her happy, growing family, Audrey worked full-time as a waitress at a local restaurant. “I had so much money then,” she says wistfully. But her third and final pregnancy hit her hard—she struggled with severe depression, and during the last months of her pregnancy she experienced unremitting false labor pains. In spite of her struggles, Audrey was back at work just two weeks after giving birth to her daughter Alyssa, now three.

Shortly after Alyssa’s birth, Audrey left her restaurant job in search of better pay as a cocktail waitress. But the couple found themselves living paycheck to paycheck—it wasn’t easy struggling as a cocktail waitress “happy to get fifty cents” as a tip. “We would save money, but when you don’t make that much it’s hard to hold onto it for emergencies.” Then Mike landed a job with Sysco. The couple finally had some breathing room, and Audrey quit her job to be a stay-at-home mom. But in November of last year, Mike was let go, causing a downward spiral of unpaid bills and late fees. But the bad luck didn’t end there--two weeks before losing their home, their car broke down and the mechanic told them repairs would cost $2400. Unable to catch up, the family arrived, on foot, at the Women’s and Family Shelter in mid-December.

Determined to stay at the shelter only long enough to catch back up, Audrey worked two jobs while her husband continued searching for employment. It was not an easy time. “Keeping a job and having a job has been getting harder and harder. I love serving tables—I feel like you are in control of your money. If you’re attentive and friendly and know how to read a person that really affects how much money you make,” she says. Once Mike acquired a job at a local restaurant, the family was able to leave the shelter and move into their own trailer.

With another chance at a new start, the couple was very conscious of their budget and aware of what they had to do. But then Audrey’s boss ‘temporarily’ cut her hours and she was left waiting—without a job, without income. “I was starting to hurt at this point. I needed a job, I needed to be working.” The economy was failing and she was desperate to find work. Left in limbo by her previous employer, Audrey swallowed her pride and went back to the very restaurant she had left months before. “I’ve never begged for anything, but that day I begged for my job back,” she said. She was not granted her second chance, and in July the family moved back into the shelter.

Mike continues to work at the restaurant, and Audrey is still looking for work—submitting numerous applications across town, as well as considering pre-college courses to gain skills to qualify for better jobs. Despite their situation, the family is optimistic. “They’re happy as long as we’re all together,” she says of her three children, who are aware that their mom and dad are having a hard time, “I don’t tell them all of the details, but they know. Everything we do is for the kids.”

Misfortune and bad luck have put this family on the streets. No crimes have been committed, yet they suffer severely. Living in poverty is not an attractive lifestyle, but as this young family has found, sometimes there isn’t a choice. Audrey’s story is a real story of an uphill struggle. Despite the hardships, she remains optimistic about the future and what she can become—both for herself and her family. As she fully utilizes the resources offered at the Women’s and Family shelter, she makes plans for yet another try at a better life. The commitment she has for her husband and children is unmistakable. As she opened her heart to me, I was able to see how completely her story broke the stereotypical mold, and how the same misfortunes could cripple any number of people in the Billings community.

For more information about the Montana Rescue Mission’s Women’s and Family Shelter and how you can contribute, visit http://www.montanarescuemission.org/.


HERE'S MORE ABOUT AUDREY AND HER FAMILY IN THE BILLINGS GAZETTE (DEC. 24, 2009)
http://www.kulr8.com/news/local/80075007.html

What is Billings Metro VISTA Project (MVP)???

(photo courtsey of theguardian.co.uk)

Homelessness often conjures images of panhandlers stationed on high-traffic corners, an aged man huddled in a doorway, or a woman pushing a shopping cart containing all her worldly possessions. There is no doubt that these people exist, even on the streets of Billings, Montana. The face of homelessness in our community is diverse, and stereotypical preconceptions forestall us from acknowledging the complexity of homelessness and the extent of the vulnerability in our community.

In November 2005, the City of Billings was chosen for a pilot project to end chronic homelessness. In June 2006, Mayor Tussing appointed a 20-member committee including representation from a broad stakeholder group of housing/service providers, civic/business leaders, economic/work force agencies, faith based/philanthropy groups, and other interested parties. The first meeting of the Committee was scheduled in June 2006, and the Committee has since been developing a ten-year strategic plan to impact chronic homelessness, as have over 300 other cities across the United States.

The Mayor's Committee on Homelessness is focused on reducing the number of homeless persons in Billings, reducing the risk of homelessness and creating the tools people in poverty need to build sustainable futures. The committee's goals will be furthered through through the addition of seven AmeriCorps VISTAs (Volunteers in Service to America). The VISTAs serve in communities to "fight poverty with passion" and will contribute to the overarching goals and priorities of the Mayor’s Committee on Homelessness to impact poverty and to prevent and intervene in homelessness.

These AmeriCorps VISTAs are just seven of the 105 total Volunteers in Service to America who have come to work for the next year in the state of Montana. They are responsible for building capacity in non-profit organizations and communities, and helping to lift individuals and communities out of poverty. In Billings, the VISTA programs include Project Homeless Connect, Elevate the Workplace, Illuminate Poverty, and partnerships with United Way, Second Chance Homes, Family Support Network and the Salvation Army.

(photo courtsey of the-election.com)

No one should be homeless in Billings, much less children, seniors and pregnant individuals. An annual point-in-time survey conducted each January has identified an average of over 600 homeless persons, with at least 80 homeless families in Billings at any one point in time. Homeless service providers estimate almost 1,100 homeless individuals travel through Billings each year. Some sleep outside, some stay with family or friends and some stay in emergency shelters, motels and treatment facilities.

The Billings Metro VISTA Project (MVP) has been set up to make a difference in this community. With the aid of this blog, the 'Illuminate Poverty' campaign will aim to focus a spotlight on poverty and homelessness in the city. This campaign is designed to change the public perception of the homeless and impoverished by emphasizing the stories that lead to poverty and homelessness. We believe that people's stories are like puzzles, and everyone deserves to have all their pieces accounted for. Not hearing two or three years of someone's life story is equivalent to missing two or three pieces of a puzzle, and failure to consider the myriad complex factors that lead to poverty and homelessness can lead to unwarranted judgments and incomplete understanding. These "missing" years could include unanticipated job losses, unforeseen illnesses or disastrous accidents; the possibilities are endless as life takes unexpected turns each and every day. We believe these stories need to be told, and we are here to tell them. Our hope is that the perception will be changed and true progress will be made in this beautiful city.