Homeless Yandell Back Inside

An uplifting email this morning from David Yandell, the former Radiocab driver who became homeless last November, after having done numerous good works for charity. I wrote about his story in an In The Shadows column at the time, and since then, I’ve seen Yandell fairly frequently drinking coffee at the Backspace cafe on NW 5th.

YANDELL: Likes to do charity work, also suffers from bipolar disorder…

Yandell is now off the streets and living in the Estate Hotel:

Hey Matt, I’m off the streets, at least for the time being. county commissioner Jeff cogan and his office were able to pull a few strings and were able to get me a place. I’ve spent the last week sleeping and watching tv. these guys really went to bat for me. as i may of mentioned in the past that the real things working against me is that i don’t use drugs, seldom drink, don’t gamble, am not newly out of prison, haven’t been in the military and i have a good education and am on the streets because of economics. even being bi-polar is not enough to open doors. I’m at the estate, a hotel that at one time housed sex offenders, that now houses ex-junkies, crack heads, meth heads and more. not my favorite place to be but on the other hand, I’m not there to make friends. I’m trying to recuperate from being on the streets this past four months. i feel very flattered and fortunate cogan’s office reached out. here’s the funny thing—-despite being in the media a lot, they didn’t even know who i was and discovered that at a later time. at the time we met jeff said to me ‘‘we’re not helping you because of what you do in the community, we’re doing it because it’s the right thing to do.” they’re also seeking ‘decent’ employment for me that hopefully won’t stray to far away from what i do best.——create good projects that provide for others. hope all is good. d

Of course, one person out of the more than 1700 who slept outside in Portland last night isn’t necessarily a big win in the grand scheme of things. But I’m pleased Yandell has got inside.