By Timothy D. Naegele[1]

Yesterday, the homeless did essentially nothing, except doze part of the day in a car, truck or van—sitting upright—if they are fortunate enough to own, lease or rent one.  Most walk the streets, carrying old blankets to keep them warm and dry; and they push shopping carts, full of their earthly possessions.  They sleep wherever and whenever they can.

They get out of the vehicle to piss, many times during night; or they just find a convenient bush.  At some point, they have pissed on their pants.  If they are really blessed, these will be replaced with clean ones that are kept in a storage unit or locker somewhere, which was rented when they risked being evicted from where they lived last.[2]

I have written about the plight of the homeless before[3], and have seen it up close.  But this time the efforts are real, startlingly real.  Rather than evict an Iranian tenant named Mohammad (or Amir) Abri from an EAH project in California—who beat his live-in female "companion," and had her forcefully evicted—EAH's top management, including its CEO Laura Hall, planned to have another tenant evicted.[4]. But the person left voluntarily last month.

One of the county's attorneys—who earns an estimated $200,000 a year, as a government employee, and is paid to help people—refused to help the person.  In fact, he was downright misleading and rude, and effectively told to the person to get out of his office.  He might have acted promptly and raised viable defenses, but he didn't.  He should be disbarred and lose his license to practice law, but the state will do nothing.  That much is crystal clear.[5]

Yes, the tenant withheld a few months of rent to compensate for a death threat and constant harassment by Abri, which were meticulously documented by the tenant.  In antiquity, the practice was to "kill the messenger," or the bearer of bad news; and that practice seems to be alive and well today.  Despite knowing about problems with Abri before the tenant arrived at the EAH project, Hall and her managers did nothing.

As stated previously, each of them should be terminated immediately; they should be prosecuted, convicted and incarcerated; they should be sued personally in federal courts, and their assets should be seized; all funding of EAH projects by US Bank should cease immediately; and the tenant who endured their wrongdoing should be compensated handsomely.[6]

Yes too, there are homeless in California and other states who suffer far worse.  Even in California, the shelters are full, especially when the weather is bad.  And people avert their eyes, because in some sense they know that but for the Grace of God, there go all of us.  I learned that lesson from my heroic parents.[7]

Reportedly, it dropped to 38 degrees the other night.  But it is far colder elsewhere in the country, where the homeless have no protection and little food.  And it is not their fault.  In a much larger sense, the homeless in America and other countries are the real heroes in life, especially those who have little children.  They put up with conditions on a daily basis that most of us cannot fathom and would never want to live with.

Perhaps God protects the least among us.[8]

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© 2025, Timothy D. Naegele

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[1]  Timothy D. Naegele was counsel to the United States Senate’s Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and chief of staff to Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal recipient and former U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke (R-Mass).  See, e.g., Timothy D. Naegele Resume-21-8-6  and https://naegeleknol.wordpress.com/accomplishments/   He has an undergraduate degree in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), as well as two law degrees from the School of Law (Boalt Hall), University of California, Berkeley, and from Georgetown University.  He served as a Captain in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency at The Pentagon, where he received the Joint Service Commendation Medal (see, e.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commendation_Medal#Joint_Service).  Mr. Naegele is an Independent politically; and he is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law, and Who’s Who in Finance and Business. He has written extensively over the years (see, e.g., https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/articles/ and https://naegeleknol.wordpress.com/articles/), and studied photography with Ansel Adams.  He can be contacted directly at tdnaegele.associates@gmail.com

[2]  Some readers may be offended by the candor of this article, and the language that it uses.   And by why such a depressing subject is being raised as the new year begins.  But homelessness could happen to anyone.  God guarantees us nothing, even those who have experienced God.

See https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2010/05/12/what-and-where-is-god/ ("What And Where Is God?")

Also, it should be high on the agenda of the incoming Trump-Vance administration.  If they can't solve it, no one will.  And yes, Ben Carson was Secretary of HUD during the last Trump administration, as discussed in my "Homelessness" law review article at length.  See infra n.3.

[3]  See https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2020/07/09/homelessness-in-america/ ("Homelessness In America") and https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/timothy-d.-naegele.pdf

[4] See https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2024/10/16/is-eah-housing-an-abomination/ ("Is EAH An Abomination?")

[5]  See, e.g., https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2014/09/08/the-state-bar-of-california-is-lawless-and-a-travesty-and-should-be-abolished/ ("The State Bar Of California Is Lawless And A Travesty, And Should Be Abolished") and https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2023/02/07/why-hasnt-california-disbarred-richard-h-lubetzky/ ("Why Hasn’t California Disbarred Richard H. Lubetzky?")

[6]  See supra n.4

[7]  See https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2024/05/12/legacy/ ("Legacy")

[8]   And yes, homelessness is not helplessness.  But realize that inertia breeds depression.