Q&A with Andrew Linares

Andrew Linares (he/him)
Midnight Mission Community Engagement and Volunteer Manager

Five years ago, Andrew Linares was an unhoused individual who entered the Midnight Mission’s rehabilitation program. Today, he mentors unhoused men who are seeking a second chance at life.

Having seen almost every side of the homelessness crisis, Linares discusses the struggles and the solutions for the city of Los Angeles.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Can you describe the scene of homelessness in Los Angeles right now?

Linares: Well, at first glance, it just seems like it’s a third world country mixed in with a rich community.

In reality, it almost seems kind of as if it’s a milder dose of the Great Depression. The need for basic emergency services is in high demand.

It may seem like a lot of people are just being lazy. Everyone has their opinion as to why homelessness happens. But in reality, there are situations that you can’t see or wouldn’t know until you actually sit down with some of our community members. 

I noticed yesterday, watching a documentary, that every 50 years, man goes to war. And that seems to be happening today. We have two wars going on across the ocean. With war comes refugees. And that’s what we’re experiencing here.

And then you got drug trafficking, as well as human trafficking. So people are coming from other parts of the world to the United States. The result is they’re on our streets because they have nowhere to go. They don’t know anybody around here.

Then, a world pandemic also threw a wrench into the whole thing.

How has COVID-19 exacerbated the homelessness situation? 

Linares: Even before the pandemic, the number of homeless individuals in our streets was already at a high number.

In the 1980s, the crack epidemic was happening and the number of people on our streets started rising. Then by the 90s, a high number of families were walking around the Los Angeles streets.

And now, after a few recession, and the ups and downs of the economy, more people ended up on the streets. And in 2020, a world pandemic shut down the entire world.

The issue of homelessness was pretty much brought up to the forefront. It’s no longer something that’s in the background. 

One of the things that we actually were fearful of is that after the world opened back up, the number of people that lost their jobs, and ended up using up all of their resources and income would inevitably end up in our streets. Some of them, even before they ended up on the streets, came to the Midnight Mission and other neighboring organizations to find resources and help. 

I’m a single man living in Los Angeles in my own apartment. Trying to save money in this economy is not the easiest thing.

So I can only imagine a family of four… how difficult it could be for them. 

The Midnight mission, being almost 110 years in operation, has withstood two great wars and several economic crashes. Our job is not easy, but we’re ready for the task.

Someone has to do it, and we’re happy to do it.

How does substance abuse affect life on the streets? 

Linares: Most don’t end up on our streets with drug use. There are a handful of people. I don’t have the exact statistics, but from personal experience, a small percentage do end up on our streets because of a drug and alcohol issue. But you have some individuals who, because of mental health, have families not wanting to take care of them.

They have nowhere to go. A lot of people who are in our streets with mental health issues. And what ends up happening is they find a substitute: something cheaper and easier to obtain. And drugs are the next best thing, right? I’ve actually heard of several people who have ADHD, they use a little meth, and they get balanced out.

Same thing as Adderall. But at the same time, it comes with the price. People aren’t going to think about that because they’re just seeing like it’s working for them. Drugs and alcohol don’t become the problem. They become our solution.

Our problem is not knowing how to deal with life on life’s terms.

First, they need to be able to identify that they need to work on this. So you got different classifications of people who are in substance use, but not everyone starts off that way. They may end up that way in our streets after a while.

For a number of women, there’s domestic violence or human trafficking or those traumatic experiences. And you need something to be able to block that off. Drugs and alcohol are the number one resort for them.

It’s not their fault that they are addicted.

Every individual on our streets, in our community, has their own story. We have to sit down and listen to them.

There’s trauma, mental health, a lack of jobs, wars, refugees, substance abuse, and so much more. For the city of Los Angeles, where is the next step needed?

Linares: We look at the individual. Every individual that is in our streets today has a separate story.

Some may have been raised in in a good family. Some may have lived in poverty their entire life. Some of them might have been on the streets since the age of 17 and are and now are in their 60s. Some may just have ended up on the streets just yesterday.

