VOA Š CONNECT 
EPISODE  #167   
AIR DATE  03 26 2021   
TRANSCRIPT 

OPEN  ((VO/NAT)) 
((Banner)) 
Life Without Housing 
((SOT)) 
((Mouangjoi Tracy Saelee, Volunteer, The Village; 
Unhoused)) 
I have always tried to keep up with my image.  At least that's 
one thing that you got to hold on to.  Even though, you know, 
you're out here, but you don't have to look like youÕre out 
here, you know.   
((Animation Transition)) 
((Banner)) 
Finding a Solution 
((SOT)) 
((Michael Parks, President and CEO, Flyaway Homes)) 
It's constructed out of converted shipping containers.  And 
this project consists of eight four-bedroom units, five of 
which are occupied by families, three of which are occupied 
by shared individuals.   
((Animation Transition)) 
((Banner)) 
Keeping a Commitment 
((SOT)) 
((Eric Dillon, Fallon Resident)) 
Marriage has a lot of things that you need to do to work 
things out.  Not too many are rosy the whole time.  Because 
you get mad, you know, and you think, ŅWell, maybe I should 
just move on.Ó  And you can't just keep doing that.  You have 
to work together. 
((Open Animation))  
 

BLOCK A 
 
 
 
((PKG)) PROFILE OF A HOMELESS WOMAN  -
  MOUANGJOI TRACY SAELEE 
((TRT:  08:04)) 
((Filmed before the pandemic)) 
((Topic Banner:  Unhoused in Oakland))   
((Producers:  Deana Mitchell, Wendi Jonassen)) 
((Camera:  Deana Mitchell)) 
((Producer/Editor:  Jacquelyn De Phillips)) 
((Drone Camera:  Dariel Medina)) 
((Map:  Oakland, California)) 
((Main characters:  1 female)) 
((Sub characters:  1 male, I female))   
((NATS))   
((NATS:  Tracy))   
((Mouangjoi Tracy Saelee, Volunteer, The Village; 
Unhoused)) 
Mark Fisher.  
((Mouangjoi Tracy Saelee, Volunteer, The Village; 
Unhoused)) 
I had a big house where everybody comes by.  If anyone 
wants to take a shower, want to eat or whatsoever, you 
know, wanted some clothes, they always come see me and 
then theyÕll always be taken care of.  
((Mouangjoi Tracy Saelee, Volunteer, The Village; 
Unhoused)) 
My name is Mouangjoi Tracy Saelee. 
((NATS: Tracy))  
((Mouangjoi Tracy Saelee, Volunteer, The Village; 
Unhoused)) 
Oh, look.  A cutting board. 
((Mouangjoi Tracy Saelee, Volunteer, The Village; 
Unhoused)) 
IÕve been homeless over a year.  Lost employment.  And 
also because the rent increased, itÕs too high to afford 
it.  Things went bad. 
((NATS:  Tracy cooking fish))  
((Mouangjoi Tracy Saelee, Volunteer, The Village; 
Unhoused)) 
The fish, it got donated this morning.  When people donate 
things, we like usually cook it and share with everyone else. 
((Mouangjoi Tracy Saelee, Volunteer, The Village; 
Unhoused)) 
This is my community.  I've been staying in this area for my 
whole life.  And a lot of these people that is in this homeless 
encampment is my friends and family and relatives, you 
know.  
((Mouangjoi Tracy Saelee, Volunteer, The Village; 
Unhoused)) 
So, even though I wasn't homeless, I was always coming 
here to visit them and bringing them food or things like that, 
you know. 
((NATS:  Tracy reading bullet points for advocacy 
event))  
((Mouangjoi Tracy Saelee, Volunteer, The Village; 
Unhoused)) 
Housing is human rights.  Safety: Women are being raped 
out here.  People are getting burned in the fires.  
((Mouangjoi Tracy Saelee, Volunteer, The Village; 
Unhoused)) 
I am a volunteer.  I'm the head administrator of The 
Village.  And I'm helping the founder very closely to help 
eradicate this homelessness problem, you know. 
((NATS:  Charlie sings))  
((Mouangjoi Tracy Saelee, Volunteer, The Village; 
Unhoused)) 
Telling the truth isnÕt going to be easy.  Who broke my 
window?  
((NATS:  Charlie laughs)) 
