"I'd rather sleep on the street."

I haven’t met all of my clients. I know most of them, but there are some that I have yet to talk to for various reasons.

A couple months ago, I got a call from a housing manager saying that one of her clients, William,* needed case worker services. He hadn’t been acting himself lately and missed a month of rent. William was one of these clients I had never met. I inherited him from the case worker before me.

Arriving at the housing unit, I met the manager who filled me in on her history with William. He had always been a good tenant and paid rent on time until recently. When I finally got the chance to talk to William, he was irritable. He was mad at himself for spending all of his money on cocaine and alcohol, then got mad at me when I suggested a solution. The housing manager and I agreed a payee—a third-party handler of his money—arrangement would be best. William’s Social Security check would be sent to the payee, usually a bank, who would write a check for William’s rent before depositing the remaining money in his account. However, William was adamantly opposed to this idea and insisted on having full control of his money. I tried to persuade him, but was unsuccessful.

He then decided that he didn’t even want to live there anymore. “I just want to leave,” he said. The housing manager and I tried to tell him that even if he left now, he’d still be responsible for the missed rent, as well as incur a fine for breaking the lease without proper warning.  He didn’t seem to comprehend the situation and instead began insisting that he would rather sleep on the street than live in this complex. It was obvious that something was up. Was he under the influence now, as we were talking to him?

Nobody in his right mind chooses homelessness, I thought.