Brian and Melissa, Hazelnut Grove homeless camp, Portland

Brian, 39

When we met I’d been living on the streets for almost five years. I was suffering from depression and feeling lonely and burnt out. I was cold towards other people because I didn’t want to be touched. I’d walked away from my life years ago; my wife died of leukaemia when my daughter was three. I raised my daughter on my own but then she was killed in a car accident at 17.

I certainly wasn’t interested in meeting anyone and at first, I didn’t understand why Melissa was even interested in talking to me. But as I listened to how she talked to other people, I realised how kind she is but also saw her real fierce spirit.

She’s helped fill a hole in my life and our relationship became the first real connection I’d had with anyone in years. She’s the only person who understands where I’m coming from or how hard I find it to interact with people sometimes. Looking after her is nerve-racking for me. It can be very dangerous on the street. She was violently attacked by a gang once while I had left her to go and get us something to eat – I completely freaked out over it.

Melissa’s the only person I can grow old with. I’m building a tiny home for us in a small community we’ve helped set up on some city-owned land. We’ve had the wood donated and we want to get solar panels and a reclaimed water toilet. Our dream is to have our own co-op farm and teach young people to create eco-villages. I have an engineering brain and she has an organising one. Together, we’re pretty good at this stuff.

Melissa Sayson, 46



We met at a feed for houseless people in a public park. We’d both been single for 10 years and at first he was a bit like, “Why are you talking to me?”. But we started to go to social justice and city council meetings together. For our first proper date he took me to a food cart with the money he was earning from cleaning a woman’s house.

She’s the only person who understands where I’m coming from or how hard I find it to interact with people sometimes

I was staying in shelters but had to line up in the freezing cold every day to get a bed. I have disabilities and I’d wait for a disabled bed but sometimes the people who ran the shelter would kick me out of it and say they needed the bed for someone more disabled. It was a very stressful situation. Brian suggested I stay out a night on the street with him and see what it was like. That was my first night outdoors. We slept in front of a business, covered with a tarp and it was raining. A guy came past and kicked us. Despite that, being on the street turned out to be better for me than being in a shelter. I got more protection from being in a couple.

The two of us are really into helping others. We’re street ministers and built a houseless, drug-free community under one of the bridges here. We became a gang of Christian folk who just wanted to be protectors for each other.

We got married last year by our pastor. One friend took pictures and made us a wedding album, and another got us a local hotel room for our honeymoon. The bathroom and the air conditioning were amazing. He also gave us a cable account password and we watched an X-Men film, Exodus – the one about the Moses story, and the Antiques Roadshow. Nothing’s really changed since we got married; but I feel better not living in sin.

Brian and Melissa are still living at Hazelnut Grove homeless camp but have moved from a tent into a tiny home they built.





Christopher and Jackie, Camp Second Chance, Seattle

Christopher Shbron, 29



I have two jobs; one as a kitchen porter at Starbucks headquarters and one as a dishwasher in a French restaurant. Some days I’ll leave at 6.40am and get home at midnight. Jackie stays behind at the camp and looks after other things, like going to get the laundry done.

We met online 18 months ago. I was looking for a special person to be with and when we met in person, we clicked and liked each other straight away. I was living with my brother and his wife, and after a while Jackie moved in with me. We were paying them a lot in rent and they were pretty controlling over my life. I decided we needed to leave. It was the right decision but we had nowhere to go.

We’ve only been homeless for three months. We stayed in hotels for a few nights but we couldn’t afford to keep doing that. Our friends who have a car and help us out suggested we look for somewhere to camp. We drove around and found a group of people doing it together and looking out for each other.

We have our stressful moments now that we’re homeless – but he’s stuck by me

Being here is as good as being in a shelter. People care about us and there’s a feeling of unity. A sous chef I work with is also helping me save money and Jackie’s dad is helping us too. It’s not so bad. I used to go camping when I was younger so I’m used to the outdoors. But this is only temporary.

Jackie Baker, 24

People say guys just sweet-talk you at the beginning. But it’s been different with Chris. Everything he said at the start, he’s stayed true to. We have our stressful moments now that we’re homeless and I know I get on his nerves – that’s the kind of person I am – but he’s stuck by me.

Before I moved in with Chris, I was living with my foster parents. I grew up in a church home and they’re pastors. I love them dearly but I had to move out because I was the oldest of many kids and it was crowded.

When we left his brother’s place, we struggled to find somewhere to rent. We’ve saved money from what he earns and from my social security but places go so fast. Before we’ve even filled out an application, they’re gone. It’s like there aren’t enough homes.

This is the first time I’ve been homeless. One of the most difficult things is when it’s freezing at night and he gets home late. But we’re making it work together. Our friends drive us to the community gym to use the showers. At this camp we take it in turns to provide our own security 24 hours a day on the gate. We also all each pay $20 a month for things like the generator.

Christopher and Jackie are now married and living in an apartment.