((Mouangjoi Tracy Saelee, Volunteer, The Village; 
Unhoused)) 
They never know who is going to be here next.  You know, 
being homeless is not a crime.  You know, itÕs not a 
choice.  I know a lot of these people.  Like I said, I grew up in 
this community.  And a lot of them knows me, you know, and 
they respect me because I've always, you know, had a big 
heart. 
((NATS:  Tracy helping Charlie and Didi))  
((Tracy)) Put that down.  LetÕs forget about that.  LetÕs forget 
about that. 
((Charlie)) You know heÕs crazy.  HeÕs cuckoo. 
((Tracy)) Alright, IÕm going to tell you the good news.  You 
guys are going to leave for five days, right? 
((Charlie)) Yeah. 
((Tracy)) You leaving for five days?  
((Charlie)) After I get her washed up, cleaned up. 
((Tracy)) Okay, by the time you get back, your house will be 
up.  
((Charlie)) Oh, I love you.  
((Tracy)) YouÕll go inside a house instead of a tent.  Okay? 
((Charlie)) Thank you. 
((NATS:  Crook and man arguing))  
((Man))É..because heÕs a liar, because heÕs a liar. 
((Crook)) I understand that. 
((Charlie to Didi)) Come on baby, let me take you and go 
get you a shower.  
((Mouangjoi Tracy Saelee, Volunteer, The Village; 
Unhoused)) 
I have six children.  I was 13 and I had a child when I was in 
seventh grade.  And by being a young teen mom, you know, 
we wanted to do the best for our child, right?  So, I continued 
going to school and graduated from high school and 
proceeded to go to college.  But I never finished it because, 
due to the fact that, you know, just being, just life, you know.  
Things go wrong and sometimes it doesn't pick back up.  So, 
but I thrive.  And later on, I have like five more, you know, 
children.  And I was holding on to being a mom.  I mean a 
good mom.  But at the same time, I lost my house in 2014 
because someone got killed outside my house.   
((NATS / MUSIC)) 
((Mouangjoi Tracy Saelee, Volunteer, The Village; 
Unhoused)) 
The landlord sold the house and they evicted me.  So, when 
they evicted me, I don't have no money.  
((NATS)) 
((Mouangjoi Tracy Saelee, Volunteer, The Village; 
Unhoused)) 
Everything was just like falling apart, you know.  I couldnÕt 
afford housing.  
((NATS:  Tracy))  
((Mouangjoi Tracy Saelee, Volunteer, The Village; 
Unhoused)) 
Rise and shine everybody.  Meatball. 
((Mouangjoi Tracy Saelee, Volunteer, The Village; 
Unhoused)) 
After that I lost my children, because CPS [Child Protective 
Services] said I didnÕt have a home for them.  They have to 
stay with my sister.  I see them all the time.  She has four 
kids of her own.  She's amazing.  
((NATS / MUSIC)) 
((Mouangjoi Tracy Saelee, Volunteer, The Village; 
Unhoused)) 
I didn't want to like intervene with, you know, their 
household, whatever, so.  And also, you know, I'm with 
someone.  You know, we didn't want to like intrude or 
anything like that, you know, because they was already set 
for how many bedrooms they have.  So, I didnÕt want them 
to.  
((NATS:  Tracy))  
((Mouangjoi Tracy Saelee, Volunteer, The Village; 
Unhoused)) 
IÕm not wearing those fake eyelashes today. 
((Mouangjoi Tracy Saelee, Volunteer, The Village; 
Unhoused)) 
I was staying with my mom and she had to move because of 
the rent increase.  For a two bedroom, she was spending 
like $1600.  They wanted it to go up to like $2300.  She had 
to move to a smaller place to which, where only she could 
only have herself there, you know.  I had to become 
homeless and get a tent and put it here where everybody 
was at.  
((NATS:  Tracy showing her tent))  
((Mouangjoi Tracy Saelee, Volunteer, The Village; 
Unhoused)) 
This is my little bed.  And my closet is back here but itÕs so 
