Homeless "Middle Class" - Democratic Underground

SoCalDem

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Tue Jun-24-08 03:14 PM
Original message

Homeless "Middle Class"

Edited on Tue Jun-24-08 03:18 PM by SoCalDem

There have been many stories lately about homelessness. People get annoyed when they see people living in campers/cars/vans. I think many are frightened, because they are on the edge, themselves

Perhaps it scares them to actually SEE it near them..

Look at YOUR OWN situation:

What would happen if your company sold out/downsized/moved and all of a sudden your household had ZERO income..

Let's say it lasted 6 months..

After 6 months would you still have your house/apartment/car?

What if you had a good job, and a house or apartment that you could barely afford, and you had a car payment, and some debt..maybe some credit cards debt and some school loans?

The DEBT you owe, stays with you, no matter your job situation.

You could go from being a "normal person", with a kid or two, a few pets, living paycheck to paycheck and then in one fell swoop, you could lose it all..

What DO you do about those kids & pets?

You could drop off the pets at the pound, and live with the knowledge that the 8 yr old dog will be euthanized because you lost your job, and the cat may meet the same fate.....But are you willing to give up your kids because you can no longer feed them or give them their own bedroom?

Before you get booted out of your house & apartment, you will no doubt, stop paying, and start making excuses as you "hide" from the landlord/bank for a while./..but eventually they will make you move..

Maybe before that happens, you will have sold your stuff (or tried to)..but that cash may have to be used to try and hold on the credit cards you will surely have to use to stay alive (whether you can pay them for long, or not)..

Once you miss a few payments, your credit report will surely prevent you from even renting a place that's halfway decent..and many that are not even anywhere near halfway decent..

Your car insurance will go up, due to the credit report, and some employers will trash-can your application if they run a credit report (many do that these days)..

When you lost your job, you also lost your health care insurance (if you even had it), so if you or a kid gets sick, you are screwed again..

How do you buy food? Where do you store it? How do you cook it?

You have to buy prepared foods (usually the least healthy), or maybe you could steal fruit from trees you see in people's yards.. BUT if you do that and get caught, you will surely lose those kids...and might call extra attention to yourself & end up arrested for vagrancy

So..why not just "get a job"?..Walmart's always hiring..

Let's see.. an $8 hr job might at least give you SOME cash, but what DO you do with the kids while you work? Where do they go to school? How do they get there? What address do you use for them?

There are millions of women in this predicament .... men too.

Once you lose your grip on the "middle class", you are POOR.. there is no in-between.. no safety net.

Some will say..

what about subsidized housing?..around here it's a FIVE YEAR wait..

what about job training for a new job?...how do you live while you're "training"? and what DOES that "new job" pay? will that job even be there when you're done with "training"?

but but but.. what about welfare & food stamps?.. there are still some benefits to be had, but they are time-limited and many single Moms are actually scared to show how desperate they are, for fear that they will lose their children to foster care, so many never really lay out their dilemma..and even if they did, benefits are limited.

Millions of people are deluding themselves into thinking that it cannot happen to THEM...but it can.. and it does ..every day..