The Zone: An Extreme Case of American Homelessness

I'm in the middle of the Zone in Phoenix yeah he [ __ ] killed his girlfriend last night hundreds of tents and people living here doing life and we're here to explore I died five times and I've come back alive they should have released El Chapo this many pills can get you hello folks I'm Tommy G and you might be wondering how I got here I've been spending lots of time thinking about the problem of homelessness in America the cause is for potential solutions for it it's a very sad and difficult issue I learned that Downtown Phoenix is home to one of the largest homeless camps in the country over 1 000 people occupy the stretch of City called The Zone in the zone The Zone The Zone The Zone it's from Jefferson to Jackson this is a place that assaults your senses you are greeted by filth feces addiction suffering and Mental Illness but also here are humans many of which have survived unbelievably sad circumstances in the morning when I'm going to school the time they were done it was night time we as a society have to figure out what to do about places and people like this so today we go boots on the ground unusual fashion to learn more about this and capture the story of the zone foreign [Music] I'm here with Chase and what's your dog's name Riley Riley where are we right now Phoenix Phoenix yeah what do they call this place Cass what does that mean or what does that stand for I have no idea okay how long you been here for it's two weeks how did you find yourself here it's like a free place to accept and like be able to sleep and stuff so I get in trouble like outside you know of all places you could have been how'd you find this oh I just like walked upon it what do you do in your day-to-day life look for work hey my job is it dangerous at all here oh yeah I personally don't go walk around over there [Applause] the insane [ __ ] sitting over on the corner killed his girlfriend last night one week ago they found a girl in that [ __ ] burned up in that [ __ ] two suspects after a burned body is found inside of a dumpster near downtown Phoenix in the homeless encampment called The Zone okay we're gonna get checked probably probably gonna tell you to turn that [ __ ] off for sure what life events will happen for you to get here my girlfriend broke up with me and then times were hard to meet my family my mom passed away you know and so I started getting the drugs I'm not gonna lie you know I mean I'm no longer continuing using those drugs so I'm trying to get better you know because I just got out of jail like two months ago you know so these last two months I've been trying real hard to get my life back on track do you have anyone here that you'd want to introduce us to yeah we can grab them real quick I'm Tommy nice to meet you Dennis describe yourself in three words versatile perseverance curious that's probably one of my primary ones too is life here would you say is it risky is it dangerous at all honestly it's to the extent that you make it so you carry anything with weapons with you or anything like that you don't even carry like a gun per se but it's like it's still Best Care like a Shanker like you know somebody someone with you mind your own business and try to do the right thing you're really not going to encounter any danger appreciate you guys thank you what's your life like here different bro who's your friend over there is that where you can you like get access to resources and stuff like that yeah we've moved down here from Illinois oh yeah whereabouts in Illinois yeah that's a friendly one yeah look at her tongue so what led you guys to being here yeah what percent of people here would you say do some sort of drug everyone what's the most common drug no man that's really creeped into this country huh how would you guys say your childhood was mine was okay what made it not so good did you ever find a way to escape that situation you ran away from home when you were 11. you're going back did you have any siblings did your dad try and touch them too it wasn't my dad it was my brother your brother he ever get held accountable for what he did to you no [Music] he was 11 years older he's 15. well thank you thank you for letting us hear your story [Music] pretty good I'm here on SSDI social security income I'm getting it now because I can't be working right now so I'm not a burden on the government or nothing but I will be receiving welfare once uh the payout ends from what I worked into it how are you survive out here um right now I go into Cass get what I need like a clothing on Wednesday clothing showers food breakfast and lunch I should stay here right now I got that with a friend I'm a prodigy of some sort because I got established with my college degrees at a very young age how old were you when you got your college degrees I was five you were five years old really yeah wow mine are in a few departments and what did you do with that and I got into the military at eight to be like thought of to be enlisted but I was enlisted enough to be participant as a higher level of uh depending what'd you do in the military I was cooked what'd you do after you were okay I was a preschool teacher how old were you then I was 23. okay all right well thank you for sharing your story and thank you for hearing me yeah what do you guys doing we're just getting people talking we're documentary filmmakers yeah [Music] I'm Tommy and I'm here with Sheila Nunez and where are we right now Sheila we're Downtown Phoenix at Cass this is the last four days I've been here there's been three deaths being a woman here it is tough are women under constant pressure for sexual assault and stuff like that me I was it was by surprise like I was thirsty and really tired he gave me some water and then after the last cup of he gave me kept them out so I drink some milk and I found something going down my throat and it was too late I already swallowed it three days later