messy.  You donÕt want to see that.  And this is where it 
is.  ItÕs the kitchen, the living room, everything is here. 
If I have my generator on, then I get to watch TV. 
I don't believe there's such a thing as being comfortable 
around here because there is no way to be comfortable 
here.  Now you don't even have a house to protect 
us.  Especially being a woman, being out here in the streets 
is even worse because you got to protect yourself from being 
raped.  Sometimes I'll be by myself and it's scary.  And when 
I stay with.....I always stay protected.  So, this is what goes 
in my side window, my little, tiny knife.  
((NATS:  Tracy showing the makeshift bathroom))  
((Mouangjoi Tracy Saelee, Volunteer, The Village; 
Unhoused)) 
This is a bathroom.  This is not the best-looking bathroom, 
but people just go in the garbage can because the city didnÕt 
bring us bathrooms, so we have to make our own. 
((NATS:  Tracy showers)) 
((Mouangjoi Tracy Saelee, Volunteer, The Village; 
Unhoused)) 
I have always tried to keep up with my image.  At least that's 
one thing that you got to hold on to.  Even though, you know, 
you're out here, but you don't have to look like youÕre out 
here, you know.  By being out here, people already 
discriminate us or even judge us by the way we are living.   
((NATS)) 
((Mouangjoi Tracy Saelee, Volunteer, The Village; 
Unhoused)) 
So, just a little bit of looking proper is a long way to go. 
((NATS)) 
((Mouangjoi Tracy Saelee, Volunteer, The Village; 
Unhoused)) 
Being a woman and having to have women necessities and 
stuff like, you know, we have to up wash all the time.  And 
it's hard out here because we donÕt have water.  We don't 
have like things to keep us sanitized and keep us like 
healthy.   
((NATS)) 
((Mouangjoi Tracy Saelee, Volunteer, The Village; 
Unhoused)) 
You know, it's cold and at the same time, you know, like 
emotion and depression gets worse because we canÕt have 
our children here with us, you know.  
((NATS)) 
((Mouangjoi Tracy Saelee, Volunteer, The Village; 
Unhoused)) 
When you have children, you can't bring them out here with 
you because, you know, CPS [Child Protective Services] will 
be like that's child endangerment.  
((NATS)) 
((Mouangjoi Tracy Saelee, Volunteer, The Village; 
Unhoused)) 
We need to feel like weÕre secure, you know.  We need to 
feel like we're human.  We need to feel like weÕre one of 
many humans that walk on this earth.  We need 
respect.  We need encouragement.  
((NATS)) 
((Mouangjoi Tracy Saelee, Volunteer, The Village; 
Unhoused)) 
A lot of us, homeless people, out here, is very smart, very 
intelligent, you know.  They have career goals, you 
know.  They have things that they want to do but they can't 
because they don't even have a house to go home and lay 
their head down and to think about, you know, to be able to 
wake up in the morning and then get ready to go to 
work.  So, you know, it's not because we're lazy.  ItÕs not 
because we don't want to.  This is the richest country in the 
world, America.  So, why are we homeless? 
((Popup Banner:   
Many Americans live in poverty, amounting to 38.1 million 
people or 11.8 percent of the U.S. population.  
In 2018, 6.5 million Americans experienced a severe 
housing cost burden, which means they spent more than 50 
percent of their income on housing.   
(*National Alliance to End Homelessness) 
On a single night count in January 2019, more than half a 
million people in the United States were experiencing 
homelessness.  
Nearly 100,000 people were unhoused repeatedly, or for at 
least a year. 
(*US Department of Housing and Urban Development))) 
((NATS))
 
