Homeless, not hopeless: A year on the streets a tough life for man

Sitting in FISH's dining room one evening, Dale Bossert ate his spaghetti slowly, enjoying what is usually his only meal of the day.

The building was warm, almost hot, but Bossert, who has been homeless in Carson City for a year, wore his two denim shirts and red flannel jacket as he ate.

He uses his left arm since a birth defect twisted his right arm to his side. Other injuries cause him to limp, and his body shakes slightly, something he says makes some people think he's an alcoholic.

Bossert insists he isn't, that the shaking started after someone once slipped a drug into a dessert he was eating. He drinks his beverage slowly, lifting it with a shaking left hand, trying to steady it with his broken right hand.

He peers at visitors from under the twisted front of a soiled, worn cowboy hat, its front edges worn by weather and skewed to a point that hangs in front of his watery blue eyes.

At 39, Bossert has a hard time finding work in Carson City, partly because he's homeless, partly because he's disabled. He's had odd jobs since he's been in the capital, but jobs are few and far between.

"My disability prevents me from getting work, not so much here, but really in the Midwest," Bossert said. "Right way they'll point out, 'Your arm.' I wanted to apply at a store and the man said, 'Why should I hire you when I can hire this man who can work twice as fast?' People just look the other way."

Most of his experience has been as a ranch hand or as a custodian, jobs he wouldn't mind having again.

Bossert was born and raised in South Dakota and was living in Oklahoma before he drove his 1979 Ford pickup truck to Nevada about a year ago. The truck broke down in Dayton and now sits at Valley Towing, waiting for a new motor Bossert will probably never be able to afford.

After his truck quit, the Lyon County Sheriff's Office brought him to Carson City where he would be able to find some homeless services.

His "lack of wheels" keeps him wandering the streets of Carson City. With a dependence on Social Security and disability payments, he can afford either utility payments or rent. "I can't do both," he said.

He gets about $530 a month. When the check comes in, he buys cigarettes, pays for meals and for as many nights at a motel as he can. He usually goes to a South Carson Street motel, which at $32.50 a night Bossert says is the best deal in town.

"Sometimes with friends, you can stretch it out for 10 days," he said. "The last couple of nights a friend had a room paid up 'til the 15th and said I could stay there for a couple of days.

"We try to find a room that can take the whole group, up to nine of us split the difference.

"Last winter was a Nevada winter, nice and warm. The coldest was about 16 degrees - that's warm compared to what it's doing now."

When the check money runs out, he's back to wandering the streets, hoping for day labor, maybe sitting a spell at the library, a quiet place where he can indulge in a good Western. He had some problems with Friends In Service Helping and, for a few months, wasn't allowed in the dining room.

His fellow homeless friends smuggled him some food when he was out of money.

On a cold Wednesday night, Bossert wasn't hungry, but he was out of money, out of friends with a motel room and was preparing for a night with temperatures hovering around 20 degrees and his floor, the ground, covered with ice and snow from recent storms.

Then he met Dee Dee Foremaster, a resource specialist and advocate with the Carson City Center for Independent Living, an organization dedicated to helping people with disabilities.

Many of the homeless fall into that category, Foremaster said.

She found him at FISH and soon made arrangements on her cell phone to get Bossert into FISH's Focus House for a night or two until she could find him permanent housing.

There was no arguing with Foremaster. She had a man who needed a place to stay for a couple of days. She warned Bossert to stay out of trouble, because now his actions reflect on her.

For Foremaster it's a common routine -find the disabled on the streets, interview them, find out if they have any income, try to find a reasonably priced apartment, get the person signed up for social services and subsidized utilities.

The center works with people whose resources are perhaps a step above those who are served by FISH. It takes people from the streets and tries to get them into a more stable living environment.

Foremaster admits what the center offers is hand-holding because "people with disabilities need a little bit more assistance," but says that every organization offering homeless services is important.

"Without FISH, we wouldn't be able to do our program," she said. "If we all work together, this works out very well. Without FISH to help my people who are hungry or to give me housing for my transitional people, without these intricate parts other agencies do, I couldn't do my part.

"All the people I work with, they just want help," she said. "I tell them, just like I told Dale, I'm out here working for you and you need to make sure you're working hard for yourself.

"It's hard trying to figure out how to find services that fit their needs. Basically, we're real interested in helping all disabled people get off streets and reenter the community, whether it's through volunteering or with a job."

Within two days, Foremaster had Bossert signed up for food stamps, medical assistance, on a waiting list for rural housing. An apartment will be waiting for Bossert at the beginning of December.

Foremaster said she is even considering getting Bossert a new cowboy hat.

If things continue to work out with the center, Bossert said, he "will more intensely look for work.

"Employers want an address and I don't have one to give them," he said. "I wouldn't mind a custodial position. I would maybe like to drive a taxi in town here."

For the most part, Bossert said, he hasn't had many problems in Carson City. He confesses to a few run-ins with the law while drinking with friends.

"I think there's a homeless problem in Carson City," he said. "Almost anybody I run into is also on the street. There are about 200, I think. I know eight to 10 of them. The hardest thing about being homeless is the treatment you get.

"Like when you go in and apply for work, or go to a restaurant and they'll sometimes give you the cold shoulder. They look at you like, 'What are you doing here?' That's the hardest."

He said he wouldn't mind going back to South Dakota to see his family.

"They asked if I was living in a cardboard box like they do in the cities," he said. "I told them no, I was sleeping in a sleeping bag in a vacant lot."

"I've been here (the vacant lot) for three months. You can't get anything by squatters rights anymore," he joked.

For information on the Carson City Center for Independent Living, call 841-2580.