The road into homelessness One man’s personal journey into the street

       "If I had kids, I would've trained them to be athletes like me." Despite being a part of the ever-growing homeless population of Atlanta for some 20 years, Fat Mike - the name in which he is known by in the community – still has a strong passion for sports. "I played all sports, especially basketball. I loved to play basketball."

     But Fat Mike doesn't play much basketball these days. Speaking with a slight tint of melancholy in his voice, Fat Mike says he has done a lot of reminiscing lately on his once fast-paced life, fueled by drugs and alcohol, but now detoured into the streets.

       Born and raised in Atlanta in 1950 to what he described as "true Christian parents," Fat Mike says he had a relatively normal childhood. After graduating from West Fulton high school, Fat Mike had a job, a girlfriend and a plan to move out of his parents' house. He eventually moved in with a friend during a time in which everything was "going good."

       But after a few years and several jobs, things started to fall apart. Following the breakup with his girlfriend, whom he says he planned on marrying, Fat Mike was lost. By this time, well into his 20s, he took a job with his father's church, which he managed to hold for a couple years. Around this time, he met another "little chick," whom he began to experimenting harder drugs with after they moved in together.

      It was during this time in the mid-80s that he made the mistake, as he called it, of "snorting some cocaine." But by the late 1980s, Fat Mike went from simply using drugs to selling them. "And I fell into the trap like a fool. I should've known better." He began with selling marijuana - amongst other drugs such as speed – and felt trapped. As he sank deeper into the world of drugs and alcohol, he began freebasing cocaine or inhaling it in its purest form.

     "It was a turning point in my life," he says. "Everything started going downhill." As everyone surrounding Fat Mike began using drugs, his habit began to become quite expensive. "I kept food on the table, I kept the bills paid, and I supported my girlfriend – but I was using drugs."

     Unfortunately, Fat Mike's temper got the best of him, causing him to quit his job at church and propelled him further into the lifestyle of a full-time dealer. Sometime between 1986 and 1987, he was introduced to crack.

       "It was cheaper," Fat Mike recalled. "It was only five to $10 for a hit – cocaine was about $25-$50." He continued using crack, alongside his girlfriend, while they lived in an apartment in the Bankhead area. Shortly afterwards, they relocated to another side of town, met up with some old friends and began selling drugs there. He and his ‘clique' had an assortment of hustles, he says – including gambling and prostitution.

       "Some of my boys were so-called ‘pimps,' and they had their own thing going on in Alabama." According to Fat Mike, him and his ‘clique' were pulling in an estimated $5,000 and split it amongst four people. "I had one friend who made probably $10,000 a week." "We were eating the best food, going to the best clubs, and traveling – just living the fast life." By his own account, Fat Mike continued this lifestyle for some 10 years.

       Although he always kept in constant contact with his family, they never questioned where he was getting such large amounts of money from – but they definitely knew. "They knew I was hustling, especially my dad," Fat Mike says. "He always says, ‘son, if you ever get locked up, don't expect me to come get you. Your mom might, but not me.'"

        Even the death of his mother in '94, which Fat Mike says hurt him deeply, had no effect on his illicit activities – he continued to use and sell. But the fast-paced lifestyle in which Fat Mike had become so accustomed to finally caught up with him in 1996. Fat Mike, along with his clique, pulled an armed robbery at a local loan company and was caught by police.

       With the arrest and sentencing, his girlfriend left him, which he says didn't surprise him much. And, true to his word, his father never came to his rescue or so much as visited Fat Mike while he was incarcerated. "My father never came and saw me. Actually, nobody did," Fat Mike says.

      But while serving his sentence out in prison, his father fell ill and died in 2005, without so much as a word with his son. Fat Mike was later released in 2006. After his release, Fat Mike was employed at a waste management company for about three years, until the company was sold and Fat Mike was laid-off. With the small amount of money he had to his name, he lived in a hotel room at the Intown Suite for six months – until his money ran out, forcing him to become yet another face living on the streets.

He did find another job as a security guard at a local pizza joint for a short period of time, but, as a felon, Fat Mike was not allowed to own a firearm, and was once again laid off due to the restaurant's need for an armed security guard.

Once again, he was homeless.

"The last two to three years have been a struggle," Fat Mike says.

     His struggle worsened in May 2011 when he was found sprawled out in the grass lawn of neighborhood in Homepark by emergency medical technicians, suffering from a form of arthritis known as gout that plagued his hands, knees and other areas of his body. Diabetes and high blood pressure have also been constant health concerns. Combined with the fact that he was homeless, his dwindling health caused him to enter a deep depression.