 
TEASE  ((VO/NAT)) 
Coming up 
((Banner)) 
Trying to Help 
((SOT)) 
((Cody, Unhoused))   
I can go get a job, be alright for a year or so.  Then IÕll just 
destroy it all, burn my life to the ground. 
((NATS))

BREAK ONE                                                                    
BUMP IN  ((ANIM))                          
 
 
BLOCK B   
 
 
 
((PKG)) SHIPPING CONTAINERS Š HOME FOR 
HOMELESS 
((TRT:  03:28)) 
((Banner:  Small Scale Solutions)) 
((Reporter:  Angelina Bagdasaryan)) 
((Camera:  Vazgen Varzhabetyan)) 
((Adapted by:  Zdenko Novacki)) 
((Map:  Los Angeles, California))   
((Main characters:  2 male)) 
((Sub characters:  1 female; 2 male)) 
((NATS)) 
((Cody, Unhoused)) 
I was just going to be homeless.  My family was tired of me, I 
guess, I donÕt know, not being what they 
wanted.  And so, me and my girlfriend just got a Greyhound 
bus to California. 
((NATS)) 
((Cody, Unhoused)) 
I tried to go to Social Services and get like the general relief 
and all that.  And I got the EBT [Electronic Benefit 
Transfer] and things like that.  But really, I don't have a plan 
right now, no.  I mean, I moved all the way across the 
country.  And I get to be here, which is so much better than if 
you go around some of these other places, dude.  Oh, man. 
((NATS)) 
((Michael Parks, President and CEO, Flyaway Homes)) 
Flyaway Homes is a startup that was started in conjunction 
with The People Concern, one of the largest homeless 
service providers in Los Angeles County, to develop a model 
for producing permanent supportive housing for L.A.Õs 
homeless population, faster and cheaper, so we can begin to 
really solve this terrible problem. 
((NATS)) 
((Michael Parks, President and CEO, Flyaway Homes)) 
It's constructed out of converted shipping containers.  And 
this project consists of eight four-bedroom units, five of 
which are occupied by families, three of which are occupied 
by shared individuals.  So, four people, two each with a 
bedroom. 
((NATS)) 
((Angel, Volunteer, Flyaway Homes)) 
A lot of people are doing bad.  Like, they donÕt got 
food.  They donÕt got water.  So thatÕs what weÕre here 
for.  ItÕs all free. Donations that we get, we manage to give it 
out to whoeverÕs in need, whether its food, clothes. 
((NATS)) 
((John Maceri, CEO, The People Concern)) 
This is our community room.  We have, as you can see, we 
have a television here.  This is normally a gathering 
place.  During COVID, obviously, the tenants are not 
gathering, but we have laundry on site here.  This can be 
used for a meeting room.  We have a small non-perishable 
food pantry that's available for the residents, as well as the 
resident services staff, who's on site, is based here as well. 
((NATS)) 
((Michael Parks, President and CEO, Flyaway Homes)) 
Permanent supportive housing only works for the chronically 
homeless if it's combined with supportive services to keep 
them housed healthy and safe which are provided by the 
people. 
((NATS)) 
((Cody, Unhoused)) 
Like certain things, I got, like asthma and eczema, probably 
like a low immune system because I do drugs.  
I can go get a job, be alright for a year or so.  Then IÕll just 
destroy it all, burn my life to the ground. 
ItÕs all good. 
((NATS)) 
((Cody, Unhoused)) 
So, I came out here with this girl that I dated for five years off 
and on.  And I wanted that to be the true love and all 
that.  And three weeks later, she left me for a guy to go do 
heroin and meth with him, so.  That happened.  That was 
like one of the worst things.   
((Cody, Unhoused)) 
I guess you could say IÕm free right now.  But I dwell on 
things in my head, man.  I got a lot of anxiety and depression 
problems. And that's where, that's really why I'm here is 
because I can't make it work.  
((Elijah, Volunteer)) 
We're just charging people's phones or whatever needs to 
be charged because, you know, since the coronavirus, 
there's a lack of places open to charge phones. 
((NATS)) 
((John Maceri, CEO, The People Concern)) 
At our current rate, it costs about $550,000 a unit and takes 
about three to five years to build a project.  So, we were very 
committed to find a way to build faster and cheaper, not in 
terms of quality. 
((NATS)) 
((Michael Parks, President and CEO, Flyaway Homes)) 
We're doing that with a model that's replicable and scalable 
model where we're trying to basically productionalize all the 
different pieces.  The part of the reason we're using modular 
is that we basically are hoping to use the same basically 
modular unit design across most, if not all, of our 
projects.  We're looking for, you know, similar sized plots of 
land and we're going to basically systematize each piece of 
the process, so that from beginning to end, it becomes 
predictable. 
((NATS)) 
((John Maceri, CEO, The People Concern)) 
The way it works is that people pay 30 percent of whatever 
their adjusted gross income is.  So, if they're getting Social 
Security or general leave or if they're working, 30 percent of 
their income, it goes to rent and then the balance is 
subsidized through a federal voucher subsidy. 
((NATS)) 
((Cody, Unhoused)) 
You want two? 
I try to make it work, man, and I haven't figured out how to 
do it yet.  
((NATS))

