February 12. 2016 9:45PM
Homeless woman who was evicted from New Horizons struggles for stability
IN LATE NOVEMBER, homelessness hit Nancy Duhaime. It came swiftly and painfully, like a brutal cold snap after a disarming January thaw.
It could have been expected, given some aspects of her life. She has family problems. She said she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. She hasn’t been able to hold a job long. And alcohol might play a role.
So at 61, Duhaime has been crashing with a friend in a rooming house. When the weather is warm, she sleeps at her West Side campsite. She’s slept at the New Horizons shelter but has also been barred from there at times.
And some nights she just walks, choosing the relative warmth of mobility over the colder option of a restorative shuteye.
When you’re homeless, “you just become a different person,” Duhaime said.
There are consequences for homelessness. Last year in New Hampshire, exposure to cold was the underlying cause of death for at least three people, possibly more because tallies have not been completed, according to the state Division of Vital Records.
Nine died the previous year, but none of the deaths were in Manchester.
I visited Duhaime’s tent site Monday. It’s about a five-minute walk into Black Acres, the expanse of sand pits, woods and power lines on the West Side. She last slept there about a week ago, abandoning it after waking to snow and what the weatherman called a return to normal February temperatures. (See video below or at unionleader.com/homeless).
Last night, that meant wind chills that were expected to drop below zero.
“I want to go to a place that’s safe and warm,” said Duhaime, who tears up when recounting her plight.
Duhaime’s story can be only partially confirmed. She said she had been living for years with a roommate in a Merrimack apartment. On Thanksgiving, the turkey burned, a fight ensued, and the roommate kicked her out.
That Sunday night, Duhaime returned, and Merrimack police arrested her.
“The homeowner asked the subject to leave several times, but the same behavior continued. On the arrival of police they found Nancy Duhaime, now sitting in her motor vehicle drinking a beer,” according to a police summary.
She said she could not go to work the next day, so she lost her job.
“She had some personal issues,” said Mike Mongeau, her manager at Merrimack Tractor Supply Co. Duhaime was a part-time cashier and had worked for the company about three months. She did a good job and was very friendly, he said.
Mongeau did not know she was homeless. New Horizons for New Hampshire, the city’s shelter and soup kitchen, said she first arrived on Dec. 2 and has spent 19 nights at the shelter since then.
Duhaime said she has two sons who live in Manchester, one not far from her encampment. She said they help her out sometimes, but one has taken out a no-contact order. She said he has urged her not to drink when she takes her medication, but she dismisses his concerns.
We spoke several times on the telephone and met twice this week. She never slurred her words, and I smelled no whiff of alcohol.
Duhaime is 5 feet, 1 inch tall and weighs about 110 pounds. She speaks softly; on the telephone her voice is melodic and young. She smiles at times, but she cries easily. And she became irritated, even threatening, when she spoke on the telephone to workers for Mayor Ted Gatsas and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, threatening at one point to run against Shaheen.
Her biggest issue is New Horizons. For most of the week, she had been evicted from the shelter.
“She’s a very sick woman, and we want her to get the help she needs,” said Kevin Kintner, the program director at New Horizons. He said Duhaime has pushed staff, insulted people and screamed vulgarities.
New Horizons sees about 950 people annually struggle with problems of mental health, drugs and alcohol, he said. They have delusions. They are disruptive. They can’t abide by the rules.
Lots of New Horizons clients get evicted. They are welcome back once they speak with a New Horizons counselor, he said.
Duhaime has her issues with the shelter. Weeks ago, she got thrown out for a mandatory three nights when a beer was discovered in her belongings. She doesn’t like the shelter’s 6:30 p.m. curfew. She said her belongings get stolen.
She said she wasn’t screaming, only crying when her Xanax was stolen.
“I get kicked out for anything,” she said, “I’m scared to death when I go there. I feel like I’m walking up to the gas chamber.”
On cold nights like tonight, New Horizon has a heated hall where anyone can stay, even people like Duhaime who have been evicted from the shelter.
It doesn’t take too long to recognize that Duhaime is caught in a maze of fear and confusion. You lose your home and your bed. Anxiety churns into panic. You don’t sleep. You lash out. Small personality problems are magnified. You deny. You lash out. Who wouldn’t?
Toward the end of the week, Duhaime had visited social workers to restart her food stamps and apply for Social Security disability. (Duhaime will be eligible for Social Security retirement in a few months, she said.) We talked on the telephone, and she seemed positive. She kept an appointment to speak to a mental health counselor.
But when she showed up at New Horizons late Thursday afternoon, she had a black eye, Kintner said.
“The saga is far from over,” Kintner said. “It’s going to take a long time for her to get healthy.”
Mark Hayward’s City Matters appears Saturdays in the New Hampshire Union Leader and UnionLeader.com. He can be reached at mhayward@unionleader.com.