Fallbrook transitional house helping those who help themselves

Kevin is loyal to his soil, and the Fallbrook High School graduate has always lived in Fallbrook.

"This is my home," he said. "I've never been homeless anywhere else – just here in Fallbrook."

Kevin is a success story, and one of many stories he talks about who came from a transitional home for homeless people looking to get their lives in order.

Kevin said he has spent the better part of 11 years living on and off the streets in his community. The last time he was homeless was after a breakup. With nowhere else to go, he headed back to the streets.

"I didn't have any place to go, so I ended up on the streets and that was for a year and a half – the last stint," Kevin said. "It's really tough. I always call it living in the shadows.

"You're trying to live in the shadows – you need to be seen, but you don't want to be seen – if that makes any sense," he said.

While he has turned his life around, there were dark times on the streets.

"There was a time where after the third day, I would be like, 'I got to eat and I'm not a thief, so I would just go to a trash can and dumpster dive and I'm going to find something to eat," Kevin said. "The easiest thing to get is cold french fries outside of a fast-food price place. Cold french fries. People throw those away all the time. So unfortunate, but true."

He said he considered taking his own life at one point.

"I had a plan and everything to commit suicide, but I couldn't go through with it because there would be some people that might miss me," Kevin said. "I had a great plan. It was on the corner of the Aviation and Mission, and it was before the stoplight was there. I planned when the 306 (bus) comes hauling (expletive) through there at about 50 miles an hour, I just jump in front of it.

"But then I got to know the bus driver, and I'm like 'oh no' I can't do this. Traumatize somebody like that. But as I said, it was just existing out there. It wasn't living."

While homeless, Kevin said he was always able to use some of the resources available to him – for instance, he got his electronic benefits card so he didn't have to panhandle.

"Panhandling is not good around here," he said. "That's going to cause trouble. That's going to bring the police."

In addition to having no place to live, Kevin at 56 years old was dealing with high blood pressure, a bad hip and some mental illnesses from living on the street. He was able to get health insurance and start seeing a psychologist who helped him.

"I was not sleeping and had (bouts with) uncontrollable crying and all that," he said. "So I got on some psych meds that really helped me out."

Once some of those things were taken care of, he was able to take the next steps.

"Then there were meetings with different people," Kevin said. "Like I said, Brad Fox (a local homeless advocate) and Blaine Vice (business owner and member of Fallbrook Homeless Advocacy), and got to where I said, 'Hey, here's an outlet for me.' Here's the way I can get some help. And I jumped all over that because it's like, I'm going to die out here. I'm 56 years old. I don't want to do this anymore.

"I didn't choose to be on the street, you know; it chose me this last time. And I wanted out, but I couldn't do it, I didn't know how."

Kevin said he doesn't have any family available to him, but advocates like Fox and Vice stepped into those roles. Not having a family to turn to in situations like the one Kevin was in is fairly common in the homeless community.

There are others who just won't accept help.

"There are a handful of others that have opportunities," Kevin said. "That's the sad part. They have opportunities and won't take their family up on it. They'd rather be on the streets so they can drink and use drugs.

"But those are literally a handful of people. Most of the people that I know on the streets, they want to get out of that and there's minimal help," he said.

Kevin said there are representatives from groups like Exodus Recovery and McAlister Institute that work with Homeless Outreach Teams to reach out to members of the homeless community.

"There's a lady named Amber, and she goes down to the trail and meets with people to see if they want to get off the streets if they want to get help," Kevin said. "Some of them go for it, some of them don't. But I've been friends with her for a couple of years now, and she's one of the people that really, really, really helped me out."

He said he transitioned into a homeless shelter in Carlsbad where he stayed for about 60 days until a friend, Tony Rico, had him come live at their house for about six months.

"Tony's wife Tracy, she's an angel, a true angel," Kevin said. "She helped me to get to my doctor's appointments and my referrals. That was time-consuming, but none of that would've happened without the initial help and accepting it and saying, 'I'm tired of this.'

"Other people get tired of it and say, I'd rather go back to the bottle or the needle or something," he said.

Today, he's the man in charge of running the transitional house that opened in May 2019, and he's proud of it.

"It means a lot because I've always been good with responsibility," Kevin said. "Back in the early days, younger days, I used to run a five-man framing crew for about 10 years. I like to tell people, 'I don't like it, but I'm good at being an (expletive) if I have to be, no argument.' I'm good at it."

He said the rules of the house are tough, and they need to be. While some people who have been placed there couldn't deal with the rules and restrictions, there have been quite a few that have successfully transitioned out of the home and are on their own.

"There's been a bunch of successes that have come through here," Kevin said. "There's at least 10 or 15 that I can think about on the top of my head."

He said he can't remember having any problems at the house and said his neighbors will back him up on that.

It has also inspired him to continue his education, working with some of the people at Exodus to start taking college programs.

"This really works out good for me because I've been saying for years and years, even before I was homeless, one of the things that I've always wanted to do was feed people," Kevin said. "Now it's turned into more, I'd like to help other people, especially with all the experience that I've had with social workers, homeless shelters, medical insurance fields, unemployment, SSI, the SDI stuff. I can be a real help."

He said during the coronavirus outbreak and the subsequent stay-at-home orders, the residents of the house have been dealing with it as best as they can.

"Nobody's at each other's throat or anything like that," Kevin said. "There's always little chores to do to keep busy and stuff like that. Everybody gets along really well, and we've got a nice man cave in the garage with the big TV. A couple of people have little side jobs to do like landscaping, tree trimming work, so they can go do some work and social distance at the same time."

They are also making their own hand sanitizer to pass the time.

"That's what we do," Kevin said. "We grind (aloe) up in a blender and then pour alcohol in it. It's rubbing alcohol, you know; it's a good way to pass the time."

Editor's note: This is the first of two stories relating to the homeless transitional housing unit located in Fallbrook. Next week will focus on how the residents of the home are working to gain their independence and thrive in the world.

Jeff Pack can be reached by email at [email protected].