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Humanizing the

homeless

10

Gray’s third Core Value When Clint began working on the Gateway Plaza
reads: “We treat others the project in Rialto, California, the team was tasked
way we want to be treated” with repurposing an abandoned Walmart store that
– a value veteran Gray had sat vacant for three years. Several homeless
West Superintendent Clint people were living on the property.
Sanders has been putting “To be honest, [my approach] with this particular
into action on his jobsites. In homeless individual did not start out in kind,”
his almost 25-year time with recalled Clint. “The individual was causing chaos
Gray, Clint’s role has also Clint Sanders on a daily basis by creating unsafe conditions for
included interacting with Superintendent the public. I had reached out multiple times to local
the homeless people who law enforcement and the outreach programs for
attempt to live on or disrupt elements of a jobsite. assistance. They had the individual arrested, but in
With patience and an adjustment to his initial a matter of days the homeless individual was back
approach, Clint turned a challenging part of his job on the street and up to his same antics.
into something we can all learn from. “Local authorities basically stated that he was not
Homelessness is a social issue everywhere in the going to stop and that it was just a nuisance. From
U.S. but it’s particularly challenging on the West that point forward
Coast. One-quarter of homeless people in the U.S. something “I basically try
live in California, and homelessness is more visible changed in to have a mutual
here because a large proportion of the population my approach.
live outside.* I now knew understanding
“For context, in the major cities in the West, [the homeless that we are trying
police will not respond to calls of trespassing, theft person’s] name
or vandalism unless there is an imminent threat from the arrest to accomplish our
of violence or the value of stolen or vandalized report. So every projects in the
items totals more than $1,000,” said Bob Moore, time I would see
President of Gray’s West Region. him, I would call safest manner.”