Homeless but Not Hopeless in San Francisco

By Christopher Gardner, author of The Pursuit of Happyness.

Some of you may already be familiar with my story from reading my autobiography “The Pursuit of Happyness,” or seeing the movie with Will Smith that was based on one frightening year of my life. Perhaps I’ve even met a few of you at events or walking on the streets of San Francisco. Today you might recognize me, but twenty-five years ago, you probably wouldn’t have given me the time of day. In the early 1980’s I was just another statistic–a homeless man in San Francisco, sleeping in shelters, on park benches, in the MacArthur BART station bathroom, trying to create a better life for my son and me.

Homelessness is an epidemic in this country that does not have a simple cause or a simple solution. Most people think that alcoholism, drug addiction or mental conditions afflict everyone sleeping on the streets or in shelters. While it’s true that these factors play a part for many who are chronically homeless, others, like me, work hard, stay clean, and still can’t make ends meet. And when you have a family to look after, children who are depending on you to keep them safe, it becomes a more complicated crisis. 

A fact not well known is that about 12 percent of all homeless people in America have jobs. In some communities that number may be as high as 30 percent. And studies show that close to 400,000 children under 4 years old will sleep in homeless shelters or on the streets tonight.

One of the greatest blessings of my success and notoriety has been the opportunity to meet people in San Francisco who are struggling to get by–people who, just like me, desperately want to fulfill their dreams and take care of their kids–and give them a few words of encouragement. But seeing tangible help in action is even more powerful. While filming “The Pursuit of Happyness” in San Francisco, Sony hired 250 homeless people to be extras–a day’s work for a day’s pay; no handouts. A man and woman walked up to me and explained, “We both work and have been living on the streets to save money for a house. All we needed was another $500, which we just made working on your film.”