Gets Real: Pierce County man giving back to unhoused community where he once belonged

TACOMA, Wash. — The buzz of a free haircut is a sweet sound for those who can’t afford one.

Now a Pierce County man is helping change lives, one converted school bus at a time.

Brandon Simmons’ day job is converting school buses into self-sufficent homes. Now he is using one of those buses to offer free haircuts in Tacoma.

And he says he hopes this is just the start of what those school buses can do.

A parking lot adjacent to Tacoma’s Fern Hill Library is being converted into an outdoor barbershop.

Stylist Moe Holmes’s salon is in Olympia. But on her day off, she is cutting hair, for free.

“I enjoy being out in the community,” said Holmes. “I haven’t done it for a while. You know, COVID shut a lot of that down. So, here we are.”

You can find the man who envisioned hovering over a portable shampoo bowl or sweeping up freshly cut hair.

Brandon Simmons started his Skoolie Foundation in 2023, named for his business that converts school buses into livable spaces. He was homeless for a time when he was a child.

“We wanted to do outreach,” Simmons said. “We wanted to figure out how we could branch, something as simple as a school bus converted to a mobile shelter into helping our community.”

So, he started with haircuts, mainly for the unhoused.

Why haircuts? “Where is the best place for therapy?” he asked. “This is a way you can sit down and say ‘hey, what’s your name? What’s going on in life? How’s your day going?’”

When he needed a place to host his outdoor hair salon, he turned to the Tacoma Public Library.

“We have an increase in individuals who are unhoused in our community,” said Gabby Fuentes, library operations manager. “And we see them in all of our neighborhood libraries in Tacoma. And Brandon said, one day we might have showers and haircuts. And that’s why we got together and started making a plan.”

Calvin Kennon brought over some clients from Comprehensive Life Resources, for those recovering from mental stress.

“I like how the community comes together and offers services,” he said. “A haircut is one that is definitely needed. But I think it’s great.”

If Brandon Simmons has anything to say about it, and I expect he will, this could simply be the start of what could be called an entire empire of giving back.

“The goal was from sleeping in a tent to sleeping in a bed,” Simmons said. “What are the transactions that have to occur? What’s missing? Sheltering is missing. If you talk to people on the streets, laundry is missing. And showers are missing. Well, I can build a bus just like this with six washer dryers, two generators in it for less than $10,000 to allow us to give laundry services to anyone in a camp.”

“All right, Shaun,” said Moe Holmes. “Looking good!”

And it will have begun with a haircut.

And how is Shaun McCartney feeling? “I feel better than I did a month ago,” he said of his newly shorn locks.

“How important is a haircut?” asked Holmes. “Well, when we look good, we feel good. You do great things (when) you got a great haircut.”

Then surely great things await.

Brandon Simmons says he has sunk $70,000 of his own money into this project.

He is hoping as word gets out, he will find others willing to donate, too.

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