“All we needed was a safe Spot.”: Rob’s Story
A lifelong Rhode Islander, Rob is as fiercely independent as they come. When his mother’s long illness left him destitute, he landed on the streets of Providence, piecing together odd jobs and sleeping wherever he could. In Kennedy Plaza, he heard about someone who could help.
“I didn’t know Megan Smith at the time, but all the people I knew out there, the homeless, said: if you need a bus pass, if you need to get to meals—ask Megan. ‘That’s the lady.’”
Life outside took its toll. Like many forced to survive on the streets, Rob developed a substance use disorder. One morning, after a week of hard work, he woke up with just three dollars in his pocket. That was the turning point. He knew he had to get away to get clean.
With a landowner’s permission, Rob and seven friends built small, sober structures deep in the West Warwick woods. No drugs. No drama. Just eight people are clinging to stability and focused on getting housed.
“All we needed was that safe spot to get our things together. Not to be told, ‘Move along. Find another spot. You can’t stay here.’”
As autumn stripped the trees bare, the hidden camp drew complaints. Then winter hit hard. Rob spent 48 days in the hospital with double pneumonia and a mild heart attack. When he finally made it back to the woods, everything was gone—shelter, clothes, IDs, birth certificates—cleared away without a trace. “I said, please don’t take all my stuff. That’s everything I own. They didn’t care. I got out of the hospital 50 days later. I went back to my spot. There wasn’t a cigarette butt on the ground. There was nothing.”
That could have been the end of Rob’s story. Instead, House of Hope stepped in. Megan Smith negotiated a contract between the town and the landowner, securing the group one year of stability. It made all the difference.
“And within that year, we all pretty much got out of there… By the time everybody got housed, all eight people.” Today, Rob lives less than a mile from where he grew up in West Warwick. He’s celebrating his eighth year of being housed. He shares his home with three cats and an improbably large indoor plant. Things aren’t perfect—but for the first time in a long time, Rob’s life is about more than survival.
“If it weren’t for House of Hope and the people that do the things they do, I wouldn’t be here. I wouldn’t be breathing today. Sleeping in a corner that you know somebody’s urinated in is not the way to live, man.”
Stability saves lives. Rob’s story shows how a single year of safety can become the runway to housing—for him and seven of his neighbors—and how simple outreach, from a bus pass to a trusted advocate, can be a lifeline. IDs and birth certificates aren’t just “stuff”; they’re the keys back into healthcare, work, and home. Share Rob’s story to honor the power of a safe place, and support the outreach that meets people where they are and walks with them home—so we can turn “move along” into “welcome home.”