12 GROUNDCOVER NEWS PEOPLE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD The Bell-Kramer neighborhood on the south side of Ypsilanti is the location of a homeless encampment on top of a former city landfill. Ypsilanti city council recently passed a resolution to evict the members of the encampment. The encampment is now a pressure point between the neighborhood, the city, the community in solidarity with the survivors and the survivors themselves living in the encampment. Among several people seeking shelter there is a 48-year-old man named Buddy. He, like the rest of the encampment, is doing what anyone else would do in his situation — surviving. Anyone who has been homeless may find themselves chuckling at that last statement. Self-sufficiency without the means for self-care is one of the most difficult things to manage and at the same time one of the most taken-for-granted facets of being human in America. You don’t see how privileged you are until you’ve had to live outside the system. Culturally, we expect to go from childhood to adulthood with support and with a head start on housing. As a youth, I moved in and out of my parents’ house until I could live on my own without interruption. Unfortunately for many, myself included, disaster strikes and we find ourselves ruined. Returning from that ruin is a challenge that can only be understood from the ground up. For Buddy, that disaster came in the form of a broken marriage due to mental illness. I asked him how he became homeless. “My wife and I got married when I was 18. We had a falling out after 27 years,” he said. “I took it hard.” “What were the events that led up to the falling out?” “Well, she cheated on me, I took it hard. I tried to commit suicide,” he replied. “So you fell into depression. Did the falling out have to do with drugs?” I asked. The substance he was using was methamphetamine. “Yes,” he replied. “Was your wife using it as well?” “No, she tried to get me to stop.” “So it was like, you won't quit, so get out?” “Yeah, that's pretty much how it was.” “And that started destabilizing your mental health?” I asked. “Yes.” “Did you seek any help, like substance abuse counseling?” “So what I did, man, I like, I cut back. I tried not to use as much but then it just got worse. I’ve used drugs, man, you know, for a long time. I AUGUST 7, 2026 People in the Bell-Kramer neighborhood: Buddy JIM CLARK Groundcover vendor No. 139 wasn't using it every day. It was just every now and then.” “How did that happen? How did you get into that?” I asked. “My dad was a meth cook, so I grew up around it,” he answered. “I didn't start using that till I was in my 20s.” “How did you go from living in the marital home to living in the tent behind a warehouse?” “When I lost my job, I didn't know what else to do. So I just grabbed a couple of tarps and started camping.” “I'm guessing you lost your job either because of the meth use or mental health issues, right?” “Oh, yeah, because I was using way too much,” Buddy said. "Now you have no means to keep yourself housed. You lost your home. You weren't expecting any of this to happen. So you went through the shock of it all, and now you're stuck sleeping outside." "Yeah. But now it's like, you know, I'm working through it and just trying to get ready to go back to work." “Do you see yourself ever quitting completely?" "Yes. Because I want to be in my kids' lives." Buddy has five children. His oldest is 17. He continued, “So to quit, that way I can be in their lives. My daughter called me, and told me that I can't be around my grandbabies, man, if I'm using. My son hasn't talked to me for several years now. He's had a couple of ladies I've yet to meet. And I’d like to meet them, you know. So I'm working on quitting. Actually, I went to rehab this past year. "But I didn't go to rehab to stop using drugs, you know, I went to rehab to find myself, because I was using way too much." "How is that search going, the search for yourself?" "Oh, man, I tell you what, finding me is a journey. And I like who I am. Now I'm on the search to find a job." I asked Buddy what he wanted to do for work; without hesitating he said, “I really love driving a tow truck. It’s almost always about helping people, which I take pride in, and I’m somewhat mechanically inclined and always wanting to learn more.” He has a license. All he needs is a place to rest and an opportunity. “So from being banned from your home and marriage, you went from sleeping outside behind a warehouse and recently you've moved to the Bell-Kramer encampment,” I said. “Yes, to be closer to resources like CMH and Hospitality House,” he replied. “And now the city of Ypsilanti wants to evict you from that spot. How do you respond to that?” There was a long pause. “I understand it. Because they don't want people living in a tent in the woods. I understand that.” Another long pause. “But I mean, in the process, if they don't want us back there, then help us out. For instance, I'm working on trying to get a job. If the city could possibly help me with doing that? Oh, man, hey, if they could help me find one, I'd be more than happy to work.” “If the city or the county gave you some kind of supported housing while you were finding a job or while you were working, what would you do then? What would your next step be?” I asked. Buddy answered, “You know I don’t want to use meth anymore, so, if I got support, I would use what they give me and take off from there.” “What's your long-term goal for yourself?” “I would like to own my own business.” My impression of Buddy is that he would make an excellent tow truck owner/operator. There is a stigma that says people choose to be homeless and they could Cartoon by Andy Steckel help themselves if they wanted to and tried hard enough. For some this may be so. But what people who have never experienced homelessness fail to realize — especially in these economic times — is how hard it is to come back from zero. When you have nothing, our current cost of living spells doom. Vehicles, cell phones and residences all provide life support for you to get and keep a job. Each becomes an economic tether — you must pay the bill or be cut off from life support. Buddy wants to work, but the catch 22 is he needs the things a job brings — vehicle, cell phone, residence — in order to be stable enough to get a job. You just can’t think about resumes when you’re sleeping outside in an illegal city dump that could get robbed or raided at any time. “Some members of city council and the community want to create a safe tenting zone, like an authorized place for people to pitch a tent, where there wouldn't be neighbors yelling at you," I told Buddy. "There’d be water, bathrooms, but most important there would be wrap-around support (help with housing, jobs, mental health and medical care, etc.)." “That would, that'd be nice,” he said. “The only caveat is people are worried that because it's city sanctioned the police will be closer,” I said. “That'd be fine,” Buddy replied. “I mean, I would like for them to come by every now and then to see how we're doing. When they're being decent people, I don't mind them being around. Because, you know, the police are supposed to be there to help us anyway, right?”
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