Once middle class, they're now homeless

The new homeless
By Elizabeth Leland
Posted: Sunday, May. 03, 2009


Kenneth and Stacy Dowdy can't afford a place to live in Charlotte. Neither can Charles DuPree. But if you passed them on the street, you might not recognize them for what they are: Homeless.

They are among a growing number of newly homeless who don't fit old stereotypes. Many of them work regular jobs, or did until recently, nursing the sick, caring for other people's children, vacuuming offices, driving cabs.

They lived in apartments or houses, surviving paycheck to paycheck. One thing went wrong in this bad economy, and they didn't have far to fall before they ended up on the street.

Or in the cab of a pickup, where the Dowdys slept one night, treating it like a camping adventure for the sake of their young son.

Ten years ago, advocates warned that Charlotte needed more low-income housing for the working poor. Task forces convened, and city leaders promised action. A lot has been accomplished, but not nearly enough. After a decade of unprecedented prosperity, when Charlotte was better positioned to take on the problem, the city now finds itself unprepared.

“There are pockets of folks energized around their efforts,” said Bert Green, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Charlotte. “But there's no one organization that's trying to pull all these groups together and say: ‘This is our strategic plan.' We know what we need to do. I don't think there's a political will out there to do it.”

At least 5,000 people, likely as many as 8,000, are homeless every night. Mothers, fathers, the elderly and, the most staggering figure of all: 3,500 children in public schools, plus an untold number of their younger siblings. Homeless in Charlotte.

more...

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/408/story/702093.html

I live paycheck to paycheck now and I've been learning to cut and cut unnecessary expenses for a couple of years. But if I lose my job I will be finished. At my age I don't believe I can find employment because the few jobs out there will be given to younger people, and in a tough economy maybe that's as it should be. I also take care of my mother who has Dementia. It keeps me up nights thinking about what would happen to her if we became homeless.

very scary. I am self-employed with no benefits of any sort, and am a single mom, so life is very tenuous.

I empathize with your situation, lunatica -- and the situation of sooooooo many who are hanging by a thread, so to speak. Yes, we have it better than so many others, without a doubt, and I'm grateful every day that we are well and DO have a roof over our heads, food on the table, and so forth. Yet, for me at least, it doesn't take away the anxiety of how easily one could be homeless and/or not have food on the table. One seemingly minor incident for those who have a "cushion" would be devastating for many families.

I hear you.

And whenever I read stories like this, I think: There but for the grace of God.....

Even if I don't have a clear picture of "God," that statement comes to mind. :)

One of mine didn't. Maybe it will come this week. So I was back at the food pantry. Which was low on food. Which was quite scary to think about. But a reflection of the reality. Our food pantries are being overwhelmed by people who suddenly can't make the ends meet.

It's worse for people who are self-employed. When there is no work, there is no unemployment check.

I had to prove income this time. I never had to do that before. Apparently if you have no money coming in you get nothing. And are basically told to just "hit the streets" and fend for yourself. It is, as I said, quite scary to think about.

The two Americas. The one apparently simply wants the other to just "hit the streets" and not bother it any further.

Yes that "proving" thing...many here at DU who either ARE homeless, have been homeless, or know those who are/have been have voiced that having to prove one's situation over and over again is sometimes the hardest part of the experience.

A reflection of the reality indeed.

I hope your checks arrive reliably and there continues to be food on your table, shelter, wellness and whatever one truly needs. I wish the same for everyone. I know it'snot the reality for so many, but I do hope for it, and shall work for it, all the same.

instead of investing it in the future.
Now they're (we're) stuck

and read at Habitat for Humanity's main site, but why don't they build apartments and more group housing, rather than individual houses only?

Or do they and I just didn't find it in a cursory search?

Affordable, low-income housing is critical, but it needn't be in the form of single-family homes.

On Edit: And what about renovating the seemingly endless empty strip mall stores and other empty commercial buildings for apartments? Does Habitat or another organization do something like that?

It's suffering from availability and efficiency issues, certainly, and not reaching everyone who needs it, too.

HUD administers the program: http://www.hud.gov/offices/pih/programs/hcv/

In most of the major cities, there are thousands of people on waiting lists for Section 8 subsidy. The average seems to be somewhere between 10,000 and 25,000. And there will be even more as those on unemployment lose their benefits and cannot find full time employment.

