- [Interviewer] Dennis.
- Yes. - [Interviewer] We're here in Los Angeles. - Yes we are. - [Interviewer] You're homeless. - Yeah, unfortunately. - [Interviewer] Tell me about it. - Well, through a avalanche
of unfortunate events, and a bad relationship which
wiped me out financially, I ended up being a working actor, actually big fish in a small pond out here in California and regionally. Moved to New York to an
apartment that I couldn't afford, and after three years my partner split and wiped me out financially. So I had to start again. And of course, you know,
when you're in that state and you don't have anywhere
to really turn to... My mother, I have family
out here of course. My mom is in a senior living situation where if she doesn't get constant care... I don't qualify for the age requirements to live in the facility. So I would get jobs, various odd jobs, like working at a restaurant
during graveyard shifts and you know, come home at like three, four, five in the morning in dark clothes and a rolling duffel bag just
in case I missed the bus. And people in the environment thought that I was gonna
be there to burglarize them or rape them or kill them. So I had to leave. The manager gave her an ultimatum. They said either you
leave or your son leaves. So of course my mom
can't be on the streets. There was no question there. So I went out and I had a car that was given to me by a boss. I was signing at a church,
and a boss of mine, actually a guardian angel,
took me under his wing and gave me one of his old cars. That was great, except it
started to break down very soon. I couldn't afford the registration. I couldn't see paying the registration on a car that wasn't running. So I kind of found an area where I kind of did a lot of business at a local theater in Orange County and I was parking on the streets. - [Interviewer] So you're
living in a broke down car. - I was living in a broken down car, yeah. - [Interviewer] How long?
- Many of us do. I was in that car off and on for the better part of a year and half. I lived in a kitchen
pantry for a little while. I lived in a garage on a pool
table for a little while. And then there were several months where I was actually on the
streets, on the streets. That's kind of what I'm facing now as I became a driver for
the Lyft corporation, Lyft is like Uber. I had a rental car through Hertz, but one of my local street chums decided that they wanted
to take off with my car, so unfortunately, you know, we're trying to locate it and locate them, but hope's not very high. Hope is in short supply
when you're in my position. - [Interviewer] And that's
gonna hurt your credit and everything else.
- It hurts everything. What hurts the most is the friends and the family that used to be there that when you get into this situation, everybody just chalks it up
to drug abuse or bad choices. I'm sorry. It's not always the case. Sometimes it's just the
choice is made for you and you don't have any choice. So um... I live in hope, I guess,
that some things'll change. Thanks. - [Interviewer] Sometimes
you work all you can. Everybody makes bad choices. You do everything you can and it's like the world
is fighting against you. - Yeah. - [Interviewer] But you can't give up. - Yeah, I guess so, I'll keep trying. Keep trying, hope its' not in vain. - [Interviewer] I was
out here 23 years ago for bunches and bunches of years. - Yeah, well thank you. - [Interviewer] Yeah, well, can't give up. - Live in hope, you know. Everybody deserves a second chance, sometimes three, four,
or five second chances. It's not easy out here. When the economy tanked
and gas prices went up and food went up and everything's... They say that the recession's over but you don't really
see much of the effect in the daily dollar, you know? And it's still hurting us greatly. There are programs in place like EBT and food stamps
and things like that, but anybody who knows anything can't live off of $187 a month on food that you can't
have a refrigerator for or an oven or a microwave. We don't have the amenities of home. So you buy things with preservatives, things that don't go bad, things that keep well on the streets in different temperatures and climates and most of the time it gets stolen anyway because even amongst the streets you have people taking whatever you have. - [Interviewer] But you're
in pretty good spirits for going through all this. - That's right, that's right. - [Interviewer] What would
you want people to know about homelessness that
they probably wouldn't know or they stereotype that's wrong? - Right, well, homeless
people used to have, it used to be the class system. Homeless people used to be that
person that you didn't know that would talk to themselves
or that didn't bathe, in the corner of a doorway, that everybody just
walked by and overlooked. Oh and there's my bus, that's okay though. And everybody would just overlook. But they're now your sons or daughters, your sister, your brother, your cousins, somebody in your family,
the way that it's going, at some point in time
somebody in your family is going to be homeless. If you think about that person that you overlooked in the past and that were a member of your family, I would hope that you would have the heart and the humanity to do
something different. - [Interviewer] Great, great answer. If you had three wishes
what would they be? - Oh, God. Cure for deadly diseases, the end of homelessness and poverty, destruction of class
system all together, but, and world peace. - [Interviewer] (laughs) Well thank you, what a noisy night. I was thinking there's no
way I could've gotten away from the intersection or
the bikes or the scooters. Thank you very much for talking to me-- - Thank you, thank you. - ...and go catch your bus. - Thank you, I hope there was
some musical fotoage there. Have a good day.
Like he said everyone deserves a second or three or four chances. The stigma with homelessness is always drugs and it's sad , the cost of rent in this country is totally out of control . Once your in that situation it seems to snowball really quick and even though he may not be on drugs now the situation can lead him there. Well I wish him the best of luck !
At 4:14 he nails the major issue. Wages are stagnant and the purchasing power of us poor plebeians is going down.
Ex homeless here, 6 years on the street, another 4 years on someone's floor, couch. I used to have crutches like this guy, used to blame my abusive Father, rightfully so, my evil brother, rightfully so, friends let me down, and I had a good excuse for everything and a solid reason why I was out on the street. But one night, laying in a box no bigger than a coffin I'd been living in, raining, crying, I had an honest fucking talk with myself, I put down the excuses and realized none of those people were suffering from their sins, I was. None of those people could help me out of the box, I had to. None of those people were going to help me put the past behind me, I had to. I vowed that the next day when I awoke, I would start with a new slate, no excuses, no anger, no negativity, no long list of failures, a new beginning. I'd finally take ownership of my lame life. That's what I did, and mind you it didn't happen over night, but I cleaned up my act, quit drinking, met a wonderful woman(together since '92), put the past behind me, quit lying, reunited with my family. If I could say one thing to this gentleman, I'd say have an honest conversation with yourself, take ownership of your life, put down the excuses, quit blaming others, clean up, get out of California, start over, clean slate. Stop lying to yourself and maybe one day you too will be able to look at yourself in the mirror and truly respect the person looking back. editspelling
I wonder what acting roles he's in.
Lot of people, even single mothers with children survive working 1-2 jobs at minimum wage. if he leaves for small town, suburb I think he can easily make it.
It's kinda amazing how close the average person comes to homelessness these days. I am a white american male with a college degree, and I've been like one paycheck away from homelessness a solid 50 times. One wrong choice or one moment of weakness coulda put me on the streets.
It's kinda fucked up.
Does anyone know how to get in touch with this guy? I'd like to help him out.
This video reminds me of Mike Rowe's video on Don't Pursue your passion. Chase opportunity
He needs to grow up and get a real job/career.
This guy is bullshitting like mad.
Everything was never his fault, no personal responsibility ever.
There is zero reasons why he is homeless besides the reasons he is not sharing.
Pathetic.