TEASE  ((VO/NAT)) 
Coming up 
((Banner)) 
A Wide Spectrum 
((SOT)) 
((Scott Lynn, Founder, Masterworks)) 
For example, many people use IRA or retirement accounts 
to invest in these paintings.  So, we want to make sure that 
the returns are as predictable as possible, and the risk is 
reasonable.  

BREAK TWO                                                                   
BUMP IN  ((ANIM))                          
 
 
BLOCK C  
 
 
((PKG))  COVID -- NY ART INVESTMENT   
((TRT:  02:52))   
((Banner:  The Economic Flipside))  
((Reporter:  Vladimir Lenski)) 
((Camera:  Max Avloshenko))  
((Adapted by:  Zdenko Novacki)) 
((Map:  New York City, New York))     
((Main characters:  1 male))  
((MUSIC/NATS)) 
((Scott Lynn, Founder, Masterworks)) 
Art has obviously been around for centuries.  Also for 
centuries, it's really been collected by the ultra-wealthy, 
right?  Like, even if you go back hundreds of years.  This is 
the first time that art really can be purchased and owned by 
anyone.  So, from our perspective, it's not necessarily a 
commoditization of the object.  It's really just a way for 
anyone to participate in the acquisition process.  
((MUSIC/NATS)) 
((Scott Lynn, Founder, Masterworks)) 
Very simply, investors can come to our website.  They can 
view different works of art that we have available for 
investment.   
((Scott Lynn, Founder, Masterworks)) 
They can invest amounts as small as $500 dollars or as 
large as thousands of dollars in a particular painting.  When 
you look at the art market last year, $68 billion in art was 
sold.  Most of those objects are culturally significant and they 
are going into private collections.  They're going away from 
public view.  And depending on the collector, I would say the 
majority of collectors in today's world don't actually lend 
those objects out.  So, a great feature of the Masterworks 
platform is the ability to keep those objects in front of the 
public.  We like the idea of once we purchase these 
paintings and then sell them off to investors, to re-loan them 
out to museums.  
((MUSIC/NATS)) 
((Scott Lynn, Founder, Masterworks)) 
At Masterworks, our perspective has been that art is an 
uncorrelated asset class, meaning that it doesn't necessarily 
go in the same direction as the stock market or other asset 
classes.   
((Scott Lynn, Founder, Masterworks)) 
So, what we've seen with COVID is that although there's 
been a large decrease in the total volume of sales by roughly 
half, we've actually seen our prices increase.  And I think in 
June alone, we saw 22 artists that set price records.  
((MUSIC/NATS)) 
((Scott Lynn, Founder, Masterworks)) 
For example, many people use IRA or retirement accounts 
to invest in these paintings.  So, we want to make sure that 
the returns are as predictable as possible and the risk is 
reasonable.  
((MUSIC/NATS)) 
((Scott Lynn, Founder, Masterworks)) 
Obviously, most of the people that are on the Masterworks 
platform today are doing that for investment, but I think it 
does change how artists think about selling their work.  You 
know, over time, we can see a world where artists would 
prefer to have a thousand people who enjoy their work and 
know their work very well, own a painting rather than one 
person who is frankly very wealthy and takes it out of 
circulation.  
((MUSIC/NATS)) 
((Scott Lynn, Founder, Masterworks)) 
But the common question around that is, why would our 
prices be increasing during COVID?  And our best guess is 
that our prices tend to be correlated to the top one percent.  
So, as the top one percent become wealthier, we see our 
prices go up.  So, for better or for worse, that dynamic has 
continued independent of COVID. 
((MUSIC/NATS)) 


