He was a graduate of Yale, a Wall Street banker and entrepreneur. Today, he is homeless in Los Angeles

In this context, the story of Pleasants reminds how much the problem of homelessness can be complex. "It means it can happen to anybody, it's a problem we could all face," said Pleasants, standing on a sidewalk in front of his weathered belongings. A couple of unopened cereal boxes that he has just retrieved from a pantry is at the top of his business.

"I am responsible for my own choices and all my decisions belong to it," he said before telling his story.

Mike Dickerson, organizer of the homeless group Ktown for All, said the stories of many people living on the street might surprise you.

"I think a lot of people have this perception that the danger lies in the camps," he said. "And for myself and for the other volunteers, we found that people who are just people like others, who have fallen into a difficult time, either because of their personal problems or the situation where their landlord evicted them or the rent went up as they could not pay anymore. "

The journey of a man in roaming

Pleasants grew up in San Antonio, Texas, thanks to a loving and stable family that has always excelled at school, according to his younger brother, Michael.

Their mother was a teacher while their father was a career in the Air Force.

"He was still like a young kid who was dismantling and putting things back in place," said Michael Pleasants, who followed in his brother's footsteps until Yale. "He was a great kid."

"He (Shawn) played trombone and won several civic awards in the city."

Pleasers have also overcome a physical handicap. He was born with a club foot and wore leggings throughout his childhood, said his brother. His doctor joked that he would never run a marathon. In fact, his brother said that he had several, and that he was in excellent physical condition since the age of 20 years.

Pleasants was a high school fan, who had received offers from several colleges, according to his brother.

Shawn chose Yale and said she received scholarships and several scholarships, covering most of her tuition. CNN verified that he was a graduate of the university.

He specialized in economics and after a few years working on Wall Street, including jobs at Morgan Stanley, he landed in California. Trying to make a dream come true in Hollywood, he created a photography and film company.

It was in the mid-90s and, with the explosion of the DVD industry, his company became involved in the then lucrative world of adult cinema. They made so much money that the Pleasants ended up buying a big house in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles.

"It was a beautiful house, something you would see on MTV," said his brother.

But in the midst of arguments with his co-founders, incomes declined.

"By the time everything was settled, there was nothing left to do," Shawn Pleasants said.

About 10 years ago, around the same time, he also lost his mother to cancer, and his death plunged him into an emotional and physical spiral.

He went to live from one place to another, before losing his car, said his brother.

Pleasants is gay and considers himself married to another homeless man with whom he has been for 10 years, even before they're on the street.

They live on the street together, acting as a kind of team. They courted the same sidewalks in Koreatown for six years.

"We are moving," he said, explaining that some of their belongings are a few blocks away.

He winced at the thought of ever going to a shelter.

"They are always configured with such rigid protocols, I will leave the place immediately," he said.

Pleasants thinks that a shelter would restrict his freedom and fear that he can not keep all his belongings for want of space.

"I would rather be in a place where I can always go to the library and do the things I have to do when I need to do them."

He stated that he had started taking drugs before becoming homeless, but he insisted that it was not what led him to the street.

His brother says his path to addiction began while he was recovering from a back injury before becoming homeless. "It started with painkillers, then when they were too expensive or inaccessible, he took other medications."

Shawn Pleasants said that he used methamphetamine several times a week, both to escape him and to help him stay awake at night.

"Every time you sleep, you lose and people come to take your things," he said.

"I sleep heavy, I lose a lot."

Surviving on the streets

Pleasants has both a laptop and a cell phone. The phone and its service are free as part of a program of the Obama era. He spends a lot of time at the library, accessing the Internet and keeping up to date with the news.

He is sure to understand the free lunch schedule – using his natural intelligence to develop an effective schedule.

"Some churches (which provide meals), some larder, you learn these schedules," he explained.

When asked if Pleasants was suffering from mental illness, his brother said, "I think he's suffering from episodic depression, he can go through periods of extreme depression where he's treating himself, but he can also go through periods of being equally optimistic, resilient, and energetic. "

The family has repeatedly tried to ask him for help, his brother said. He has a permanent offer for him to move in with his 86-year-old father in San Antonio. In the long run, they would like to see him find an affordable option near their home – perhaps through a government assistance program.

But Pleasants is provocative.

"I'm not trying to bring in another family member," he said.

"I fell in. I have to get out of there."

The fact that he graduated from an Ivy League school, that he owns a home and makes a good living, he said, should not be a shock.

While making a gesture towards a camp under the tent, he says: "You will find musicians, there is a photographer, you have all kinds of people."

Dickerson says that to get people off the street, more affordable housing must be created.

"I think people are talking about issues such as mental illness or addiction, which exist in this population, but that's not the main problem," he said.

"The idea of ​​forcing people to settle in an institution probably located in a very remote area is not a solution. It will not connect them to jobs, housing, services (such as mental health and addiction treatment). "

"And more importantly, the fact of installing thousands of people in a giant building will not make them stay if it does not allow them to live permanently permanently," he added.

Farmers indicated that more practical measures such as bathing facilities were essential.

"We need places to take a shower, if you do not want us to have hygiene problems," he said. "And to find a job, we have to have clean clothes, where do I have to go back and how to keep them under pressure?"

When asked how he will eventually get out of this life, Pleasants expressed the kind of confidence that had initially distinguished him.

"I'm going to start a small business again," he says with a bright smile.