Last winter, an unhoused man showed up in an emergency room in Bend, Oregon, battered by the cold. His toes were so frostbitten that he had to have both of his feet amputated.
The man was later discharged to a local homeless shelter. His health deteriorated, partly due to substance abuse. On February 14, he suffered a stroke and died.
It’s not an unusual story. But the man it happened to wasn't just anyone. He was Craig Conyer, a former defense attorney who had once served as Bend’s mayor.
Conyer was a man of such prominence that multiple streets in town carried his surname. During his life on the streets, he could be found wandering the eponymous Conyer Trail.
So how did the city’s former mayor end up dying penniless and unhoused? The same way many homeless people do – through a combination of mental illness, addiction, and a lack of affordable housing.
Conyer suffered from bipolar disorder. He tried to self-medicate with alcohol, which only compounded his mental health struggles. He was arrested and eventually lost his ability to practice law. Unable to pay his mortgage, he began couch surfing.
During the pandemic, remote Bend saw an influx of newcomers escaping city life. Gentrification followed and Conyer lost all hope of owning or renting another home. He began sleeping in a tent along the Parkway he helped get built as mayor. When winter came, he was exposed to freezing temperatures.
Conyer’s story is playing out again and again, thousands of times across American cities. The average homeless person isn’t a former mayor, of course. But like Conyer, they end up homeless through a confluence of tragedies and misfortune.
And then many die — cold and alone.