I woke up and I didn't know why but I was like oh how was your childhood is there anything in particular you want to cover or talk about oh yeah it's gonna be really due to the graphic nature of her story we could not share the whole thing in this video we're never down there threw me out in the park chicken Park after that I just kind of went to the park and washed up and then I fell asleep by a church and then after that they called the authorities and that's when my mom finally was oh my gosh my daughter she didn't really care she just said that I'm gonna make sure I report you as a runaway that way I know I'm not gonna get in trouble for what you do what's your hope for the future I wanted to be a hair stylist makeup and just be like in fashion I can see you got some art going on in your eyes right now yeah well I appreciate you guys sharing your story thank you so much okay [Music] just to give you a little idea of what's going on like there's people passed out everywhere there's people shouting you definitely have to keep checking who's behind you imagine raising your family at that house real estate so people can be hostile tell me what this area is like is this sketchy people that can't afford to live life you feel me and that's why they're out here you can be intense they're out here they're just trying to find somewhere to be you feel me what would you do if you're a mayor about this place I would get rid of all this I would give these people somewhere to go you feel me I know they can you feel me because this Little Shelter place is not it I don't even know why they even got this out here that's why Phoenix is getting worser and worser [ __ ] El Chapo you feel me they should have released them though he told me y'all don't release me I'm gonna release the blue eye demon upon the world they should have released El Chapo release El Chapo my daughter last month what's going on what's on your mind right now somebody to do something about this these people need help they're human beings we're not peaceful piece of crap I work Ed my entire life in this state I I'm from here I was born here I'm a retired nurse these people need help out here not for people to spit on them and not give a damn about them do you know anyone that can show us what it looks like what a blue looks like yeah no because they know I'm going to be brave enough oh there you go yeah so that's enough to overdose on if you take it like that so how do people consume that yeah smoke it in aluminum foil how much do they need to get high one hit comes up to 30 that one pill is thirty dollars sometimes and how long does that last somebody five minutes okay my daughter was a methamphetamine user for the last 10 15 years at Christmas she told me that she wasn't getting high anymore off of the meth so she switched to crack cocaine she got some bad [ __ ] so on a Friday she overdosed and that crack cocaine was laced with fentanyl because people's not usually die from crack cocaine she was taken to a hospital on Friday night they discharged her the next day she died Sunday morning I met this girl three days ago I said I'm willing because I get my Social Security on the third I get it every month I said I'm willing to get you off the street get rid of your drugs get rid of all this [ __ ] I said if you marry me in 10 years you'll be my beneficiary and you can have all my Social Security every single month besides what you make working did she say yes she got murdered last night what right here someone got murdered right here she got murdered last night and so I've been dealing with this [ __ ] all [ __ ] day long she was here helping set up the house yesterday she is 20 25 years old I thought she was 32 she lied to me but I found out through counseling today how old she was because she'd been over there before what was your childhood like horrible yeah what made it horrible I'm always abusive my uncle my family was abusive how old were you when your uncle did that I was five years old but I kept it a secret until I was 23. I've heard that from a few people now they're young age by a family member how common do you think that is around here it's really common people can sit here and give you this sob story of anybody they put their stuff in a situation because this is what they want to do if you don't want to do it don't do it you don't want to be homeless go get help so there's a lot of people that are blaming the government saying there's not enough resources do you think that's [ __ ] that's [ __ ] I think everyone's here because they're personal choices yeah so if you're a mayor what would you do I would offer counseling for those who have suffered with grief a lot of the homelessness has to do with grief yeah and none of it has to do with drugs a lot of it has to do because drugs math the grief exactly that all is for 20 bucks yeah I have a hookup where's your setup my setup is right there oh next door yeah it's Rick's don't count for my ass because it's really big this is normal people live play it safe my condom collection when you're homeless and you're out here just take care of your [ __ ] don't get into trouble if you do drugs do them at home pretty good setup he still wants to come by oh yeah yeah so this is where I sleep at mostly it's really an extra space for people that might need it like coming through or just need a spot for tonight you welcome anybody or what have you ever said nodo I guess no well give us give us the grand tour dude so just to be clear so this this tent is the special but I just wanted for whatever but it can seek for but it's more private okay the rest of it is just um pretty much self-explanatory how long have you been here man eight months I think okay what do you think of this place it sucks I have to say they do give us a place to say there's a lot of resources around here if you take them there's a lot of resources they'll do anything for you all you gotta do is go out there and get it what