Feature

For the first time in his life, William Harris can just live

BY JUSTIN WAGNER

It began when Harris was in a temporary housing situation, set up in a motel. One night, a violent altercation almost turned deadly.

“I got into a situation where I almost killed a man,” Harris said. “There was this man who lived next door to me. I had saved this man from getting his tail whooped over a drug issue or whatnot; he got in a fight with this one particular guy… I had pulled the man who was beating him up off of him.”

The police were called, and the man was taken to the hospital. Hours later, the assailant returned to Harris’ apartment, drunk and demanding a fight.

“He had come beating on my wall, beating on my door, telling me to come out and fight him like a man,” said Harris.

Harris found himself harried by strangers and the police in equal mea sure. The next day, he got a call from The Contributor. Worried about him — and the potential loss of the roof over his head — staff at The Contributor counseled Harris to receive rehabilitative care.

“They were gonna put me into a psychiatric evaluation,” Harris explained. “So I had to stay in a psych ward for two days so they can see if I had any sort of mental problem or anything.”

Harris wasn’t concerned about his mental faculties, knowing the fight resulted from a need to defend himself. Still, the evaluation was an opportunity to show good faith and get help where he could — so when he was placed into a 45-day recovery program wherein he’d have to stay away from any drugs or alcohol, he agreed. Regardless of the situation at hand, Harris had struggled with alcohol in the past.

“I ended up completing the pro gram, I was off alcohol for that time period there, and then I had moved to a halfway house and got a job,” said Harris. “I stayed there for like a month or so. In August, that’s when I found out they had my Section 8 voucher.”

Getting a voucher was a huge step toward getting an apartment, but the wait wasn’t over. And soon, things took a turn for the worse; when Harris re connected with a high school friend and smoked weed for an afternoon, his building found out and sent him to another, stricter halfway house.

It was a stressful few months of waiting, sobriety, and uncertainty. But just before the year ended and the voucher might have been close to ex piring, he finally got a room.

“I had to attend a bunch of meetings, stayed from October to the end of December,” he said. “It was Dec. 13 on my sister’s birthday that I found out I got the apartment that I’m in now.”

Two days later, he moved in. The rent was paid and he finally had a bed that was his, and his alone. Paying rent every month was not easy — but even that burden was finally eased with the help of Ree Cheers, who works with vendors through SSI/SSDI Outreach, Access, and Recovery, or SOAR.

Cheers explained: “SOAR is funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and is a national program designed to increase access to the disability income benefit programs administered by the Social Security Administration for eligible adults and children who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness and have a serious mental illness, medical impairment, and/or a co-occurring substance use disorder.”

“Many people who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness also suffer from disabling mental illnesses, co-occurring substance use, trauma, and/ or other medical issues. Accessing the income and health care benefits that SSI/SSDI provides can be a critical first step on the road to recovery.”

Recovery is necessary for many, but often inaccessible to those who must prioritize survival. Working in this field for over two decades, Cheers has seen how this has made some fights seem unwinnable — but in the case of William Harris, it was as if the stars aligned.

“As a human services advocate of 25 plus years, I have witnessed several outcomes for the population served,” Cheers said. “But with SOAR and housing navigating working together, the success rate hit different in favor of the unhoused.”

For Cheers, this was a social services victory where cooperation be tween different teams paid off in a huge way.

For Harris, it marked the end of so much struggle.

“I paid my rent all the way from December … summertime of this year is when I found out I was gonna get my social security, my disability,” Harris explained. “Ree has been A1 on every thing. She told me I was gonna get my disability, she told me how much I was gonna get … lo and behold, it came through.”

It had been a difficult, long fight for Harris to retain some level of comfort, whether with the strain of rehabilitation or of simply finding somewhere to sleep day to day. But now that his expenses are accounted for, Harris can just live.

“This is the first time in my life that I have actually lived somewhere. From the time that my father passed and I had to leave home, I’ve had apartments, staying with people, staying with girl friends, staying with friends, a few times I’ve camped out, I’ve had to pay for hotel rooms constantly. I’m talking all the way, constantly.”

“This is the first time I’ve had the feeling of security, you know what I’m saying? It’s been a hell of a ride. It’s been a hell of a ride … having my own bedroom set, having my own kitchen. Having my home. This whole year of ‘22 has been an eye-opening experience for me. It’s like I won the lottery.”