“I used to think that homeless people were a bunch of losers.”
Tony Fayed is a 55 year old of Egyptian descent. He was born in Washington, D.C., and has lived in Ventura since 1990. Tony is a certified electrician with skills in all the building trades. Until becoming homeless in 2008, Tony had never experienced challenges obtaining employment.
Tony found an unexploded shell at a Point Mugu air show and put it into his toolbox. When police found this unexploded shell in his toolbox during a traffic stop, Tony was incarcerated for ten months. By the time the legal charges were dropped and he was released, Tony had lost his home, his car, and the tools of his trade.
Tony says it is very difficult to get employment once you have lost everything. When one has no address, no phone, and no tools, employers are not interested, even though you are highly qualified and have a good work record. They judge you by your appearance and your current situation. “Any decent electrician will at least have his own tools. I used to think that homeless people were a bunch of losers. Since experiencing homelessness for most of the past year, I have much more compassion for other homeless people.”