Christopher Collins stood in the parking lot of Boardwalk Apartments early Friday morning, dressed in borrowed clothes and wrapped in a blanket, realizing that the fire consuming his apartment was about to leave him homeless.

Again.

“My place burned down,” he said.

It was just the latest setback for Collins, 28, who has been repeatedly hospitalized for depression and who once spent 14 months homeless on the streets of Lawrence.

But with some help from Lawrence’s social service agencies, he found an apartment in October 2003 and became a voice for the city’s homeless population.

“I just got my first disability check a month ago,” said Collins, who has severe depressive anxiety disorder. “I used it to buy furniture and start the next stage of my life. Ninety-nine percent of that money is gone.”

Chris Collins, a resident of Boardwalk Apartments, in the 500 block of Fireside Drive, realizes he has lost his home and possessions to a large fire that destroyed several units at the complex.

Collins added: “I was planning on getting renters’ insurance next month. Shoulda, coulda, woulda.”

Collins escaped his apartment with only a blanket on his back; somebody friendly gave him a shirt, pants and socks to wear. He remained shoeless in the chilly predawn dark, however.

“At least I got some dignity now,” he said as the fire continued to rage.

Soon after the Red Cross shelter was set up at the nearby American Legion hall, Collins was the first fire survivor to report. He said he was expecting an acquaintance in a nearby apartment building to give him refuge, but he pronounced himself homeless.

“I’ve been homeless before,” Collins said. “So it’s not like I don’t know how to cope.”