Mike McCall: It Takes a Team to Get a Home

by MIKE McCALL

Special Contributor, Stewpot Writers’ Workshop

Mike McCall happily displays the key to his new apartment. Photos by Jesse Hornbuckle.

My journey from the streets started the day after I was released from county jail with no place to call home.  I knew absolutely nothing about the services offered but saw that The Bridge had multiple services onsite so that’s where I went.

I ended up there two days later with my negative COVID test and I was blessed with a mat that same day.  Given that this was my first experience in a shelter, I didn’t know what to expect. But, in my heart, I knew I needed help getting back on my feet.

For many of us, the decline into homelessness is as complicated as the process it takes to reverse this fate.  Becoming homeless can be an individual act whereas fixing the problem is a group effort. 

Here is the moment when you need to put your pride aside and start building your team.  Just like a Search and Rescue team, these are the people with the training and insight to free you from the cold grip of the streets.  This team includes your case manager, peer counselors, recovery coaches and finally your housing manager.  These are the people that can help you do what it takes to get your head above water and find your path to feeling whole again.

These newfound allies form an unstoppable force that can assist you in your goals.  The streets have no love for anyone, but your team has love for people from the streets.  I had tried for years to do it alone but could never get ahead. So, I know for a fact that my team is responsible for getting me to the finish line.

The importance of developing your team came to light when I was picked up by The Bridge’s Rapid Rehousing group and tried to find an apartment.  I trusted the process and it had brought me this far, but my background was about to bring my dreams to a halt.

I’m currently on probation and was getting denied due to this from every place we applied.  I even waited two months for a place that said they were going to work with me just to get the door slammed in my face again.

Fortunately, my housing manager found a place that would take me as long as I could produce multiple referral letters.  Lucky for me I had people I could turn to for the letters, lucky for me I had my team.

Developing these positive relationships is part of creating a life worth living and not one of pure survival that we are used to.  The team I had created provided me with more support and opportunities than I could have ever imagined.  Team McCall flooded the apartment managers inbox with a plethora of letters vouching for the man I had become.  Within a week I signed my lease and was given the keys to my freedom.  For the first time in many years, I could hold my head high in a place I could truly call home.

All this change didn’t happen overnight, and it sure didn’t happen alone.  Without my team I would have never made it this far.  They lifted me up and showed me what it was going to take to win.  When times got hard, they had my back guiding me through the dark to achieve my goals. 

I’m in a much better place now and I feel like I’m a part of the Dallas community again.  I keep in touch with the people who helped me get here and I am filled with gratitude for their efforts.  I pray that everyone gets the opportunity to build a team and find a place that they can finally call home.

Mike McCall is a writer in The Stewpot’s Writers’ Workshop and a Dallas College student.