Out Of Homelessness Into Hope, One Man's Road To Redemption

HOUSTON, TX -- Joseph Benson is on the front line in the fight against homelessness in Houston largely because of the years he spent on the other side of it. As its first community health worker, Benson, 66, is an indispensable staff member of Healthcare for the Homeless - Houston (HHH), a non-profit organization which hosted its sixth annual HeART & Harmony fundraising event Thursday. Benson works with Houston’s homeless population, which, in 2018, was approximately 4,000 people. That statistic once included Benson, who was in attendance last night.

Between 1996 and 2000, Benson was addicted to crack cocaine and living underneath the freeway. He found himself homeless after losing his legs, catering business, and family following a horrific crash in May 1990 at the intersection of Kirby and 290. The accident triggered a doleful chain of events all too familiar to Houston’s homeless, Benson said Tuesday.

“When I was on the streets, I knew people who had college degrees. I knew a lawyer who, because of mental health issues, went from being a prominent lawyer here in the City of Houston, to sleeping up under the bridge,” he said. “Mental health issues affect 65 percent of the homeless community. And it runs from early stages of depression all the way to schizophrenia, psychosis. And with most people living from check to check, if they lose a job and don’t get a job immediately, they wind up under the bridge.”

One of the ways Benson coped with homelessness was refusing to get caught up in "the homeless world,” he said. For most homeless individuals, the main worries are where they can sleep safely and where they can shower, use the bathroom, get food, and get high, he added. Benson remained tethered to the “real” world by keeping up with current events and wearing laundered and starched clothes, something he had done since he was young.

“These things kept me connected. I wouldn’t compromise,” Benson said.

One of the things that yanked Benson out his situation was HHH’s Homes program where student doctors and nurses work with the homeless. These students helped him change his wounds, Benson said. Benson would go on to get housing, be on HHH’s first Consumer Advisory Board, and helped sign up 1,000 homeless people to vote in 2008, among other accomplishments.

Today, Benson lives in a home outside Pearland and commutes to HHH’s headquarters at 1934 Caroline St. every day. The organization is housed in a 22,000 square foot space that includes a dental and medical clinic offering psychiatry, podiatry, and pharmacy services. HHH has 600 volunteers and 72 staff members, including executive vice president Carlie Brown who joined the organization 11 years ago.

Brown takes pride in working with former HHH clients like Sharon "Wonder Woman" Agee, 54, who was hired around the same time as Benson. Building trust with the homeless community is paramount and employees like Agee and Benson help build those bridges, Brown said.

“You lose faith in humanity and having community health workers be on the front line and to build relationships and establish a sense of trust and consistency, I think that’s probably one of the most important things,” Brown said.