Well, if you’ve been on the streets for a long time, let’s ease you into small quarters right? And then, remove the obstacles one by one.

First things first is always emergency services: making sure that people are being fed, have water, have clean clothes, a place to shower, hygiene items, and they have a roof over their head.

Then there’s health, education, senior citizen resources, rehab, and so much more.

But there’s more to it. For some people who have been on the streets for a long time, if you put them in a room, they don’t know how to behave. They don’t know how to feel and react.

Being on the streets for so long, having to sleep with one eye open… even the quietness can be a bit much for people. So people get uncomfortable and they leave that place and they go back to something that’s more familiar.

One of the beautiful things I saw was this man, Caveman.

That’s what he would introduce himself to us as. He lived in our courtyard for many decades, sitting in a in a wheelchair in the same spot every single day. He knew what services we offered. He’d help people get into our program, but he just wasn’t ready himself.

But then we eventually closed down the courtyard, and we did the best thing that we could offer. We offered everybody that was staying in our courtyard an opportunity to come into our program. And we were shocked to hear him say yes.

And it took a lot of extra care just to be able to work with this one individual. To calm him down. But I saw him integrate himself back into society little by little and within two years, we ended up discovering that he is the smartest and brightest man ever.

He had hobbies. He found those hobbies again. He loved anything electronic. He bought himself an electronic scooter and a drone.

And that’s the man we were waiting for.

But unfortunately, for every 130 individuals that we help, another 145 end up on our streets. Just when we think that we’re making a dent into the homelessness crisis, the crisis is surpassing us even more. It’s difficult.

So we just prepare ourselves to be able to change and adapt and grow with the current homeless situation.

What would you say about the homeless individuals who say that they like being homeless?

Linares: It is easy for somebody to say that to maintain a appearance of some sort of right.

And it may be true for them, or it might just be a defense mechanism. But living on the streets means living with potential threats. Then there’s also this level of loneliness and darkness that I’m sure a lot of people experience because I experienced it.

I remember when I first ended up on the streets. At first I was just like, “Well, good riddance. I’d rather have it this way. No rules. No rent to pay. My money is my money.”

It sounded and felt appealing at first.

But I remember one year, I did not realize that it was the 4th of July until I was walking around and the sky around me lit up in fireworks.

How did I forget that? Or how did I not know that? And I watched families have barbecues, and I realized I hadn’t laughed in months. I hadn’t spoken to my family for months.

That’s when that sense of loneliness and darkness started creeping up for me.

There’s two answers that you’re going to get: “I’m tired” or “This is all I know.” When you’re complacent in one place, it becomes difficult for you to move forward.

There seems to be two extremes: those who love missions and shelters and programs, and those who wouldn’t touch one with a 10-foot pole. Where is the disconnect between homeless individuals and homeless shelters coming from?

Linares: I think there’s also a third classification of individuals: the ones that do not know.

We ended up finding out during the middle of the pandemic that a lot of people did not know that we offered recovery and shelter beds here. They thought we only served as a soup kitchen.

When I was homeless, I went to one organization. And, man… The things that I had to do just to be able to get a shower and a hot meal.

I had to go to an hour of mass and an hour of singing and prayer. Then I got a shower and had to do another 30 minutes of prayer.

For a lot of our community here, realistically, they lost all hope and faith.

God has betrayed them. God has turned his back on them and they’re on their own. Or at least that’s what they have in their head.

So having barriers, when you already have the rest of the world putting barriers on you, just to receive the most basic necessities should not be happening. And a lot of people refuse to go.

We believe that to build faith, you have to receive the service first, not the other way around.

I’m not by any means religious or anything like that. But I see that you have your own personal journey and spiritual experience. We can’t get in the way of that.

Whatever you find, we don’t close the doors for anybody because everyone is entitled to their own faith.

Is there anything else you would like to share?

Linares: Homelessness can happen to anybody. It doesn’t matter what country, what city, what age, what gender, or whatever.

Homelessness can always happen to anybody.

We need to see the individual first things first. That’s not an easy task. And it will never be an easy task.

But it’s well worth it.