When a homeless couple moved in with a millionaire - BBC News

[Music] we never dreamed and imagined we would be living it and P mount California here's Greg and Marie living at ten years on the street and they found a way to love each other under the harshest circumstances on the face of this earth that's what captured my attention immediately a man with a big heart brought a homeless couple into his for million dollar home it was never an intention to ever have Greg and Marie living in my house become available for public consumption you're living a rich white man's house and a rich white neighborhood how the how many times have you heard that happen because it doesn't happen the road to hell is paved with good intentions strange folks hanging around the house the police we're going to be called I'm not going to abandon [Music] we stopped on this I know less today than I did nine or ten months ago when I started on this journey [Music] unsheltered people are invisible until they're not there are hundreds thousands of people on the street Oh our bear pants when the weather's go put the uses for a pad top of it and it worked I met Greg Amory at the end of October 2018 they'd been living on the street for about ten years Greg is a former security guard who was injured on the job and Murray is a former cashier and certified nurse assistant when I met them they were 60 and 53 years old I just remember looking at them and just thinking like could I put my life into two carts and then push that around all day they have health issues which I believe a lot stems from living on the street well with Homme seem like the nice going by fast we would actually put all our layers down here in our blankets and this wall kept us warm when it didn't rain at night is what we see we're right here the more time I spent with them after that initial meeting I was like you know what there are actually fun people I look forward to seeing them see how close it is [Music] okay how you been that's good good you're strong you know that stay stay that way okay here are two older adults who've dealt with setback after setback they have health issues they can't get jobs and yet they've managed to survive how are we not taking care of people like that I wanted to tell that story my column ran on January 3rd 2019 I started reading the article it got halfway through it I just tears started streaming down my face Terry sent me an email hey I have no idea why I'm emailing you I didn't know anything about this man I want to try to help in some way I knew that there was a possibility that Greg and Marie we're gonna have a home terry has this all-glass living room all these art pieces natella was an environment that they weren't used to lush green lawns tree coverage all over the place and these really big house with these long driveways with nice cars it wasn't about Ohio we go live in a house will you be inside we have to think that God but I could also tell that they were really excited about having a place the column ran on January 3rd they moved into Terry's house on February 1st remarkable I come from a very very humble background I didn't know when I first read the article but soon after I met Greg and started asking him about his story his life his upbringing it became clear to me not only are we almost virtually the same exact age but we both came from circumstances that were pretty tough circumstances I mean obviously there's a big difference you know in the mere fact that he's black and I'm white and I can never pretend to understand what that is like [Music] I'm in the buy it broken and fix it business in order to increase revenue we're going to have but somebody's going to have to make an investment I think first and foremost a lot of people perceive developers as green based the funny thing is I love the city love the edge I love the rawness there's days where you know you want to turn your back and walk away and never return but I think part of that would be giving up [Music] what I think I still cannot wrap my brain around is why this simple act of kindness has just resonated with people in so many different ways because from my perspective I didn't do anything extraordinary one of the things that always comes up in this is aren't you afraid weren't you about having strangers in your house and like why would they do something to me if I'm giving him housing he give us our privacy we give him his privacy we got full use of the that part of the house the room that that Greg and Marie are living in now in my house the in-law unit my niece has lived there former nanny has lived there so it's been used it's not like this was uncharted water in terms of having somebody live in there and so with Greg and Marie it was to some extent it was I would say it was easy for me but I was used to being in the place where I don't have the answers we're gonna have to kind of figure this out as we go and we're gonna I mean there's going to be a lot learned in that process [Music] Gregg and Marie have been living in Teri's in-law suite for about nine months there is this adjustment period that they've had to go through happy birthday to Murray happy birthday little Murray welcome to your new number please step over for for two weeks because our legs got so looser just sleeping on a concrete flat we got comfortable that way it would transform him back into a bit more comfortable be able to set things down and don't have to worry about it be able to open my door and don't have to lock my door and don't worry about someone's walking into my door still in it and we're very trustworthy people but we want him to know that we're here you trust us which he does he does Piedmont residents are less than two percent black no one said it I knew what was going to