Hidden Homeless: U.S. families living in motel rooms

[Stuart G]

International Herald Tribune

http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/03/11/america/homeless.php



Hidden homeless: U.S. families living in motel rooms



COSTA MESA, California: Greg Hayworth, 44, graduated from Syracuse University and made a good living in his home state, California, from real estate and mortgage finance. Then that business crashed, and early last year the bank foreclosed on the house he was renting, forcing his family's eviction.

Now the Hayworths and their three children represent a new face of homelessness in Orange County: formerly middle income, living week to week in a cramped motel room.

"I owe it to my kids to get out of here," Hayworth said, recalling the night they saw a motel neighbor drag a half-naked woman out the door while he beat her.

As the recession has deepened, long-time workers who lost their jobs are facing the terror and stigma of homelessness for the first time, including those who have owned or rented for years. Some show up in shelters and on the streets, but others, like the Hayworths, are the hidden homeless — living doubled up in apartments, in garages or in motels, uncounted in U.S. homeless data and often receiving little public aid.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Kinda makes you feel ill to read this one. But it is the way it is...sadly...

[bahadir]

1. re

is this a problem of present or past?

[Stuart G]

2. Tens of thousands are living like this as you read these words. nt

[blogslut]

3. The date of the article makes it pretty clear

It's about now.

[likesmountains 52]

4. Having fun?

[AngryOldDem]

15. What do you think? n/t

[Joe the Liberal]

5. I remember reading about this a while back...........

in our local newspaper, sad indeed.

[wilt the stilt]

6. the new hoovervilles

thank you republicans

[Massacure]

7. How can you afford a motel but not an apartment?

If you spend $750 a month on an apartment that is $25 a day. Motels run around $40 a night.

On Edit: Although the numbers may vary by market, in just about any market I doubt motels are cheaper than apartments.

[Triana]

8. very high rent apparently....from the article...

"Motel families exist by the hundreds in Denver, along freeway-bypassed Route 1 on the Eastern Seaboard, and in other cities from Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Portland, Oregon. But they are especially prevalent in Orange County, which has high rents, a shortage of public housing and a surplus of older motels that once housed Disneyland visitors.

"The motels have become the de facto low-income housing of Orange County,"

[MarjorieG]

9. Plus first, last and credit check. Maybe job problems, also.

[Lost in CT]

10. It is a combination of credit and putting together the down payment.

"like many other families, they cannot muster the security deposit and other upfront costs of renting a new place."

And with that said some of them are honestly idiots...

"That hope evaporated when her hours at Target were cut in half. What with the $241 weekly rent, the cost of essentials and a $380 car payment, they cannot save."

WTF are they doing with a $380 car payment if they are living in a hotel.... hello....You made you daughter get rid of her cat but you still pay for car payments and a storage unit.... sell your stuff and get rid of the car...:banghead: :banghead: :banghead:


They need a helping hand to get back on their feet but some of them honestly need some survival skills as well.

[DBoon]

11. In Orange County CA you do NOT get rid of the car

lack of mass transit plus 60 years of auto-oriented suburban development means you have no way of getting to and from work without a car.

You cannot buy groceries without a car. You cannot get medical care without a car.

And you need a reliable car. Missing work one too many times due to car problems means you no longer have a job.

[Lost in CT]

13. I'm not saying be carless... I'm suggesting a used vehicle (without payments)

until you are back on your feet... if your forced to put all your possessions in storage and give away the family pets that should be a Defcon 1 wakeup call.

[SmileyRose]

16. I could not disagree with you more.

When the shit hits the fan everyone expects it to be short term. You don't just get rid of your beds, dishes, family heirlooms over what you expect to be a 6 month to a year in the deepest bowels of hell economically.

I've been here a couple times. I had cancer in my mid 20's and could not work for almost 3 years. My husband was struggling to work full time because I was so sick (he was chief caretaker). We gave up the apartment, put our things in storage (luckily we could put them for free in someone's basement) and moved into a bedroom of a kindly friend's house for nearly 2 years -- much MUCH longer than we expected it to go on since there were some unusual setbacks with my cancer. We kept our car, with it's payment. It only had a year to go on payments when we devolved our lives.

We survived just fine so there's obviously more than one way to survive. And the lady you take issue with is obviously still alive so.............

[JANdad]

18. Your post is

too stupid to even come up with an argument...

Yeah! Get rid of the car payment and buy one for cash!....DOH! You know that cash you had stocked away for that vacation to Disney World!...

[SmileyRose]

14. old motels/efficiency lodges here run about $139 week - all utilities

for people living week to week this comes to roughly $600 a month, all utilities except long distance. Since most apartments do not cover utilities, these places are a way to keep a roof over the head, have an address, have some semblence of normalcy with living on the edge.

[AllieB]

19. Rentals require 1st, last and deposit. Read Barbara Ehrenreich's 'Nickel and Dimed'.

It's a great book that describes a whole class of people who live paycheck to paycheck.

[suede1]

12. Weird, a friend and I were just talking about this. Thanks bush.

[Stuart G]

17. Yep, Bush has done more to destroy American family wealth than

anyone in the history of the country...probably more than everyone else combined. (outside of Hoover)