Homeless For a Day

His face blends into the crowd of others along East 11th Street outside the Chattanooga Community Kitchen waiting for a warm meal. Andrae McGary is running for city council. He is the only one who accepted a challenge to live the life of a homeless person for 24 hours.

"You look at homelessness from a standpoint of recognizing how urgent an issue it really is. We can speak of it from a lot of different angles. But being inside it you really begin to feel how uncomfortable it is," said McGary.

A group called Changers Chattanoogans and North Georgians for economic human rights invited local leaders and candidates to pair up with a homeless person for a day. McGary was matched with a man who lives under a bridge. Changers hope he'll gain some perspective and fresh ideas to end the problem.

" We're assuming he will probably sleep outside tonight get into a mission but mission beds are really limited so there's a really good chance he'll sleep outside," said Brother Ron Fender the director of the Changers.

We spoke to many people on the streets who say the challenge is a step in the right direction but 24 hours is not enough to make a dent."

"Human suffering out here man is a place you have to suffer something to really know it, said Ronnie Hamer who  he lives on a street corner near the community kitchen and he didn't want to show his face because he's afraid if he does the homeless agencies will cut off their services to him. He says decreasing homelessness is a dirty job and he feels no one is willing to roll up their sleeves and dig in. band-aids on gunshot wounds. They administer the symptoms but not the root of them problem.

McGary says he been homeless in his life and agrees with Hamer that homeless people need more resources to get off the streets.

"If you fell in a pit. A pit has no sides it's straight up on the sides. The only way that you can get out if it is if someone throws you a lifeline," said Hamer.