Some people actually pay "under the table" to "expedite" the application. And HUD is fully aware of that. And does absolutely nothing about it. HUD is probably the most corrupt government department ever created. My experience with HUD as an advocate is what opened my eyes to the reality of life in America. And also the reality of Washington.

It would be a good move if this administration and this Congress could help HUD out and help the program out.

I know someone who works for HUD--they're not all crooks. They endure the bureaucracy and the bullshit, too, and plenty of them really try to help the people they serve.

But there are so many who are corrupt that it has corrupted the programs. I used to do a lot of volunteer non-profit work and worked on grants and one involved a HUD grant for a senior citizens apartment complex. The regional director wanted $10,000 under the table. It was reported and he was later "transferred" and the grant was eventually approved. But still. He should have been fired immediately. And wasn't.

H for H also involves the homeowner in the construction process. Seems like an apartment building is just too large of a project for them.

complete works and tell them they need to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps, stop lolly-gagging, show some independence, backbone and gumption, stop goofing off and get a job. :sarcasm:

to ask those who are newly struggling if they are fans of Limbaugh, Beck, et al; if so, then hand them a copy of the book and say, "Let us know how this philosophy works out for you. Good luck."

Randroids need to practice what they preach.

Seven years ago I owned a nice house on a lake with two boats at my private dock in my backyard. Owned my own business

Now, I live on $624/mo SSI in a funky old sailboat not even in the water at the moment.

What happened? I got sick and couldn't work anymore.

I think what amazes me most is the number of people who think our system takes care of us. It does not.

I think what angers me most is the trillions of dollars of debt we are incurring for a war no one supports and to bailout Wall Street crooks.

And Main Street is told to just hit the street and fend for itself.

:hug:

She was a pioneer woman who experienced extremely hard times almost all of her life. Stegner, at age 80, wrote a beautiful letter ("Letter, Much Too Late") to his long-dead mother (he had held her hand as she died years ago). He wrote, and it is trite but very powerful in this context, "You taught me that what does not kill me makes me stronger."

This ordeal, when over, it going to leave some very strong people in it's wake. All politicians, especially the GOPers, had best watch their political "sixes." Verb sap!

are just that, the vast majority of homeless people, including the vast majority of those who were homeless before the crisis, are homeless because of the huge lack of affordable housing. There are at least three applicants for every two units, and that was prior to the current crisis. I truly feel sorry for those newly homeless, but its harder still for those who have been homeless for a long time, years for some still waiting...

is how do the PTB expect people who are out of work and homeless to find their way back into the system?

There are, occasionally, companies around here that specifically hire welfare recipients first.

But that is rare.

What do think is to become of people who have been dropped by the system? How will they get back to work and get back to having a life after a year or 2 or 5 out of "normal" society? Do the PTB think they will just disappear from the face of the earth? Who the *hell* will hire them, for anything beyond minimum, which we all know is not enough to live on unless you manage to work 24x7? And when even minimum wage jobs these days require the "right" resume and the "right" connections?

Back then we called it "house sharing" where 2-5 people lived in one house and split the bills.
Certain rules had to be in place, but overall it worked out very well for people who could adapt to it.
But, even the grandest of the "hippie" days, a commune was looked down on by mainstream society.

America has a huge and unaffordable oversupply of single family houses/apts now.

Return to the extended ( related or unrelated ) family under one roof may be the answer.


Whadda ya think????

I also lived in a communal situation in the 1970s and I believe many of the empty McMansions in suburbia could be excellent for shared housing. It's certainly logical to match up empty houses and homeless people.

But, many HOAs and/or city laws prohibit more than 2 non-related people from living in a single family house. Supposedly this is to prevent 6 college guys from renting a house and then having endless parties with lots of junker cars left on the street, etc.

The HOA in the suburbs of Austin Texas where I used to live was aggressive in seeking out violators, to make sure "the wrong people" didn't lower our property values.

Maybe there are enough empty McMansions now that have already destroyed property values that communal living situations will be acceptable. I hope so.

& finance companies to handle these empty expensive mcmansions. Variances will be applied for & awarded because there won't be buyers for these homes & the banks want cash flow! The HOA's will have to suck it up. Too bad.

In the Brentwood/Franklin area south of Nashville, there are many for sale signs on vacant $500,000+ homes. I often wonder as I pass them, when we will see them become multi-family dwellings, because it will be the only answer in the short run.

Or like many Americans not middle class but continually lied to by the media, politicians and themselves into thinking they're middle class.