Lakenya and William, Camp Second Chance, Seattle

Lakenya Lomax, 45



William and I met when we were working as caregivers in a retirement home about 20 years ago. I was living with my sister and he started calling and asking for me. I was always out because I’d moved to a job at Burger King and was singing in a choir, but one day out of the blue he asked my sister if I was single. Our first date was the mall and a movie. Afterwards I met his two boys from his previous marriage.

It became my first serious relationship. A few months later my brother-in-law asked me to leave and I moved in with William. It was fun. We were in our own place and had his boys with us. I would watch him play his video games, sometimes I’d play too. He was loving and cared about me. After two years we got married. We couldn’t afford a wedding dress so I wore plain clothes.

While we were living together, William didn’t like the work he did, so he quit. I was still at Burger King. When a new management company took over our building, they raised the rent to way more than we could afford and we got evicted.

We couldn’t afford a wedding dress so I wore plain clothes

We became homeless on Valentine’s Day 2014. It’s the first time I’ve been homeless. I could probably go into a shelter but most don’t take couples without children and I don’t want us to get split up. We’re in a camp on the edge of Seattle. I haven’t really looked for work as I don’t have the bus fare to go into the city.

William Lomax, 53

When I first met Leelee, I realised she can pretty much get on with anybody. She’s definitely not shy. It took us a while to get married because neither of us could afford the licence. But we eventually managed it.

As a child, my mother and I moved cities a lot and at times were homeless, but this is the longest I’ve been homeless for. The rental prices in Seattle are ridiculous.

Like every couple, Leelee and I have our ups and downs. Whenever we get into an argument, I walk away until I cool down. Sometimes I walk a pretty long time. But the most important thing is we always apologise to each other.

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She wants to get out of this camp and into an apartment and I’ve pretty much been working on it. I go online to see what rentals are available and while I’m there I look for work. But she tells me I shouldn’t work because I’m not young any more and I have a bad heart. She tells me to try to get on social security but I’m stubborn and I’ve never let people hand me things on a silver platter. I’ve been a school janitor, a commissary on an air force base, I did some prep cooking.

I never think about giving up. If there’s a house out there for us, trust me, I’ll find it. If there’s a job, I know I’ll get that as well.

Lakenya and William are still living at Camp Second Chance.

Aleesa and Hunnie, Camp Second Chance, Seattle

Aleesa Christopher, 35



The first night we were homeless and without shelter was terrifying. We’d been staying on friends’ couches but had run out of options. We approached women’s shelters but they wouldn’t take us. Hunnie is trans and they only cared about what her driving licence says.

When Hunnie and I met online, she was one of the few people to approach me like a person and not just for a quick hookup. I was living in Portland and feeling lonely after spending a year teaching English in Japan, following my art degree in San Francisco. I was doing retail work and had neglected all my art. But Hunnie saw my potential and suggested we make video games together. She became my first romantic partner.

A few months into the relationship, we were living together and I quit my job. We got a contract to develop a game teaching English to kids in Thailand. It seemed like a great opportunity for us. But the contract became problematic when our main contact went to jail for white-collar crime. Hunnie also got serious pneumonia and I didn’t have a fallback plan for earning money. We had no safety net and not enough money for rent.

We’ve had to tackle whether we stay together during this tough time or have it be something that tears us apart

Being homeless has taught us how to be a lot more vulnerable with each other, and that’s allowed us to work through some of our communication problems. We’ve gone through so much together now that we know we’ll always be there for each other in the future.



One of the most difficult things about being homeless and in a relationship is not having privacy. Our tent is next to other people’s and we don’t want them to hear us so we’ve sometimes avoided issues until they explode.

Hunnie Tanner, 35

Aleesa and I met on OkCupid. We bonded over nerdy interests, like video and board games. She was – and still is – the most clever, crafty person I know. When we met, she was working at an electronics store and was on the midnight release of a Batman: Arkham game. I saw that she had made her own Harley Quinn outfit to cosplay in and that really tickled me. But it was her artwork for video games that totally blew me away. She moved in with me after a few months.

About a year into our relationship I came out as trans. Aleesa is very open-hearted and pragmatic. She said “OK” and had some questions but just accepted it.

Hunnie and Aleesa in their tent



Mental health has been a huge deal for both of us. We both have had problems dealing with judgment and suspicion and it causes us to clam up. Due to a combination of a lack of money, a lack of a support network, and mental and physical health problems, we became homeless. For Aleesa it was the first time. For me, I’d experienced it twice in childhood.

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Being homeless has been a crucible for our relationship. We’ve had to tackle whether we stay together during this tough time or have it be something that tears us apart. Whenever we ask the question, “Would I rather go on without the other person?” The answer is: “No.”

It has brought a lot of external stressors to our relationship and we’ve had to find support from inside of our relationship. It requires us to be very genuine and open with each other.

The couple are now renting rooms in houses; Aleesa, who now uses a gender neutral pronoun, is working at Microsoft on Minecraft.

All interviews were conducted in late 2016.

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