MILLIONAIRE WELCOMED A HOMELESS COUPLE INTO HIS $4 MILLION MANSION
and a YEAR later,,, they are still living with him
Amillionaire has welcomed a homeless couple into his $4 million mansion in California to show people that living on the streets isn’t ‘contagious’.
Greg Dunston, a former security guard injured on the job, and Marie Mckinzie, a former cashier and certified nurse assistant, lived on the streets of Oakland, California, for a decade before generous Bay Area homeowner Terry Mcgrath offered them a roof over their heads.
Mcgrath gave the couple the in-law unit of his mansion in the upper-class Piedmont neighbourhood after seeing a story that was published about them in the San Francisco Chronicle in January 2019.
Otis Taylor, a journalist for the San Francisco Chronicle, told ABC News last year there is huge disparity in the Bay Area between the wealthy and the homeless.
San Francisco is both the wealthiest city in the US - with more billionaires per capita than any other - and one of the poorest, with a homeless population of almost 8,000 people.
‘You have people able to purchase multimillion-dollar homes in cash and then you have people who don’t even have enough money to eat on a daily basis. Who sleep in the same clothes in rags, they sleep in doorways and parking lots next to dumpsters,’ Taylor told ABC News.
Taylor said that when he met Dunston and Mckinzie, he recognised that while they both suffered from disabilities, they ‘were still engaged with meeting people and they still had love for each other through it all’.
After hearing about their plight, real estate developer Mcgrath, offered them the space in his hilltop home where they have lived ever since moving in on February 1 last year.
‘The thing that struck me and got me right away was the love between Greg and Marie and how it was able to survive in probably one of the harshest environments on earth,’ Mcgrath told ABC Nightline.
He said he hopes the move will help break down perceptions many people have of homeless people.
‘Our natural tendency is to move away from that kind of pain,’ he said.
‘That’s why we avert our eyes. That’s why they just become part of the background, part of of the wallpaper and it’s easier to just move past it.’
Taylor said: ‘There was no decision, there was no thought, there was no judgement. I was just like ‘this is done.’
‘I didn’t vet them. These are human beings and they’re not serial killers.
They want to get in out of the weather. They want a roof over their head. They want to be warm.’
Mcgrath said many people have lived in the unit over the years, including his own children, other relatives and an intern.
Yet, Mcgrath told ABC Nightline that the black couple faced obstacles when moving into the rich white neighbourhood.
According to data from the US Census, the Piedmont population is almost 72 percent white. Just one percent of residents are black.
Despite Mcgrath saying several people had come and gone in the unit over the years, he had never had reports from neighbours about his previous white tenants.
‘I got a call at 9:30 at night on my cellphone --I thought she was calling about organising the neighborhood summer block party,’ Mcgrath said of one of the first responses.
‘I realised when she mentioned the word ‘situation’ that she was referencing Marie and Greg. And I said, ‘What situation?’ are they vandalizing cars? Are they burglarizing homes?’’
I just said, ‘This is one of the most offensive conversations I’ve ever had.’, he added.
Several complaints were also raised with the police, when residents noticed the black couple in the wealthy white area.
‘I just pulled into the driveway and there’s some strange folks hanging around the house,’ one resident told 911 dispatchers.
Another said: ‘I just wanted to notify you that this woman is sitting at Lexford and Hampton ... She’s smoking a cigarette -- could be drugs.’
Having anticipated such a response, Mcgrath said he had already informed Piedmont chief of police Jeremy Bowers that Dunston and Mckinzie had moved into his home, meaning officers knew how to handle it.
Dunston and Mckinzie said they were happy to leave life on the streets behind.
‘I don’t want to live on the streets. A lot of people do, but I want to get in,’ Mckinzie told ABC Nightline.
‘I love to cook a lot so I wanted a kitchen, bed and shower.’
‘We wanted to do that,’ Dunston said about moving into Mcgrath’s home.
‘There are a lot of people out on the streets but they have no choice.’
He added that they ‘never dreamed or imagined we would be living in Piedmont’.
Mcgrath said Dunston and Mckinzie are now ‘family’ and that they’re welcome to stay in his home for as long as they want.
I realised when she mentioned the word ‘situation’ that she was referencing Marie and Greg. And I said, ‘What situation?’ Are they vandalizing cars? Are they burglarizing homes?’’ I just said, ‘This is one of the most offensive conversations I’ve ever had.’,’ he added