((PKG)) CONNECT WITH Š ERIC DILLON  
((TRT:  03:11)) 
((Topic Banner:  Connect with Š Eric Dillon)) 
((Reporter/Camera:  Arturo Mart’nez)) 
((Locater:  Fallon, Nevada))   
((Main character:  1 male)) 
((NATS)) 
((Eric Dillon, Fallon Resident)) 
My name is Dillon.  I'm retired now.  I've retired a couple of 
different times in various jobs.  You know, I've got six kids.  I 
was married once before.  I had three kids and I still miss 
them.  I see them.  And then when I got with my wife now, 
we had three more kids.  They've all done very well, every 
one.  One of them is actually like a rocket scientist and so, 
it's really strange how that happened.  
((Eric Dillon, Fallon Resident)) 
IÕm really fulfilled as far as things that I've done.  First job 
was probably mowing yards, and then working in a 
McDonald's, and then I was in the Navy for 20 years.  And 
then after that, I joined the post office for 20 years.  
And then after that, I turned into a farmer.  We had alfalfa for 
a while.  We have, we still have cows.  And then after that, I 
thought, you know what?  I think I'd still like to work.  And I 
always wanted to work in the medical field.  So, I went back 
to school and became a surgery assistant, assistant tech. 
((Eric Dillon, Fallon Resident)) 
I've always liked to help people and there's a lot of gratitude.  
And I look back at times when I've helped a person do this or 
do that or, and I think I'm glad I did that.  
((NATS)) 
((Eric Dillon, Fallon Resident)) 
It's just a funny way how you meet people in smaller towns. 
Fallon's pretty small too.  I used to always be into tropical 
fish and that grocery store sold about everything you could 
think of and tropical fish.  So, I was in there looking at the 
tropical fish and there was a lady inside, behind the tropical 
fish thing and I'm looking at them and she says, ŅCan I help 
you?Ó  And I say, ŅWell, I wanted to buy some fish but your 
tanks are the dirtiest tanks I've ever seen.Ó  And that wound 
up being my wife later.  
((Eric Dillon, Fallon Resident)) 
I'm pretty sure we've been married about 32 years, and you 
know, just like everybody says, a marriage has a lot of things 
that you need to do to work things out.  Not too many are 
rosy the whole time.  Because you get mad, you know, and 
you think, ŅWell, maybe I should just move on.Ó  And you 
can't just keep doing that.  You have to work together and 
before you get together, you need to kind of see those 
things.  But I know that's hard when you just meet somebody 
and you're thinking about, ŅWell, I'll just move on and get 
another one.Ó  That seems like that's what everybody does 
nowadays.  
((NATS)) 
((Eric Dillon, Fallon Resident)) 
ThereÕs good things.  ThereÕs bad things.  But I'm pretty 
happy with my life.  
((NATS))

