From Owning a Business to Losing His Sight
“I've been here since Wells Avenue was a dirt road,” Bryan said. “The way the homeless are treated in the state [of Nevada], it’s like, we shouldn't even be alive or we should be lepers on an island somewhere. I don't get it. I've never done anything to be treated the way I've been treated [here].”
In the not so distant past, Bryan says he had his own business as a transmission mechanic. But as health problems started piling up, he says he got lost in the Section 8 system, and couldn’t find his way back in.
“I had a 105 degree temperature and almost died,” Bryan remembers of when he lost housing. “They put an eviction notice on my door while I was totally blind, instead of knocking and seeing if I was alive or dead. I didn’t go outside for almost two weeks because of that and they didn't [bother to] check on me or nothing.”
Bryan says he used to box at Reno High School before serving with the Marines for two years. He says he first started to go blind when a relative hit him. His retina became detached two days later. Then one day when Bryan was driving out to his dad’s house, he lost his sight entirely and went off the side of the road and into the river.
“It was the scariest thing ever,” Bryan said. “I’ve been on and off blind ever since, but I’m totally disabled now. I can’t do what I used to do.”
“I became homeless when I went blind because my whole family didn't know how to handle a newly blind person,” Bryan said. “I've trained for having a guide dog over six times now, but because I can't make it out to all of my lessons, state law says you have to take them all over again.”
Trying to Get a Guide Dog and Living off Disability Payment
Bryan says he has applied and trained to get a guide dog six times. Transportation has made things difficult for him to complete the program. The last three times Bryan says he trained as an applicant, it was his last needed appointment that he missed. Despite his difficulties finishing the program, he’s grateful for the staff that has been understanding of his situation and helping him through the program each time. He hopes that one day he can complete it.
In the meantime, Bryan receives a Social Security Disability monthly payment. However, in today’s market it’s not nearly enough to afford housing.
“I get an SSD check for $840,” Bryan said. “But any hole-in-a-wall place here costs you $1,000. How am I supposed to get a place to live?”
Bryan has a hard time just getting a loan, as he says his eviction from four years ago continues to hurt his credit score. After receiving a corneal transplant in his right eye, he recently got a job working as a cook at a local senior citizen center as he tries to re-build credit with his bank. However, keeping a job is hard for him when he doesn’t have a place to live.
“I don't have a steady bed because I have to go over to the overflow shelter at nine o'clock every night,” Bryan said. “But they sometimes won’t let you in anywhere, even when it's freezing out. People are actually going to end up dying [because of the cold] and I don't want to be one of them.”
He would like to see government agency’s do more for the homeless population. He doesn’t believe people understand the gravity of what it’s like being homeless during the winter.
“It's not good here out here and people just don't get it,” Bryan said. “People are dying. I don't want to die here.”