Homelessness Too Close To HOME

Most neighborhoods have a crazy cat lady, or their own Boo Bradley or at least someone who doesn’t like their petunias trampled. But I’ve had no such like finding a neighbor like these (let alone a single petunia); instead we have our neighborhood homeless man.

When I first saw him he was shuffling along the sidewalk wearing truly tattered cloths, mumbling nonsense under his breath and smoking a cigarette. Being a newbie to the city, I was shocked. Call me sheltered, cause I was. I’d written papers in college on the homeless problem down in DC, the epidemic of homeless Vietnam veterans who make our nations capital home. But I wasn’t prepared to deal with homelessness on my own city block. I felt awful for the man, but I also felt very afraid.

It’s been months since then and the weather has turned cold. He’s still out there, circling the block. I’ve seen him at least once every other day since that first day I saw him. He’s always in the same cloths. He smells like a landfill. He’s always either shuffling along or sleeping in a pile on the sidewalk.

I’ve contemplated giving him money or food or for god sakes a blanket, but I’m terrified of him, and frankly my boyfriend tells me to stay the hell away from him. I feel awful for him, but I don’t want to “make friends.” He isn’t a sweet stray cat I can leave a can of tuna out for. He’s a deeply troubled, 6 foot tall, over 50 man who hasn’t showered in months and as I’ve mentioned he scares the hell out of me.

Last month, my boyfriend went to withdraw some money from a bank down the street. As he walked into the card-entry lobby, the man was sleeping in the corner surrounded by trash. He said the entire place smelled awful and patron’s we clearly distressed to have him sleeping in the lobby area.

Last night the man was sleeping in the doorway to my building. His body was right across the door, making it so you would have to step over him to get by, and impossible if you had to wheel your cart outside, say if you had laundry (like I did). I was freaked out (showing my sheltered roots again aren’t I). After about an hour, our superintendent came home from dinner with his family and asked the man to leave. Our Super then got out a mop and some extra strength Pinesol to clean out the lobby of our building, because the smell was atrocious.

I was left thinking to myself: This was too close to home. You know how there used to be a sine, not in my back yard? You can dump your trash in a landfill, as long as that landfill isn’t anywhere near me? This was in my backyard and I didn’t like it. But I don’t know what to do about it.

I know a lot of people believe in political correctness, but I don’t. Even so I find it hard to describe my feelings towards this homeless man. I feel awful for him, he obviously needs help. But I also feel afraid of him, as a woman who walks home at night (and watches to many crime shows). I know as a human being he has the right to be, but as a person who pays over 1400 a month in rent, does he have to be in my doorway? I know there aren’t laws that say you have to shower and not smell really really bad. But he really stinks! I’m floored as to what to do. Nothing in life prepared me for this.

But this is NYC, very little prepared me to live here at all.