Amy’s life has changed dramatically this summer.
After years of homelessness and housing insecurity, she got her own apartment on the Westside of Colorado Springs. Just weeks after moving into her own home, she started working at the Circle K right down the road from her new place. She also got new dentures that, unlike her previous ones, fit well – a new smile right when she has a lot to smile about.
I interviewed Amy while she was taking a smoke break outside her workplace on a sweltering August afternoon.
“I’m loving it,” Amy said of her new chapter in life. “Straight up.”
Amy said the rent on her apartment is paid in part via the Housing Choice Voucher Program, formerly known as Section 8. Applicants are selected via lottery; Amy’s name was drawn last year in August. For months after, she worked with the program to bring her voucher to fruition.
“It was a slow waiting process,” Amy said. “It eventually got done.”
Amy had been living with a close friend, Danu, until Danu passed away unexpectedly after a brief illness. Danu’s family had been letting Amy stay at the residence until she had somewhere to go.
“I have a feeling that, from the other side, [Danu] has a lot to do with this – making things fall into place,” Amy said. “She’s that good of a friend.”
Amy also credited Kristy Milligan, Executive Director of the nonprofit Westside CARES, and staff at the property management group Trek Management, for their roles in getting her into her new home.
“They have come a long way to be on my side and help me. And I’m very grateful,” she said, adding that there were many others who helped her along the way as well – too many to name, but “they know who they are.”
Amy said many of those who helped her the most while she was unhoused were other members of the homeless community.
“[Becoming unhoused] broke me down. But the guys out there built me back up,” she said. “They accepted me and showed me honor and respect…I am very grateful for them.”
Amy said her experience being unhoused has changed her perspective on homelessness.
“It’s not always as it seems. Everybody has a situation that put them there,” she said, adding, “[Unhoused people] deserve honor and respect every step of the way.”
“Many people are one paycheck away from experiencing what I did,” she added.
She said her experience being unhoused taught her things about herself, too.
“I am stronger than I believed I was,” she said. “I can endure just about anything.”
“And” she added, “my fear of thunderstorms is gone.”
Amy said that even though she’s got her own place and a job that keeps her busy, she’s keeping tabs on her people.
“I’m still checking up on my guys out here that are still on the streets,” she said. “Even if I’m dead dog tired, I still go out on check up on everybody.”
I’m not going to fail anyone. – Amy
She encourages others to not give up and to keep trying to make a better life.
“There’s no reason that you can’t try, and try and try,” she said. “Find a way. Until then, I’ll still have everybody’s back. I don’t judge; I don’t discriminate.”
She said she still sees herself as a part of the homeless community of the Westside and plans to continue being a leader.
“I’m just trying to make the Westside safe and trying to show that the homeless are humans and deserving of respect,” she said. “They may look a little rough around the edges, but a lot of them are kind, gentle people…just their circumstances are a little different.”
She said she often acts as a counselor for her community members, teaching conflict resolution skills, welcoming them to come to her to problem solve or just vent.
“They always know they can come to me and talk it out,” she said. “And usually, they solve their own problems as they’re talking to me.”
Amy said her main goal for the future is to “be happy” in her “simple life.”
“I like having a roof over my head, a kitchen to work in and a bathroom,” she said. “Those are the most simple privileges in life.”
“We are not entitled to anything,” she added. “We are here by the grace of a Higher Power.”
Amy is determined to keep the good momentum in her life going.
“I’m not going to fail anyone,” Amy said. “And I’m not going to fail myself.”