Kevin Lotz is what you might call a regular guy. His pants go on one leg at a time, usually frontwards. He’s known for his quick wit and good nature. He’s worked all his life, at one thing or another. And he loves his little dog Max something fierce.
A little more than a year ago, Lotz, 63, was working a pool route in Palm Springs, CA. He had stable housing for him and Max, and homelessness was the furthest thing from his mind. He just wasn’t feeling very well.
It wasn’t anything specific at first, just a general malaise, but eventually he noticed his breathing was becoming more and more labored, and he decided he better get checked out. He found out his heart was only pumping at about 17 percent of capacity, and he was at risk of having a heart attack at any moment.
He hadn’t been thinking about retiring, but with his health on the line, Lotz opted to take his Social Security early, becoming one of the millions of senior Americans with no private pension or retirement to draw from, only his Social Security. Lotz returned to Grants Pass, where he found his minimal government income alone was nowhere near enough to live on independently. Grants Pass is nationally notorious for its unaffordability, due largely to the high cost of housing here.
Fortunately for Lotz, he had family willing to take him in. He moved in with his sister and nieces, and in so doing, became part of the fastest growing segment of American households, those who live in extended family housing arrangements.
According to research by the National Institutes of Health, the motivations for creating such arrangements range from familial altruism to simple cost sharing, as in Kevin’s case. They are often a stop-gap measure to prevent a family member from sliding into homelessness.
But blending households under a single roof is fraught with challenges, and in time, it became clear that Kevin’s situation would not hold up over the long haul. So, he packed his gear and his little dog and moved on.
His next stop was a rented tent space at Woodcreek Campground. But at $30 a night, Kevin was using all his income just for a place to pitch a tent, leaving nothing to actually live on day to day.
“I could see there was no light at the end of that tunnel,” Kevin says. “But I needed help.”
He started searching the internet for solutions, and that’s how he found the Gospel Rescue Mission.
“I stood outside the building and felt embarrassed and ashamed,” Kevin recalls. It was hard to accept that he needed the services of the Mission’s shelter. But he didn’t want his pride to get in the way of legitimate help. Little Max went back to his sister’s house, and Kevin moved into the Mission.
“I gave up smoking, not because I really wanted to, but because that’s what I agreed to,” he said. “I’m not big on breaking promises.”
Like all Mission residents, Kevin had to work for his keep. He had experience in retail, so he was initially placed at the Mission’s Booth Street Thrift Store. But it was not long before his level head and work ethic drew the attention of Mission staff, and Men’s Coordinator Bobby Galli offered Kevin a position as a resident advisor in the men’s house.
The RA job is essentially administrative in nature, but it entails a lot of work directly with the residents themselves, including screening for admission and tracking their behavior to ensure compliance with Mission rules.
“I didn’t really feel comfortable in that watchdog role,” Kevin said. “But Bobby told me, ‘The fact that you’re not too comfortable with it, is what will make you good at it.'”
GRM is considered a high-barrier shelter, because residents must agree to follow strict rules of conduct in order to be admitted and receive services and programming. Those rules include sticking with established work and house schedules, attending church weekly and daily chapel sessions, and following through on various tasks tailored to help each resident get his life in order, in preparation for self-sufficiency. But perhaps the most challenging for many new residents is the Mission’s requirement of absolute abstinence from drugs, alcohol and nicotine. RAs like Kevin are often the enforcers who have to hold residents accountable when it appears they have fallen off the wagon.
“We had one guy who went across the street to the store and met somebody in a car who passed him a joint out the window, then took off and left him with the joint. He stood there and smoked the rest of it, in clear view of the RA’s office,” Lotz said. It was his job to break the news to the resident that he would have to leave the house. These interactions require a certain delicacy, because violators don’t always take the news well, but Lotz explains that it’s important to be rigorous about the abstinence rules, in particular.
”I am so grateful for the time I spent at the Mission. It was safe and sane and structured, and really helped me get my head together and break out of that downward spiral.
“It’s really for the safety of everyone in the house. We have guys in there who are really struggling to get clean, and they come to the mission for a safe space,” said Lotz. “We cant have guys coming in there stinking of weed and triggering craving for guys who are earnestly trying to turn their lives around.”
Lotz spent just a few months living at the Mission before he was able to locate housing. Galli submitted a recommendation for Lotz to go into a new senior independent living home in town. Operated by Mid-Rogue Foundation, a philanthropic arm of Allcare, the Evans Place home offers a subsidized private room in a shared home with minimal rules. The best thing for Lotz was being able to be reunited with his little buddy, Max. In short order, she made herself a popular addition to the household.
“I’m comfortable here, and Max has been welcomed,” said Lotz. “It feels like home. But I am so grateful for the time I spent at the Mission. It was safe and sane and structured, and really helped me get my head together and break out of that downward spiral. I’ll always be grateful for that.”
By: Annie Foster, Mission Graduate
Photos By: Eric Mortinson, Mission Graduate/Mission Staff