What Are Gap People?

I told someone today I was a Gap Person. I wasn’t talking about someone that shops at The Gap; I don’t do that.

“Believe it or not, homelessness is incredibly expensive to a community. The most cost-effective way for the community to respond to homelessness is to prevent it in the first place.” Cowlitz 5 Year Homeless Housing Plan Updated 11.25.19.pdf

When I read this statement I get a little defensive because my family has been in the system for a long time. In fact, for the last 8 years we have never had a lease in our name. We have either lived with friends or in hotels or motels, while we worked with organizations that were excited to help us until they got to know us.

What have we learned? I can’t live with other people successfully. I can’t live in the Highlands. I can’t live with bugs and yelling voices, fighting and police cars showing up regularly. I have also learned that there a lot of people that work very hard and make enough money to pay the rent but nothing else.

Those people that are an expense to the community that the Cowlitz 5 Year Homeless Housing Plan refers to are the people who live on the street and/or make waves. They get arrested. They make trouble. They make messes. Not because they are bad people, necessarily, they just need help and are very loud about it. When I am properly medicated and I feel relatively safe, I don’t make much noise at all. In order to get help I have to go to a shelter. That is what VIP wants us to do.

I have to give up my Emotional Support Animal to do that. Xavier is not allowed there. My 15-year-old kitty would have to be re-homed. I am not going to do that.

Living with other people eventually leads me to negative thoughts; suspicious thoughts and then the rest of my mind goes to bad places. I might even end up on the Behavioral Health floor at the hospital. Who needs or wants that?

The goal of the 5 Year Plan is to house more veterans, disabled and mentally ill…Hello! My wife is a veteran (with 3 jobs) and I am disabled and mentally ill…we are also a black and queer family if you want to hit a few more stats.

Do you know that since we can never save any money that we can’t ever think of moving out of this nice hotel? I can’t have a kitchen. I can’t grow anything in dirt. We have to drive to find a pretty place to take a walk and forget going out of town for fun. We work hard to keep our minds positive but sometimes it is really hard. We are both really tired.

You probably know other Gap People. We are not the only ones. The definition of homelessness is pretty open. We have friends that live in their cars too. You wont know unless you know what to look for, or they trust you enough to ask you to charge their back up battery or maybe come over for a shower.

Those people living on Alabama are not the only ones that need help. I am praying for all of us. Even the ones who are living in nice houses with more than enough resources because we all need to be kinder to each other.

I thank God every day because I know that I am very blessed. I have a roof over my head and a family that grounds me and loves me. I know that there are many people that don’t have that. I have never been hungry or naked or without a shower for longer than I wanted to be. Even the wars in my mind, I know aren’t real most of the time.

I pray you can respect every person you meet today. You don’t really know what they are battling. Gap people are really good at hiding that they are trapped. And for people that are not in the gap but having a really bad moment, give them some space. They don’t want to hurt you. They may not even know you are you.

We all need to be saved sometimes.

Read More:

Cowlitz 5 Year Homeless Housing Plan Updated 11.25.19.pdf created December 2, 2019 by Danielle Rylander and updated by Emily Strange for the Washington State Department of Commerce

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My name is Summer. That is how you can call me. I hope that I am a blessing to you. I am not perfect. I will fall again. But I am forgiven.

For anyone reading this that isn’t a Christian, unapologetically, I am a Christian, but I believe there is room for lots of beliefs and religions in the world. It is not my intent to offend people with different beliefs than I have and I would be open to open-minded conversations with no goals of changing anyone’s mind, but sharing information.

If you are interested in becoming a Christian…Do you know Jesus? Do want the Holy Spirit to fill you and give you understanding and salvation? Ask Him. Want someone to pray with you? Contact me.

If you would like to know Jesus as your friend, but want to make this amazing commitment by yourself please pray something like this:

Thank you Jesus that You are the Son of God, the God that created heaven and earth. Thank you Jesus that You came to earth in the form of a man so that You would be able to empathize with my humanity. Thank You that You did this in order to fulfill the promises You made at the foundation of the world.

I realize that I am a sinner and do things that hurt myself and keep myself away from you. Thank You that You died for my sins so that You could defeat death and bring me into Your life. Please forgive me.

I ask You to be Lord of my life. I ask you to heal my hurts and show me what my new life, empowered by You looks like. Thank You for Your mercy.