brought you here in my apartment okay there's a guy training better leave man that's dude you know I already told you oh [ __ ] you ain't even told these guys what's what's going on he [ __ ] killed his girlfriend last night what nobody knows um hey we're gonna get out of here so this guy doesn't [ __ ] uh Battle Creek so when you're dealing with a very mentally old folks like this [ __ ] can get really dangerous really fast the insane [ __ ] setting over on the corner kills his girlfriend last night when I come back from Fry's last night walking at three o'clock in the morning her body was laying across the street it was all [ __ ] ribboned off her body was [ __ ] chalked out and [ __ ] if the cops don't come and get him off the street tonight I'm gonna go [ __ ] sir we're gonna get out of here but I wish you the best imagine trying to just be on your own porch that you're paying rent for Endless amounts of people are streaming up and down the street on fentanyl on crack I was curious to know how this was affecting business owners in the area so we stopped in a little sandwich shop and spoke with the owner Joe to hear his perspective [Music] from uh the New York Times we were just in the newspaper a homeless Camp crisis at a sandwich shop store how have you seen the area change has it always been like this what has it been like witnessing the change well you know some people are afraid to come in yeah I can't imagine opening up shop here investing all I have into a business and then it gets taken over by well we never had a fence around before because I've been here for 20 some years and we never had a fence before so I guess you know I don't know it's it's crazy has anything ever happened here any any not really really no you know no uh thank God we've been lucky so Madison's tree which we've been on all day has become the center of one of the largest homeless encampments in the country with as many as 1100 people sleeping Outdoors a man was weaving down the sidewalk in the direction of Joe's restaurant with a saw muttering to himself then stopping to urinate a dozen feet from Joe's outdoor tables like how do you even keep a restaurant if there's a man with a rusty saw peeing everywhere yeah you've been in this restaurant for 37 years 37 years that's a long time to have a business most people don't make it a year in business probably twice as long as you've been alive yeah just about now you have homeless encampments surrounding your business you have a man with a saw muttering and peeing what is that like you just have to come to work just like you have to go to school or whatever you have to do to succeed I have to come to work I have to keep my business going so that someday I can retire you know I want to sell it it was at one time a booming business and the funny thing is now that I'm in the new New York Times it's booming again but for how long you know what I mean there's the excitement of the ad and people are very sweet very compassionate do you think this issue here boils down to three things drugs drugs fentanyl fentanyl yeah okay mental illness mental illness the crisis with rent scoring up so much the thing is we can be compassionate about our situation but right now this is hitting your livelihood like how are you going to sell this business would be brave enough to buy it from you and that's probably your retirement plan right well yes of course you know obviously you know what I mean you know I I'm going to collect Social Security but you guys I don't know if you work for when if you work for businesses or something like that you get your 401k you know what I mean and you match it you don't mean all that kind of stuff so you know me my my livelihood is this place this really makes me mad to see you in a situation like this to dedicate so many years of your life to this and how is even allowed that someone can just be sitting on the sidewalk 20 feet away how is that allowed I don't know we sued the City of Phoenix not wanting any money we just want our neighborhood back it's been like this for three almost three and a half years in a lot of places it's not that you don't care about homeless people it's that there's got to be a separation between building them live and prosper and having people poop outside your restaurant what kind of things have you seen that would be I've seen a poor old man in his underwear you know walking in a walker he was on my property and I go hey dude what are you doing and he goes he says you need to get off he started to get off and I came back to my restaurant I said what if he needs help you know what I mean I'm so used to this craziness so it came back out he was walking down the fence line and I'm going do you need help he goes yes so I went and called 9-1-1 and they came and they took them away Mr Joe this is called what's the name of this restaurant Old station sandwich shop old station so folks if you're driving through Phoenix the old station sandwich shop give them business support them vote with your dollar because I know that if I was running a sandwich shop here I'd be I'd be mad really mad if you're in the area comes report delicious wraps good food and good people thank you of course God bless you guys thank you thank you the future of the zone is uncertain residents and businesses have sued the City of Phoenix and the judge is issued an order that the Zone be cleaned up and disbanded by July 10th where will these people go and where will they camp out next I hope it's not somewhere near you people been asking for shorts for a long time we dropped them they're on the site right now get yours while they last they look like this and this so get yours Tommy gmail.com had sold out but now they're back in stock too so enjoy yourself go shopping and if you like this video subscribe here and check out this video

Channel: Tommy G

Views: 1,538,285

Keywords:

Id: BkNZe8ESyB8

Length: 17min 42sec (1062 seconds)

Published: Wed May 10 2023