happen the police were going to be called we walk out and we go catch the bus we're standing in front of house and we noticed that we're being with we're being watched with a camera [Music] I'm a neighbor on Hampton Roads I just pulled in the driveway and it's just some kind of strange folks hanging around the house I had reached out to chief Bowers and sent him an email from day one letting him know what I was gonna do in case this actually happened it's only only reason this is happening obviously because this was a couple that didn't fit in to the community based on predominately on color and how they walked and what they wore [Music] it reached the level to where they felt that they were going to burden Terry because the cops were always coming by and they felt that it was causing a problem from them and they were ready to move out eventually neighbors stopped calling the police but the challenges of the new living arrangement were just beginning the people that I've gotten to know on the streets I feel they always have a sense that at any moment don't be forced to evacuate we don't see tomorrow we don't know what's gonna happen in tomorrow so there has been some tension between Gregory and Terry [Music] their heart is absolutely my place they want to volunteer they want to help other people like themselves that are in the same state hey what about you doing man you know I know what they're going through would put a lot of stuff because we know how it feels to have a lot of stuff in my car the kindness is top and why they like meeting people they like having conversations you okay though you all right like yeah but you're not getting paid for that shouldn't you be doing something that you're getting paid for he didn't find a job yet and it's unfortunate that they're hearing job job job for me they thought they were doing the right thing by saying we have an address down but the government looks at at that as they have housing so their assistance dropped by almost a half once I get a job take on a job I have all five from the disability if they went and got jobs they're government assistance would be reduced even further I'm not gonna let the always income that I'd have probably put a rest on the life I'm not gonna let that go have you explained it this way to terrorists you don't talk to us talk to us I think you're treating it as a business man you're asking questions what are you doing yeah and they're treating it as you're yelling at them and being mean to them and putting them down actually I'm trying not to advocate anything other than how can you what can you do to create more sustainability around your circumstances it takes a while for Terry and for Gregory to meet in the middle Terry's learning so much about them and their plight and they're getting adjusted to essentially what cities need to be doing is providing housing a lot of the tension between Greg Murray and Terry comes down to a lack of communication I think they're willing to work on that Otis said that it's reduced Oh see they give me more money so if you have a cooking facility inside that you if we don't have one living outside their you sometime else more yeah it's awkward which-which it's better than not getting nothing at all but that's what we say yes it's covered yes I would love to see more of talking I'm a very private person I see my family fairly regularly but I still protect my private space my marriage personal space and so I was glad it came up in conversation today and I like how I need to let them know it's not personal what I learned last night no matter what he makes time for his daughter and stuff his family and I said Wow okay so what did we stop here say uh he won't spend no time with it for now we understand we want to have something in common these conversation and feelings you where we had I'm doing now we know now we know this housing solved this problem in and of itself if you had asked me that question a year ago two years ago I was said of course of course what we going to what we slept at for 10 years we actually came back here in slept a couple nights it's just we've been living up there we wanted to see what is the different was I said now always go home man I know less today than I did nine or 10 months ago when I started on this journey I don't feel like it's been a failure all it tells me is this is a super complex problem I'm not going to abandon them we don't want to come back here but when we with no choice we will and we know that living what we live in that is this tip array is the transitioning for us to get our own place and what we need we need some help with it it's like a dream having your own house having having your own car and then be able to dis say it's your own place and we want that [Music]

Channel: BBC News

Views: 4,784,972

Rating: 4.8643556 out of 5

Keywords: bbc, bbc news, news, homeless, oakland, california, poverty, income inequality, sf bay area

Id: 45rw2N7sOqg

Length: 16min 22sec (982 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 08 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/nikop]

You get Curb Your Enthusiasm

[u/LESSANGRYTHANISOUND]

This is an unfinished story. I would have preferred it to have taken longer to produce, and to see where things landed over time.

This story to me is about unintended consequences and changing expectations of helping the homeless in a direct way.

I hope it works out for all of them.

[u/two_fish]

Can I get a TLDW?

[u/TotallyScrewtable]

If I had millions of dollars and a large house with a basement with a separate entrance and an alarm system and lots of cameras and a housekeeping staff, I would definitely let a couple of non drug-addicted adults stay in that basement for a limited amount of time, few questions asked.