Fifty-two year old self-described “Florida boy”, Mike, works as a scrapper. “I go to the scrap yard. I get my scraps from alleyways and trains.” His resourcefulness hasn’t earned him enough to put a roof over his head just yet. One incident with the law, all the way back in 1996, still cripples his hunt for a decent-paying job. “They still hold it against me. You can find a job. But it ain’t paying nothing brotha. Maybe 250 per week. A studio apartment is 600-800 per month. It ain’t enough.” Leaving his troubles behind in Florida, Mike’s been in Colorado since 2003. “Been kind of stuck here. Don’t wanna go no place else. Here, you can get your weed,” he says with a puff and a smile. However, he is stern in describing the absence of family and his descent into homelessness over two years ago. “It’s cause I ain’t got no blood. No mom, no blood.”


Prized Possession: His Chevrolet truck. It is a source of

economic survival. “You can hustle with it. Move some furniture, move some scraps. With a truck, you can always make some money man.”