I remember the first time l met Greg Hughes.
I was a resident of the now closed Road Home homeless shelter during the summer of 2015. He was down there to assess things around the Rio Grande neighborhood and ended up getting a firsthand view of just how bad things had gotten.
With his own eyes he witnessed a police operation which resulted in the discovery of a large sum of drugs and cash and the arrest of an individual who was preying on the more vulnerable parts of our population.
Shortly after this, we were introduced by members of Salt Lake City Police Department. I was participating in their HOST program at the time, which aimed to help homeless individuals gain employment and self sufficiency.
Hughes’ interest and his shock were well displayed during our conversation. His interest in the programs available and the promise of success they offered and his shock at the conditions of the Road Home and surrounding areas. My answer to his question of what my thoughts were to improve the situation was, basically, more programming and less crime. He then asked if I knew how much it would actually take to make meaningful change a reality.
The culture and entrenched, pure ugliness of everything down there at the time made me say it would take quite a lot to effectuate the positive change that many of us had hoped to see. It was now my turn to be shocked and interested as he very bluntly told me that he didn’t care how much effort or work it took, we would see change down there.
He told me to keep on my path, that of working and taking steps to get out of there, and he would set himself to the task involvement and improving and progressing what seemed hopeless to so many in the area.
I kept my path indeed. I kept working my job and got a better job and an apartment and bought a house and became a single father of twin boys somewhere along the way. During all of this, while l was working to improve my personal situation, Greg was working to improve the Rio Grande neighborhood and the lives of those affected by the area.
In January of 2017, Greg invited me to be his guest at the opening day of the Legislature. It was an honor to be there with my twins and listen to him speak about me and my situation and the Rio Grande area, as well as the improvements that had been made and how much farther we still had to go.
The Road Home is now gone and there are new resource centers available. We have made much progress since l first met Greg Hughes and we still have work to do. I am very grateful though that l had the opportunity to meet Greg the way l did and to watch his interest and involvement evolve into his stance on the homeless issue now, that of genuine concern and with my honest belief that he will continue to fight for the improvement of all of Utah’s citizens.
Brandon Kitchen
Brandon Kitchen, Layton, is a union pipefitter/plumber apprentice and father of 4-year-old twin boys.