So as you all know, recently I was houseless. Yup. I wasn’t living on the street, but. Iand my wheelchair-bound mother was very close. It took us a long while to find a place and during that time I was accepting and asking for, donations to help us get through.
Here are some photos I took while I was living from hotel to hotel.
The river shot is the one I took the other night while on a walk with my neighbor, the Doritos were a bag I put in the apartment when we came to look at it, for good luck. It was still here when we moved in.
Recently I saw a tweet about people who get donations and scam folks and I wanted to address this because, through Go Fund Me, I raised over $2000. Because I raised so much money over a year and a half of asking for help, I would like to be honest about where the money went.
During the time I was hosting the GFM, I was homed for part of the first year that I had it up, but for three months and three weeks while I had my GFM up, I was honestly houseless, living in one hotel from the next, that we paid for using mom’s credit cards and the money she got paid while working, plus my disability money AND some of the funds from GFM.
Full disclosure, I also bought food, coffee, and cannabis with that money, which helped me get through the hard days. Being able to choose what we wanted to eat for dinner, was only possible because of those donations and my mom’s credit card.
Having a roof over our heads, was only possible because of those donations and the money my mom worked really hard to save, so she wouldn’t have to use her credit cards, all the time.
Currently, we are both completely tapped out. Being houseless was like being on the worst vacation from real life ever, without the great experiences of falling in love with nature and. the people around us.
We weren’t on vacation. We were fucking houseless, it’s embarrassing, especially because I as one of those kids who had “so much potential,” I was supposed to do great things and go off to great places, and instead I ended up houseless.
The only thing that I can say is that poverty and houselessness can happen to anyone. I used to help people who were houseless, and then I ended up houseless because my life spiraled and I couldn’t keep up. I got sick and couldn’t shake it.
I’m better now because I had help from all of you amazing readers, friends, fans, and followers. On one of the last days of being without a home I called Nada Chehade and asked her what the fuck I was going to do, I couldn’t take it anymore. I’d remained as calm and stoic as I could possibly remain and I was breaking down.
“What the fuck else are you going to do but survive this?”
That’s What Nada asked me. I didn’t have an answer, the only thing that came to mind was “Try heroin and numb the pain?” but I didn’t say that because that was obviously not a solution.
But her words stuck with me, and now here I am, in my brand new apartment, living a life filled with rich experiences, laughter, joy, and the kind of community that means I have people to lean on for the first time in my life.
Everything is better now, but it wouldn’t be if it weren’t for the dozens and dozens and dozens of people who donated money so that I could have a better quality of life while living on the street.
Every day thousands of ordinary people, end up houseless due to circumstances out of their control, if you ever wonder if your dollar or two helps, I am absolute proof that it does.
I am one of the few people on this planet, who got the help they needed, to find a home, and I don’t take the responsibility of that lightly. I am fully aware that when it is my turn, I will be on the responsible end of giving when I am able, I will do as much as I can because I’ll never forget when it was me.
So to all those who followed my journey, who watched out for us, who helped us find housing, and who supported us just by being there, thank you.
You’re proof that communities can work as they are supposed to when they want to.
Sending all my love,
Devon J Hall
There are several ways to help support this site; if you’re interested, it’s much appreciated. Supporting this website means supporting a disabled mixed-race Black non-binary/she person. Thank you so much for your efforts. It means the world to me and convinces me to keep going.
If you’d like to read more of Devon’s work, check them out in the following publications.
Loud Mouth Brown Girl 
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