A man who experienced homelessness in cities across the nation on purpose is finally back home in Orlando.
He’s talked with over 7,000 homeless people in 98 days.
“I’m just teaching the nation about homelessness instead of a classroom about reading,” said Thomas Rebman, an Orange County middle school teacher.
Rebman started experiencing homelessness in Orlando back in July of 2014. He then went to New Orleans, Houston, Phoenix and Skid Row in Los Angeles. He documented his experiences by taking pictures and videos on his cell phone.
Along the way Rebman conducted thousands of interviews. He wanted to learn how people become homeless and what they encounter on the streets.
Rebman said it was a scary process at times. He slept on the streets for the most part, sometimes in shelters. He was even threatened by people on the streets. At one point he said he was chased by a man carrying a machete.
“I guarantee we can find three people that were beat up in the last two weeks, it’s that bad,” Rebman said.
Rebman said the scariest part was actually interacting with police officers, especially in one Central Florida city.
“The physical violence never worried me as much as the police and only in a couple of cities did I really fear -- namely Daytona [Beach],” Rebman said.
Along the way, Rebman also ranked the cities he stayed in, in terms of the government, police empathy, provider empathy, public knowledge of the homeless problem and homeless perception of how they are being helped.
He said Daytona Beach and Tampa are some of the worst places for the homeless in the U.S., while Sarasota is among the best he saw.
Places like Ocala received a middle ranking.
Rebman helped create organizations like “Homeless Improvement Services” for the city of Ocala.
The organization is currently putting together a plan for homeless outreach services. Of the thousands of people Rebman interviewed, he found only 18 percent of the homeless panhandle for money.
And of that 18 percent, 50 percent of the money goes to basic needs.