Meet Mr. Jones
Mr. Jones came to Charlotte in 2016. His path to housing was difficult and winding, but throughout his many challenges, Roof Above was a steady presence. Today, he is housed at HillRock Estates, where he has been able to stabilize his health and build his community.
Mr. Jones was born in 1972 and raised in Atlanta with his four siblings. His grandparents, Ms. Anna Mae and Mr. Wilbur, took him in as a young boy to lighten the load on his mother, and they had a profound influence on him. He knew he was loved, in part due to his grandmother’s excellent southern cooking. He was also held to high standards — church every day and the expectation of good grades, good behavior and many chores around the house. Looking back, he sees that structure and stability as a gift and the foundation of who he is.
Challenges
But his world was shattered when Mr. Wilbur and then Ms. Anna Mae passed away within two years of each other when Mr. Jones was in his early teens. Mr. Jones says, “I lost track of the person they raised me up to be.”
When asked how he became homeless, he says, “When my grandma passed, I was just a young kid. I tried to keep with what they taught me, but I was just lost in the middle of the streets. No guidance, no control. I was looking for love, but the love I was missing was gone. It got worse as years progressed. I lost sight of the understanding my grandma gave me when I was little.”
Drug culture and addiction replaced the love and structure he had received from his grandparents. Mr. Jones spent decades experiencing intermittent periods of homelessness in Atlanta. Then, in an act of hope, he followed one of his younger sisters to Charlotte to try to change his life.
Life in Charlotte
He arrived here in 2016. While he worked on and off, he slept on the streets. “I didn’t talk to anyone because I didn’t trust anyone,” he says, “but one day I saw all these people heading in the same direction, and that’s how I found the Urb.” He started eating meals at what is now Roof Above’s Day Services Center.
Mr. Jones faced huge challenges along the way. He had been working in a steel-cutting plant for more than a year when his right hand was severed in a workplace accident. His hand was reattached, but he has little use of it now. He had to learn how to do almost everything with his left hand, and many jobs are still impossible for him. The resulting pain and anger sent him back into old patterns of substance use, but he kept coming to Roof Above for meals. He started taking advantage of the Room in the Inn program for winter shelter as well.
His next major hurdle was the Covid pandemic. Mr. Jones had been spending more nights at Roof Above shelters when the pandemic started, but like many others, he moved to an encampment out of fear of being indoors.
Threads of Hope
During this time, he befriended Mr. Price. They lived beside one another, in separate tents, and looked out for each other. About a year into the pandemic, Mr. Price became very sick. Mr. Jones was doing his best to take care of him, but one night, Mr. Price took a turn for the worse. Mr. Jones ran to First Ward Park and found a woman who called 911 for him. “I scared her half to death because I was really worked up, but she made that call for me.” Thankfully, emergency workers reached Mr. Price in time, and he credits Mr. Jones with saving his life.
As the pandemic settled down, Mr. Jones’ health began to decline, and he began to seek a new way of life. He moved into Roof Above’s North Tryon Men’s Shelter and connected with Malia Suhren, and other members of the Street Outreach team. One day, Mr. Jones showed up at the Day Services Center with his brother. Malia noticed that he was dressed differently, and his demeanor had changed. She sensed that he was ready for housing.
HillRock Estates
In November of 2022, Mr. Jones moved into HillRock Estates, a naturally occurring affordable housing community that is home to one of Roof Above’s permanent supportive housing programs. Mr. Jones receives on-site case management, nursing care, social events and support. Shawnte Harvey, who he knew from her days on the Street Outreach team, became his case manager. His health continued to be an issue.
One day Shawnte got a call from a CMPD officer at the Transportation Center. “He told me that Mr. Jones was having a seizure, his speech was slurred, and he was drooling. He didn’t know how to get home, so we came and got him.” To this day she does not know how the officer got her personal cell phone number.
Shawnte and the nurse at HillRock advocated for Mr. Jones, and they connected with Dr. Kyle Roedersheimer, who serves as Roof Above’s medical director. Dr. Roedersheimer recommended Mr. Jones be seen at Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center, where Mr. Jones was diagnosed with a brain blockage that was causing intracranial pressure.
Happy and Home
He had surgery about a year ago, and his personality has changed. Now, he jokes and is very pleasant to be around. Shawnte says, “His intracranial pressure symptoms had been mistaken for mental health issues, so he was really overmedicated.” Dr. David Baker III at Novant Health’s Michael Jordan Clinic is now Mr. Jones’ primary care provider, and he is making great improvements.
Mr. Jones is very happy to have a home where he can apply the discipline that Ms. Anna Mae taught him. “Even when I was in a tent, I would sweep around it and clean it out. That’s just how she taught me.”
Mr. Jones has asked if he can go back to the North Tryon Shelter to serve dinner as a volunteer. He is about to start applying for jobs, and he has taken a healthy cooking class. Mr. Jones loves to feed his neighbors.
He is also very invested in the future of the kids at HillRock. Some moms send their kids over so Mr. Jones can keep an eye on them, and he wants them to have what was disrupted for him. “When I see kids now, me, I’m giving them a word of encouragement just to build their momentum up. Small things like that really matter. I want them to have someone watching over them.”