Evicted After Wife Died, Now Homeless in Venice Beach

Simba (street name) met his wife fishing. I love that. Sadly, Simba’s wife was very sick from complications with diabetes. She needed a kidney transplant. Simba’s wife was on the transplant list at USC Medical Center, but while she was waiting for a donor, her health got worse. The emotional stress of being her caregiver was hard enough; when his wife died, Simba became severely depressed. He started to self medicate with marijuana to help him sleep. This was four years ago, and people’s views of marijuana were much different then. Today, it probably would not even be an issue, but Simba’s landlord used his cannabis use to evict him. Simba is homeless in Venice Beach, California. He’s a gentle, kind man who should not be living on the streets in his senior years. Elderly homelessness is growing at alarming rates. Boomers are hitting 65 at 10,000 people a day, and many lost everything in the 2008 recession. The coronavirus pandemic is going to make things even worse. Simba’s first night homeless he slept