That is Talk OF THE NATION. I'm Ari Shapiro in Washington. Winter's approaching, and it is getting cold. That makes the problem of homelessness extra pressing. The National Coalition for xped.it.io.n.eg.d.g the Homeless estimates that seven-hundred folks on the streets die from hypothermia yearly within the U.S. So every day volunteers and outreach workers head out to encourage homeless folks to go to shelters. In many circumstances they refuse, and on this hour we'll explore why. We'll start with a visitor who was as soon as homeless himself and refused shelter, however we also need to listen to from you. If you have been homeless, have you ever avoided shelter? Tell us your story. And it's also possible to join the conversation at our website. Later in the program, marijuana has been legal in Washington State for all of 12 hours now. So are the shelves naked in 7-Elevens throughout Seattle but? But first, coming in from the chilly. Th is data was done with the help of G SA Cont ent Generator DE MO!
David Pirtle joins us here in NPR Studio 3A. Welcome to this system. DAVID PIRTLE: Thank you. SHAPIRO: Tell us your story. How did you find yourself homeless? PIRTLE: Well, I grew to become homeless in 2004 on account of schizophrenia, untreated schizophrenia. It precipitated me to lose my job, and that i wound up on the road. SHAPIRO: And was schizophrenia a part of your cause for avoiding shelters? PIRTLE: A part of the rationale was, you realize, the paranoia and the concern of large groups of people who comes along with schizophrenia, but a part of the explanation was, and I think that is extra generally the case with folks, is that you simply hear loads of horrible things about shelters, that shelters are harmful places, that they're filled with medication and drug sellers, that folks will steal your shoes, and there's bedbugs and body lice. And yeah, sadly quite a lot of these things are true. SHAPIRO: Those things actually occur.
SHAPIRO: Is there a wide range between the shelters which are, you understand, safe and heat and clean and the shelters where folks would slightly just be on the road? PIRTLE: Oh sure, there's - I don't wish to say that every one shelters are like that. There's numerous very good shelters on this nation. But there are loads of huge warehouses which might be just locations the place we stick people at evening and we actually have no regard for a way they stay there. SHAPIRO: What was it like for you on the worst nights, whenever you weren't in a shelter? PIRTLE: Well, not being in a shelter through the coldest nights is simply, you realize, concern of not waking up within the morning. It's concern of freezing to dying. But you learn to adapt. You discover ways to, you realize, furnituresales.shop stuff newspapers in your clothing to maintain heat. You find out about hypothermia vans that come by and go out blankets.
And I discovered it quite a bit easier to deal with finally than the heat within the summer time. SHAPIRO: And when individuals in those vans would come by and say come on in from the chilly, you said it was your schizophrenia, however understanding that you simply had this fear of not waking up in the morning, discuss the choice not to go with them to a warm place. PIRTLE: All I can say is that my worry of the unknown, of what is likely to be ready for me at that shelter, was worse than my concern of the recognized danger, you already know, of staying out on the street. That was where I used to be comfy. And I think folks, we're creatures of habit. We get comfy in the most uncomfortable positions, and that just turns into house. SHAPIRO: And did you have firsthand experiences within the shelter that made you suppose, no, this is not a spot I need to be? PIRTLE: I spent most of my time homeless out on the street.