The 17 months that Christie Higuchi has spent in her Salt Lake studio have given the formerly chronically homeless woman a new lease on life.
Higuchi said her life changed for the better that October day in 2012 when social workers walked up to her on a Chinatown street and handed her the keys to her studio. Higuchi said it was like she had won the lottery, only better, when they told her that she had been selected to participate in the Housing First pilot program that aims to provide permanent housing to the state’s most chronically homeless individuals.
"I was going to do crack that day, but when they handed me the keys, I threw it away," said Higuchi, whose turbulent personal history and ill health marked her as someone in danger of dying if she stayed on the street, where she had spent more than four years.
Higuchi’s condition was so bad that Marya Grambs, executive director of Mental Health America of Hawaii, said social service providers initially assumed that she had died when they didn’t see her perched on the square of cardboard that was her Hotel Street home.
"It’s been kind of miraculous that she’s been able to do so well," Grambs said.
Life with four walls and a door has provided Higuchi with the trappings that most take for granted. She counts among her blessings access to hot and cold running water as well as a stove and a refrigerator where she can prepare and store meals that are safe to eat.
"I was dying out there," said Higuchi, who was diagnosed with HIV in 1989. "I’ve still got the virus, but my health is back on track. I’m happy. I’m alive. I can live."
She likes the fact that she can sleep at night without worrying that someone will assault her or take the belongings that she has accumulated. She is especially proud of her growing crop of stuffed animals.
"If you put it down on the street, people take it," Higuchi said. "The last thing that I did out, I washed my clothes, went to sleep, and when I woke up the box was gone. I didn’t have anything. I was nothing. Now, I’m Chris the bomb."
Though the transition is not easy, Higuchi said that she has thrived in her new home, which allows her to take better care of her health, re-establish family ties and make new friends.
"She’s learning to be a good neighbor. She even walks people’s dogs," said Cathie Alana, who works at the Hawaii State Hospital and has provided pro bono services to Higuchi for a couple of decades.
Each passing month of studio living helps smooths out rough patches from Higuchi’s earlier life, which include childhood abuse and teenage prostitution. The pain of that lifestyle drove her to drugs, which landed her in jail, interfered with her ability to maintain custody of her children and affected her relationships and health.
"I’ve lived in jail a good 30 years of my life, on and off," Higuchi said. "But I’ve been out of the court system for seven or eight years, and I don’t plan on going back."
Higuchi smiles shyly as she recounts a recent conversation with a sheriff she knew from before.
"I ran into him in my building, and he asked me, ‘Did anyone tell you that they are proud of you lately?’" she said. "I was so happy to hear him say, ‘I am.’"
