From homeless to housing, friends help a Sacramento man build a new life

Sacramento has the third-highest rate of homelessness in California, behind San Francisco and Los Angeles. Despite efforts like Mayor Darrell Steinberg’s $100 million trust fund geared toward creating affordable housing and a $32 million donation from Kaiser Permanente to fight homelessness, people are often left out in the cold unless someone takes the time to lend a helping hand.

That is how Jim Wilson came to find a permanent home after spending about 15 years homeless in Sacramento.

Wilson, 61, met Meitra Bozorgzadegan, 36, in East Sacramento where they both lived. Wilson often camped on the American River. Bozorgzadegan said Wilson was always a very social, very friendly person who would hang outside the Starbucks on 65th and J streets. She would chat with him and pet his dog Tokadie. Over time, they became friends.

“I think a lot of residents in East Sacramento know Jim,” Bozorgzadegan said. “He was always cruising around. He had a flag up, with his cart and his trailer and his dog.”

A bulge in his neck

In 2018, Bozorgzadegan noticed a bulge in Wilson’s neck. Wilson told her he thought he had an infected tooth but didn’t have a physician he could see about it.

“Anything going on, he’d just go to the emergency room,” Bozorgzadegan said. “So, we decided we’re going to tackle this together and we got him a doctor and he got evaluated. They realized it was not an infection but that he had throat cancer and it had spread.”

Before Wilson could undergo treatment, they knew he needed shelter. Wilson helped construct the first tiny homes at Compassion Village on a site owned by St. Paul’s Church of God in Christ in North Sacramento in 2017. He knew Compassion Village CEO Tammy Vallejo. Vallejo runs the Christian nonprofit organization E49 that organized and ran the temporary housing facility for homeless and low-income people. Bozorgzadegan gave Vallejo a call to ask for help and they moved Wilson into a tiny home in December 2018.

Wilson underwent a complete laryngectomy in March of last year that included removal of his tongue and vocal cords, rendering him unable to speak. The surgery also damaged nerves in his eyes and ears. He will need further eye surgery and now must use hearing aids.

Despite the hardships, Bozorgzadegan and Wilson agreed they were both grateful for the care he received at UC San Francisco and that the timing of surgery and treatment saved his life. In a letter to his doctors, Wilson wrote:

“I was afraid to trust anyone, based on how my life had been going, yet I was even more afraid of dying from my diagnosis. From the moment I stepped into your office, you and the team were all so nice, welcoming and sympathetic, and I never felt judged or ‘less than’ in your presence. I know I wasn’t the easiest patient to deal with, so it means so much that you didn’t give up on me. If it wasn’t for the compassion you all so consistently showed me, I wouldn’t have gone through with the surgery – I would have given up.”

“They have been so kind to him,” Bozorgzadegan said. “Jim has had a really tough, long road. There was alcohol abuse, there’s mental health issues just based on living that lifestyle and aside from all of that, now he’s gone through cancer.”

Fighting City Hall

After surgery, Wilson spent almost four months in a skilled nursing facility but kept his place in Compassion Village. He moved back in July 2019.

On January 14 this year, after residents of the village reported receiving eviction notices, Bozorgzadegan and Wilson were promoted to go to City Hall with Vallejo and others from Compassion Village. They made a case to Steinberg that Sacramento was leaving the residents in a precarious position by asserting that their facility didn’t meet code or zoning standards, when standards for the tiny home shelter model had yet to be created.

As a result of the meeting, a resolution declared a shelter crisis in Sacramento, and to date no one has been displaced from the village. But Bozorgzadegan and Wilson did not leave City Hall satisfied that would remain the case. Given Wilson’s ongoing recovery and treatment needs, finding permanent housing became even more urgent.

Wilson had been on the waiting list for the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency’s (SHRA) Shelter Plus Care Housing Vouchers program for a year and a half — a list that remains over two years long, according to Bozorgzadegan. After Wilson’s case and others from Compassion Village were highlighted at City Hall, Bozorgzadegan said the SHRA stepped in. Between the SHRA’s rent vouchers and Bozorgzadegan’s help sorting out the application process, Wilson was finally able to find an apartment in May.

Bozorgzadegan, who has continued as Wilson’s representative and advocate since his cancer diagnosis in 2018, said that until she began guiding him through the process of addressing his health and housing crisis she had no idea just how hard it is for homeless people trying to access much needed resources and change their lives.

“I don’t know why we connected, and I just decided to stick with him, but he’s a good guy and he deserves it,” Bozorgzadegan said. “He’s always been someone who says, I’m a fighter, let’s do this.”

Bureaucracy, waitlists face homeless

But the road to where Wilson is now was full of obstacles, namely a disjointed amalgam of agencies laden with bureaucracy, confusing paperwork, stifling years-long wait lists and Catch-22 requirements, according to Bozorgzadegan as well as Wilson’s palliative in-home care nurse Denise O’Donoghue.

O’Donoghue assisted Wilson in filling out an application for paratransit, which is a shuttle he would be able to use to take him places like the grocery store or appointments.

“That application was like 20 pages long and I sent it out,” O’Donoghue said. “It’s been months. I keep asking and we’ve heard nothing. There’s no excuse for it, in my opinion.”

When it comes to the formerly homeless patients she sees pulling themselves off the streets and accessing the resources they need, O’Donoghue said, “I don’t see how they can do it by themselves,” because of the many situations that mirror the frustrations they encountered simply trying to arrange for transport.

“It’s hard for me to do it, and I’m a nurse,” said O’Donoghue. “I can’t even imagine, if they have even the slightest chemical imbalance, how hard it must be to get up and try to do this. It’s gotta be so overwhelming. And here I know the system.”

Not only does it take a certain amount of savvy to navigate different agencies or even know who to ask for assistance, permanent housing or simply staying in a hotel comes with strict requirements like having a valid ID.

“It’s really hard for some of these guys to even get a copy of their birth certificate,” Bozorgzadegan said.

Another challenge they faced in Wilson’s case, is that housing applications require the address of an established residence. Post office boxes are not allowed.

“If you can’t use a PO box and you’re homeless, what address are you using for a permanent residence in order to get mail?” Bozorgzadegan said. “It’s all these Catch-22s that make it so difficult for them. I’m home, I’m educated, I have the internet, I have phones and it’s been a challenge for me to get through the process for him.”

Wilson uses a white board and dry erase pen to communicate. He wrote for The Bee that he considers himself fortunate to have the help and friendship of people like Bozorgzadegan and O’Donoghue who wrote are “good.” He also wrote that he wants that kind of help for others.

In the letter to his doctors at UCSF, Wilson wrote:

“Looking back to a year ago, my life has totally changed and so much for the better! I worked really hard to recover from my surgeries and adapt to my new way of living. I am no longer an alcoholic, and I am so proud because I moved into my own studio apartment a few weeks ago!!”

“I just want the community to know that these are people,” Bozorgzadegan said. “These guys have had families, they have children, they are grandparents some of them. I think there needs to be more understanding and compassion for the homeless community.”