CLOSING  ((ANIM)) 
voanews.com/connect

IN COMING WEEKS  ((VO/NAT))                             
In coming weeksÉÉ. 
((Banner)) 
First Chinese-American Rabbi 
((SOT)) 
((Rabbi Jacqueline Mates-Muchin 
Senior Rabbi, Temple Sinai Oakland)) 
When people think Rabbi, they are often thinking of an old 
man with a big old beard and that's never what I'm going to 
be.  I'm Rabbi Jacqueline Mates-Muchin, and I'm the 
senior rabbi at Temple Sinai in Oakland, California, and I'm 
the first Chinese American rabbi.  What does it mean to be 
an insider?  What does it mean to be Jewish?  What 
is that experience of it?  
((Banner)) 
Virtual Learning 
((SOT)) 
((Arti Jain-Kumar, National Certified Counselor; Director, 
Love and Light 4 Kidz)) 
To help them to focus, is doing a quick chair yoga pose.  
Like they can literally have their hands underneath their chair 
and just putting their hands down if they want to have a shift.  
They can even bring their hands and do a quick little grip.  

CLOSING  ((ANIM)) 
voanews.com/connect 

((PKG))  FREE PRESS MATTERS   
((NATS/VIDEO/GFX)) 
((Popup captions over B Roll)) 
Near the Turkish Embassy 
Washington, D.C. 
May 16, 2017 
President ErdoganÕs bodyguard attacks peaceful protesters  
ŅThose terrorists deserved to be beatenÓ 
ŅThey should not be protesting our presidentÓ 
ŅThey got what they asked forÓ 
While some people may turn away from the news
We cover it  
reliably 
accurately 
objectively 
comprehensively 
wherever the news matters 
VOA 
A Free Press Matters

 
CLOSING  ((ANIM)) 
voanews.com/connect

BREAKTHREE                                                                        
BUMP IN  ((ANIM))                                  

SHOW ENDS












 
 
 
((PKG)) SHIPPING CONTAINERS Š HOME FOR THE 
HOMELESS 
((TRT:  03:28)) 
((Banner:  Homes for the Homeless))  
((Reporter:  Angelina Bagdasaryan)) 
((Camera:  Vazgen Varzhabetyan))  
((Adapted by:  Zdenko Novacki)) 
((Map:  Los Angeles, California))    
((Main characters:  2 male))  
((Sub characters:  1 female; 2 male)) 
((NATS)) 
((Kourtey, Unhoused))   
I was just going to be homeless.  My family was tired of me, I 
guess, I donÕt know, not being what they wanted.  And so, me and 
my girlfriend just got a Greyhound bus to California. ((NATS)) 
((Michael Parks, President and CEO, Flyaway Homes)) 
Flyaway Homes is a startup that was started in conjunction with 
The People Concern, one of the largest homeless service 
providers in Los Angeles County, to develop a model for 
producing permanent supportive housing for L.A.Õs homeless 
population, faster and cheaper, so we can begin to really solve 
this terrible problem.  
((NATS)) 
((Michael Parks, President and CEO, Flyaway Homes)) 
It's constructed out of converted shipping containers.  And this 
project consists of eight four-bedroom units, five of which are 
occupied by families, three of which are occupied by shared 
individuals.  So, four people, two each with a bedroom.  
((NATS)) 
((Angel, Volunteer, Flyaway Homes)) 
A lot of people are doing bad.  Like, they donÕt got food.  They 
donÕt got water.  So thatÕs what weÕre here for.  ItÕs all free.  
Donations that we get, we manage to give it out to whoeverÕs in 
need, whether itÕs food, clothes.  
((NATS)) 
((John Maceri, CEO, The People Concern)) 
This is our community room.  We have, as you can see, we have 
a television here.  This is normally a gathering place.  During 
COVID, obviously, the tenants are not gathering, but we have 
laundry on site here.  This can be used for a meeting room.  We 
have a small non-perishable food pantry that's available for the 
residents, as well as the resident services staff, who's on site, is 
based here as well.  
((NATS)) 
((Michael Parks, President and CEO, Flyaway Homes)) 
Permanent supportive housing only works for the chronically 
homeless if it's combined with supportive services to keep them 
housed healthy and safe which are provided by the people.  
((NATS)) 
((Elijah, Volunteer)) 
We're just charging people's phones or whatever needs to be 
charged because, you know, since the coronavirus, there's a lack 
of places open to charge phones.  
((NATS)) 
((John Maceri, CEO, The People Concern)) 
At our current rate, it costs about $ 550,000 a unit and takes 
about three to five years to build a project.  So, we were very 
committed to find a way to build faster and cheaper, not in terms 
of quality.  
((NATS)) 
((Michael Parks, President and CEO, Flyaway Homes)) 
We're doing that with a model that's replicable and scalable model 
where we're trying to basically productionalize all the different 
pieces.  The part of the reason we're using modular is that we 
basically are hoping to use the same basically modular unit 
design across most, if not all, of our projects.  We're looking for, 
you know, similar sized plots of land and we're going to basically 
systematize each piece of the process, so that from beginning to 
end, it becomes predictable.  
((NATS)) 
((John Maceri, CEO, The People Concern)) 
The way it works is that people pay 30 percent of whatever their 
adjusted gross income is.  So, if they're getting Social Security or 
general leave or if they're working, 30 percent of their income, it 
goes to rent and then the balance is subsidized through a federal 
voucher subsidy.  
((NATS)) 
((Kourtey, Unhoused))   
I got a lot of anxiety and depression problems and that's really 
why I'm here, is because I can't make it work.  I try to make it 
work, man, and I haven't figured out how to do it yet.  
((NATS)) 
 
