Grandmother and teen grandson living in their car

[Denver Progressive]

Staten Island woman, grandson barely surviving in a car called home

Source:silive.com
By Virginia N. Sherry
Thursday, June 23, 2011, 6:14 AM

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Their home leaks oil and needs a brake job.

They pick different neighborhoods each night to sleep in.

Stephanie Aubry- a Staten Island resident since 1972 and a 62-year-old mother of three who has supported herself by working her entire life - lives in her gold 2001 Pontiac GrandAm with her 18-year-old grandson, Rodney Alex Gonzalez.

She found herself homeless soon after her unemployment-insurance payments lapsed in September 2010...

Read more at:http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2011/06/staten_islanders_barely_surviv.html

I know that this article is a few days old, but I still thought it should be out there :hi:

[PDJane]

1. What I really don't get

Is the 'blame the victim' mentality of the responses to that article. Maybe that attitude is why the social safety nets have been so thoroughly decimated.

It's pathetic and depressing.

[Denver Progressive]

2. Yeah they blame the victim alright

until it happens to them.

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Denver Progressive]

4. Well this problem definitely goes back way before Obama.

However, it would be nice if he came up with some sort of government works program to help these people.But more importantly for the grandmother in the story,I hope that her story does reach Obama so that maybe they can get some assistance.

[dkf]

5. She declined assistance

When Mrs. Aubry first approached Project Hospitality for help, seeking shelter for herself and her grandson, the nonprofit organization referred her to three privately owned motels on the Island.

She found the conditions "horrifying," and she refused them all.

She contacted Project Hospitality, and complained about the conditions.

"(They) told me that these places are inspected, and that they passed inspection," she told the Advance.

Ms. Aubry has been in the sights of the city's Department of Homeless Services since April, press secretary Heather Janik told the Advance earlier this month.

"Homeless Services outreach teams have been aggressively working with Ms. Aubry offering every option available to bring her into housing since learning about her case in April. To date, she has declined all services. We will continue to reach out to her and maintain a relationship in hopes that she will soon be receptive to one of the alternatives offered to her," the press secretary said.

[Denver Progressive]

7. Well if the best they had to offer, was to her

"horrifying", then I'm not so sure that I would care for what else they had to offer either. Hopefully they can do better then that.

[dkf]

12. The point is that the safety net didn't fail her. She just didn't find it up to her standards.

[proud2BlibKansan]

13. My car is cleaner than some of the shelters I've seen.

Have you actually visited any shelters? I have. Many are absolutely disgusting.

[dkf]

14. She was referred to privately owned motels also.

Why are shelters so icky anyway? You would think you had people with enough free time to clean the place up no?

[proud2BlibKansan]

15. Wy does privately owned make any difference?

Is there such a thing as a publicly owned shelter? I don't believe we have any here.

[Denver Progressive]

6. Also, they either don't recognize (or don't want to recognize) that they

themselves could be just a few instances of bad luck away from being homeless,as most people are closer to the bottom of the economic ladder then they are to the top. You are right about the social safety nets being decimated. Our poor social safety nets,(especially for our elderly) plus no jobs for the youth = a disaster waiting to happen.

[ejpoeta]

8. a lot of people live in some sort of denial on that point. that is why, i think,

we have this whole they are lazy and other reasons why people are poor bs. it gives them insulation to feel safer. it doesn't actually MAKE them safer. but if these folks are just like them then they will feel like they are standing on quicksand. if these folks are homeless because of some flaw of their character or own personal failing then these people are safe. it's ridiculous. but i think that is why they do it.

[Edweird]

9. I think it's the modern version of "I don't have to outrun the tiger, I only have to outrun *you*"

The problem with that instinctive reaction is that financial hardship is not a zero sum game. My descent into poverty does not assure your financial security - in fact it makes it less certain.
Of course this is just a half baked theory from somebody with a dangerously high blood level in their caffiene stream.

[ejpoeta]

11. lol... caffeine stream. you could very well be right. survival of the fittest

darwinism. but the trouble is, we are all drowning. and my drowning does not make you less likely to drown. it may make you more likely to drown because now there is one less person to hold up the raft? that makes sense. because when i go under, property values go down making your property values go down. it's like a vicious downward cycle. and it only hurts us. never the rich folk who sit on the side and watch it like they are in the greek colloseum and we are the show.

[sendero]

10. IMHO..

... there has been a "toughening" attitude in the media and culturally (comedy, movies, music, etc) since the late 80s or so. In the minds of those that dispense the attitudes, you are either a "winner" or a "loser", and by definition if you are unemployed that makes you a "loser" and it is ALL YOUR FAULT.

If I didn't know better I'd believe that this whole mess has been in the works for decades.

In any event, a nasty side effect of this situation is that lots of keyboard warrior Libertarian types who think they are "winners" are soon to find that they are merely useful idiot "losers".