PITTSBURGH \u2014 Channel 11 spent the day with the man Pittsburgh nicknamed Shoeless Matt, after he left his apartment with only the clothes on his back. He explained how he was able to build his life back, a year after losing everything.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember thinking, \u2018wow, hard to believe I was there for so long and now it\u2019s just *snaps* like that\u2019\u201d said Matthew Stock, a victim in a massive apartment fire on Forward Avenue.<\/a> <\/p>\n Stock ran out of his apartment nearly a year ago as it went up in flames.<\/p>\n >>Click here for more photos from the scene<<<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI remember sitting with you over there in the Lifetime Auto Center,\u201d said reporter Addison Albert while talking with Stock. \u201cWe were sitting there for, I want to say, a few hours.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah,\u201d Stock responded. \u201cEveryone was still trying to figure out if the building was going to be salvaged or not. There was the whole, \u2018well there\u2019s a lot of smoke, and oh there\u2019s a lot of fire in that corner so maybe not and it\u2019s going through the whole roof. I guess no one is going back in any time soon.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n In the following days, Matt was coined \u201cShoeless Matt,\u201d even making it the name of his GoFundMe page. He said he still can\u2019t believe the amount of help he received almost immediately.<\/p>\n \u201cThanks to my sister and my family and you guys who got my story out there. It\u2019s actually been a lot better than I would have expected,\u201d Stock said. <\/p>\n He also took our crew to the Magee Rec Center where the Red Cross housed some of the homeless tenants for several days.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, one person was on the far end as I recall,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd the other two people were over in that direction closer to the basketball hoop. We are all pretty spread out, and no one was particularly feeling that social.\u201d<\/p>\n He said he\u2019s still grateful for the care he received. He tells Channel 11 the landlords of the building that burnt down actually found him new housing a few weeks after the fire at the same rate. He\u2019s been able to get a new job, a new wardrobe, and of course new shoes.<\/p>\n For a year now, Zytnick Realty has not answered Channel 11\u2019s messages or emails about the future of the property. The city of Pittsburgh also told Channel 11 that no one has applied for a permit for the property in the past year. <\/p>\n Download the FREE WPXI News app<\/a> for breaking news alerts.<\/p>\n Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook<\/a> and Twitter<\/a>. | Watch WPXI NOW<\/a><\/p>\n TOP STORIES FROM CHANNEL 11 NEWS <\/p>\n \u00a92026 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n