The NYC Homeless Shelter Experiences of Craig R. Bayer, 1999-2000

Wall and Bridges-- by Craig R. Bayer

I lived in the Bellevue Men's Shelter about a year and and a half, starting in 1999.

I can't claim that I was perfectly safe: I occasionally heard about fights and people and people in possession of knives-- and of course, I ran into some hostile people now and then. I, a mental health consumer, expressed some hostility too, at times, but fortunately I did not become violent.

On the whole, I guess, during my tenure there, life was relatively safe. There were security people in various places and a weapons detector at the entrance, etc.

I recall only one violent disturbance, which involved a fight between a security guard and a resident. Fortunately, nobody was hurt.

The staff had a mix of personalities, many of whom were gruff when they first met me, especially when I complained about the lack of cleanliness in the bathrooms and other minor problems. One staff member who initially disliked me , outright lied about me, claiming that she caught me eating out of a garbage can. That incident led to my first psychiatric hospitalization. Ironically, this person eventually became one of my staunchest supporters,. The same went from one of my social workers, whom I had a slight crush on and ultimately presented with a poem; at first she seemed impatient with me, but after reading my poem she was a fan of mine ever after.

The bottom line is, the staff didn't always like my activism, but recognized in the end, despite my stoic exterior and occasionally militant political stance, I had a heart. When my own heart was exposed, theirs were too.

The residents could be difficult to please,  too, but I did make some friends, both in the mental health program and even in the poolroom, where things could get a bit rough.

I guess what I hated most about the shelter was the complete lack of privacy and the mediocrity of the food. Other than than, on the whole, the Bellevue Shelter was surprisingly livable and from what I understand, there were much worse shelters in the system.

Certainly I am glad to be out of the shelter, but I feel fortunate to have been there when I was homeless.

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My note: as you can see from the above, Craig certainly is a person with a lot of "heart" and I am glad things had so improved when he was there ( they had a POOLROOM? Good grief, if there was one while I was there I never knew of it. Of course, the place is so big you can live on a different floor and have different experiences..)

Craig also does not mention mice,--if they had them as they did while I was there, they obviously were not much of a problem.

Craig has also told me he heard conditions there grew worse after he left, but that is for a future article in this series. --LK