Sobriety and Success: James's Story

This year will mark three years since James has been housed and sober, after spending much of his adult life homeless and addicted.

“I only had money for the dope man,” James said. “I didn’t have money for bills. I went to soup kitchens and slept on the streets. I had not a care in the world but my habit.”

James had a hard time. He had already lost his job and his connections to his family due to his addiction. He was in and out of the hospital, diagnosed with diabetes, congestive heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

James ended up in and out of the Torres Community Shelter, too. His sobriety was always a struggle.

“Every time I’d get out of the hospital, I’d go right back to using and end up right back,” he said.

It was a health scare that pushed James to make a change.

“It just sunk in one day when they refused to release me from the hospital to the streets—somebody cared about me that much, more than I cared about myself. They told me, ‘You are lucky to be alive. You need to leave that stuff alone. It is killing you.’ It sunk in. Enough is enough.”

Today, James, who is 64, says he’s doing incredibly well. He lives in a home with other True North Housing Alliance clients that is managed by Chico Housing Action Team through a unique, successful partnership. His doctors say his heart is in good shape and the symptoms of his diabetes have improved.

“I’m very grateful,” he said. “Me, myself, as a person, I’m not the same. The people I associate with are not the same crowd. I’ve been blessed. I’m still under construction, but I’m not on rocky ground anymore.”