The Spot

In street outreach terms, a spot isn’t a roundish mark or discoloring on a cloth. It is the location where someone spends (or spent) the night. People often talk about their spots., sometimes with a high degree of ownership over a specific location. Part of street outreach is going to known spots where people stay to see if they are there. It also includes going to spots where people used to stay to see if anyone is there or if there is evidence that someone has been there recently.

Last night we were checking on a few spots where people have been lately. We were looking for particular individuals who we know in their spots. We also checked a few other spots to see if there was any evidence of “activity,” meaning some kind of sign that someone has been there. One of those places is under a large spruce tree along the edge of a park. Early this month we randomly went among the trees there and found a cardboard box that had been cut up and laid on the ground on top of a piece of plastic. It clearly looked like a place where someone had slept, although there were no belongings or other items. We left a bottle of water and brochure. Another night we went back to check that location. The water was gone, the brochure was still there, and the boxes had been moved a little. Still no belongings though. We keep checking, thinking that one night we might find someone sleeping there. So far, we haven’t.

When people leave the streets, the often leave things behind. This is sometimes the case with people who lived in tents (the kind you buy in a store or home made from tarps). There are several tents still standing in wooded areas in the City of Racine and in Mt. Pleasant, long after their occupants have been housed. Because they are spots that were known by other people who were homeless, we periodically go back and check those as well to see if there is a new occupant. On Monday night we checked a tent that is still unoccupied, but we later found someone in “Randy’s spot,” now that Randy has been housed and is no longer on the streets.

People’s spots change and move, and people eventually get housed and leave the streets. But knowing and checking the “spots,” both in active use and from the past, is a major part of street outreach. We never know who we might find.