Jenny is always stylishly dressed. She never has many belongings with her, but always has her curly haired schnauzer Gizmo trotting along beside at the end of a rope leash. She sometimes has to shave her head to defeat the unknown something that laid eggs in her scalp. Her hair always grows back quickly though, making her look even more fashionable.

For several months in late 2025 she had a tent in the O Lot. But the O Lot also had many crawling critters that left bites on her back and arms.

She laments the short-sightedness of city government, taking away vital public showers and toilets with hand washing stations. “If Waterman Dave was still around, those water stations would still be here,” she said. “He got them put in place when the Hepatitis A outbreak ran through the homeless community. I was a nurse for so long my antibodies were strong after 30 years at nursing homes and hospitals. But those water stations and the water he passed out was a lifeline.”

Eventually Jenny got $50,000 from a settlement that financed buying an RV for her and husband Bill and Gizmo. When people were tired out on the street Jenny and Bill would let them stay in the RV with them for a week or so. Gizmo had a bunch of stuffed animals under the dining room table. Over time, they racked up a bunch of parking tickets that were posted electronically, so they never saw them. The RV was towed. They were back on the street. She and Bill used to sleep in the abandoned bakery downtown. They had to crawl under two fences to get inside. They had a privacy screen they used to create a space separate from others. It was a great space until the construction trucks rolled up and started demolition. “They woke us up and we barely got out of there.”

Now that Bill has passed away, she has to deal with the additional problem of men trying to hit on her. “If I was alone, Clean and Safe kicks us out of safe sleeping places. They make things worse. I was worried all the time they’d show up and harass us. That’s why I want to get into the Alpha tent. When they closed the Old Town tent there were empty beds. There are empty buildings all over San Diego,” she said. “I’m nearly 70 years old, there should be a place for seniors. I’m waiting for my HUD. I get $1,000 a month. Single rooms cost more than that. When I was in the SROs, the rooms cost more than that.” All the women on the street don’t sleep alone, she added. No one’s tried to get into her tent, thankfully. But she has had men squeeze themselves between her and men friends safeguarding her on the street late at night. Of course she rolled out of there. “I know how to yell,” she added. “Sometimes women do dope to stay awake and not sleep. Of course that means being tired all day, and needing to find a place to nap.” She would never do the kind of drugs they do downtown in East Village, she said. “That fentanyl; people are all bent over.”

She feels many people on the street get victimized by mean people who target the homeless. “So many people sabotage us. They leave their trash in the parking lots where we are staying. Carloads will back up loaded with trash and leave a pile of trash then blame it on us,” Jenny said. And then there are those among the homeless who prey on the most vulnerable in their community. “People steal from each other. I had my purse stolen with my false teeth in it. I went running through the civic center yelling that people could take my wallet, my id., whatever, but give me back my teeth. There’s someone out there running around with my teeth in their mouth.”

She didn’t get a new set because, “when you’re homeless there’s a lot of things you put off.”

More often than not, what gets put off is health care. Two months later she came to the doctors at Street Corner care complaining of sores on her back. In the wound care room she pulled up her shirt to show the doctor the extent of her sores. There were more than I imagined. The doctor cleaned her sores and put a dressing on them. He also called in an antibiotic to the local pharmacy. She doesn’t have two nickels, she said, so she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to actually pick them up until she gets her check on the 3rd (Saturday). Meanwhile the doctor gave her some cream and told her to get someone to clean the sores and put fresh ointment on every day. She said there is a nurse at the senior center who might do it for her. Mainly she wants help getting off the street. She just had her 67th birthday and she admits she’s tired of sleeping on the street.

“I need permanent housing. I need a place where I can die,” she said. “I don’t want to die in my car like my old man.”

Jenny moved out of the O Lot after rats ran through her tent and Gizmo tore a hole in the tent chasing after them. That put her and her few belongings back on the street. When she has enough money, she stays in a motel for a few days, or a friend might invite her to join them in a motel room. She relies on churches for new clothing, food, blankets and health care. She relies on friends for cigarettes and companionship. A week ago her beloved Gizmo died while they were staying in a motel room. The Human Society wanted $350 to come retrieve his little body and cremate it. She couldn’t possibly afford that so she found another way to say goodbye. Not wanting to have to deal with people constantly saying “So sorry for your loss,” she strategically told certain gossips who would circulate the news on the street for her. She is committed to getting a new dog - perhaps a younger one this time, but she knows most animal shelters don’t like giving dogs to unhoused individuals.