Eric Sheptock Interview, May 2, 2020

SEGMENT SYNOPSIS: Eric Jonathan Sheptock, a working homeless person addresses how Covid-19 has impacted him. He works for a company that provides porta-potties and hand washing stations for events and has had his hours dramatically cut. SUBJECTS: COVID-19; (Washington, D.C.)

Hello, my name is Eric Jonathan Sheptock. And I was invited to partake in this project, From Me to You, by American University professor Dan Kerr.

So let me say this, that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected me in at least a couple of different ways.

So number one is, I work for an event rental company: tents, tables, chairs, porta potties, temporary fencing. We rent those sorts of things you'd have for a block party, wedding, other outdoor event, and a lot of events have been canceled because of the pandemic. So we've lost money there.

But also, my company has been called upon by government to provide porta potties for various homeless tent cities, and the homeless are really happy about it. It wasn't happening before the pandemic. But now, here in Washington, DC, my company is providing porta potties for at least nine tent cities. And I've become keenly aware of just how many homeless people we have living on the street now.

And I'm working less hours. In other previous years, I would have been working 60-70 hours a week, this time of year. Now I'm doing 10 to 20 hours a week. So I'm making a lot less money. I did get my 1200 dollar stimulus check though on April 22nd, but right now, I'm sitting in a hotel, I'm being quarantined.

Because I am a working homeless person, I don't make enough money to deal with DC rents. And so I was contacted by one of the DC government's housing agencies around November 20 of last year. And it's been over five months. I gave them everything they asked me for. I went to New Jersey to get a new birth certificate. And they're still taking so long to get everything done. And what has happened now is that somebody who slept about eight and a half feet away from me inside the shelter has contracted COVID-19.

I don't have any symptoms, but I'm being quarantined to see if I come down with any symptoms. So, DC government's paying for me to be here in this hotel for at least 10 days. Normally it's a two week process, but it was four days after I'd last seen this person who now has it when they finally contacted me to say, somebody close to you has it. And so they're subtracting those four days. So I'll have to be here for 10 days and I'm one day in.

But anyway, I hope that we all learn something from this pandemic. And a lot of things I hope we learn, but sticking to what I personally do as a homeless advocate, I will say that I hope now that the homeless are becoming more noticeable, because they're the only ones that are still out there in the street, that you won't forget about them once we get back to normal, if we get back to normal.

So as you go about your business, and you notice that the only ones out there are the homeless people, don't be afraid of them, use the precautions you use with anybody. But when you can, do help them and when this pandemic is over, let's move together to fight for an end to homelessness, an increase in affordable housing and living wage styles, yada yada yada. But I'll stop there.