 
((PKG))  HOMELESS PERSON -- KOURTEY   
((TRT:  02:12)) 
((Topic Banner:  Unhoused Person -- Kourtey))  
((Reporter:  Angelina Bagdasaryan)) 
((Camera:  Vazgen Varzhabetyan))  
((Adapted by:  Zdenko Novacki)) 
((Map:  Los Angeles, California))    
((Main character:  1 male))  
((NATS)) 
((Kourtey, Unhoused))  delete since it is a repetition  
I was just going to be homeless.  My family was tired of me, I 
guess, I donÕt know, not being what they wanted.  And so, me and 
my girlfriend just got a Greyhound bus to California.  
((NATS)) 
((Kourtey, Unhoused))   
I tried to go to Social Services and get like the general relief and 
all that.  And I got the EBC [Employee Benefits Corporation] and 
things like that.  But really, I don't have a plan right now, no.  I 
mean, I moved all the way across the country.  And I get to be 
here, which is so much better than if you go around some of these 
other places, dude.  Oh, man. 
((NATS)) 
((Kourtey, Unhoused))   
I went to the Greyhound bus station in Atlanta, rode the 
Greyhound bus all the way, stopping every two hours in different 
states and cities, and slept on the floor of the Greyhound bus, 
wearing no mask, get all the way to California.   
Every day up here, I don't wear a mask.  
((NATS)) 
((Kourtey, Unhoused))   
Like certain things, I got, like asthma and eczema, probably like a 
low immune system because I do drugs.   
I can go get a job, be alright for a year or so.  Then IÕll just destroy 
it all, burn my life to the ground. ((He said this in the earlier piece))  
ItÕs all good. 
((NATS)) 
((Kourtey, Unhoused))   
So, I came out here with this girl that I dated for five years, off and 
on.  And I wanted that to be the true love and all that.  And three 
weeks later, she left me for a guy to go do heroin and meth with 
him, so.  That happened.  That was like one of the worst things.  I 
guess you could say IÕm free right now.  But I dwell on things in 
my head, man.  I got a lot of anxiety and depression problems. 
And that's where, that's really why I'm here is because I can't 
make it work.  I try to make it work, man, and I haven't figured out 
how to do it yet.  
((NATS)) 
((Kourtey, Unhoused))   
Yeah, I want to give one to my buddies down there.  Thank you. 
((NATS))