Ryan knew he had been, by his own admission, “an asshole.”

A heated argument the day before had left the 41-year-old full of regret. This time, he thought, he’d gone too far. An eviction notice felt inevitable.

Ryan, who was guarded and suspicious when he was first housed, said he had lashed out at Main Street Project’s housing services program manager, Kelly Guetre, over something trivial. He doesn’t shy away from the admission. He messed up — badly, he feared.

“I thought that was it. I was like, ‘Argh, I’m done,’” he says, swaying back and forth as a cigarette smoulders in the fingers of his right hand. “I’m out of here.”

The following evening, when he saw Guetre again, he made sure to get her attention. He needed to apologize — and did. What followed, he says, has stayed with him ev

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