Keeping It Secret as the Family Car Becomes a Home

[caligirl]

By IAN URBINA
Published: April 2, 2006

FAIRFAX, Va. — After being evicted from his apartment last year, Larry Chaney lived in his car for five months in Erie, Pa. As he passed the time at local cafes, he always put a ring of old house keys and several envelopes with bills on the table to give the impression that he had a home like everyone else.

Richard Pyne, his daughter, Kristinlyn, and wife, Suzanne, moved into a shelter after living in their car.
Multimedia
Interactive Feature Invisible Lives: Tactics of Discretion
Invisible Lives: Tactics of Discretion
Related Anya Peters, who has been living in her car in London since August, started a blog where she discusses her daily struggles.

While Michelle Kennedy was living in her car with her three children in Belfast, Me., she parked someplace different each night so no one would notice them, and she instructed the children to tell anyone who asked that they were "staying with friends."

Last year, William R. Alford started keeping a car cover over the station wagon where he sleeps. "I originally just had drapes, but the condensation on the inside of the windows was a dead giveaway," said Mr. Alford, who has been homeless here in Fairfax since May 2005.

As with all homeless people, finding food, warmth and a place to clean up is a constant struggle. But for those who live in their cars, remaining inconspicuous is its own challenge, and though living this way is illegal in most places, experts and advocates believe it is a growing trend.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/02/us/02cars.html?hp&ex=1144040400&en=818f2f244457111d&ei=5094&partner=homepage




pResident Bush, this is what you will be remembered for too. Modern day Hoovervilles all across America, as Bush wants all tax breaks for the affluent friends of his to be made permanent. Health care in the toilet, medical research cut, food and drugs for the elderly nearly inaccessible if not cut off entirely. This country is dieing at Bush's hands. Who will hold him accountable?

[jeff30997]

1. And the economy is doing great!

:puke:

[kiteinthewind]

30. BOOMING!

:sarcasm:

How sad. :cry:

[AuntiBush]

44. Better then Ever - All Clinton & Carter's Fault

Double it: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:

Very sad :cry: :grr:

[lovuian]

2. People did this in the Great Depression and its going to

be more and more... you can live very cheaply if you don't have to pay rent...

Such sad stories!!!

[laheina]

3. This is what happens when they pull in the safety net.

That's what social services are for--people who need them!

:grr:

[AuntiBush]

45. Social Services are Dwindling in Big Cities

Yes, the rich just keep on getting richer. Who cares? These people are "lazy," according to a very few brainwashed, not-so-smart Repub area college kids whom haven't got a clue. Wait till they get out in the real world and find their white-collar jobs are over-seas.

[caligirl]

4. Shove this in Bush's face, stick his head in the face of a mother

who has had to raise her children this way. Bush is the dirt under her feet.

[Erika]

5. The Homeless are everywhere

I work in a downtown office building. The homeless are parking their old vehicles on the street. As long as they are properly licensed, it's OK. It's sad to look into their vehicles and see blankets and dirty clothes. Their cars are moved once a day.

Many others try to move into our parking garage. They are kicked out daily. Friday night as I was leaving work in a storm, the security guard showed me what is today's America. He pointed to a homeless guy in his 30's who sought refuge from a rain storm. The guy was sitting in the garage with his head in his hands.

Bush's America.

[Kare]

6. It could happen to anyone

My husband has been out of work for 2 months now
Hes been looking and getting interviews from
recruiters but has had only one real interview
with an employer.
A computer programmer with 7+ years of experience
can't find work, too many people are outsourcing
We can pay the mortgage one more time and then
if he doesn't find work.... who knows?

Do you move in with family? go on welfare?
hope you can find shitty jobs to replace the
good one?

shitty jobs that won't pay one fourth your bills....

Think about it.. how many of you are replaceable...
and how much do you have saved for when your job
is gone?

Welcome to Bush economics

[Trevelyan]

14. Welcome to DU, Kare -- we are all in similar situations --

:hi: :shrug: :yoiks:

we need to stand together :scared: :cry: :pals: :grouphug:


and looks like tune in and drop out will be required again for everyone :hippie:

[ninkasi]

31. I hope he finds work soon

Welcome to DU. If nothing else, you'll find lots of friends here, who truly do care about you and your family. We care about people, and that's why we're Democrats. What I find especially appalling is that with even more people living in poverty, and without health insurance, this state of affairs has been brought about by a man who claims to be a good Christian.

Sorry, but from what I learned growing up, Bush and the rest of the neocons are the exact opposite of what Jesus preached. The louder the religious right screeches about "values", the worse daily life becomes for ordinary people. The massive tax cuts for the wealthy have put more than one family with no choice but to live on the streets, because the social safety net has unraveled.

[vickitulsa]

34. How right you are, Kare!

I'm becoming increasingly anxious as the cuts to social services I depend on take effect. I live on about $700/month as my total income, from my SSDI (Disability) benefits. I worked for 33 years as a secretary, and at the end of my career trained others to do my job before my body made employment impossible for me any longer.

I literally worked myself out of a job! I'm a permanent "pain patient" now, and I have been living on Disability and taking 10 medications daily (for high blood pressure as well as pain, reflux, and hypothyroidism) for five years.

My dwelling is a 1973 motorhome that continues to deteriorate steadily. I've been living in it in an RV park on the outskirts of Tulsa for three years. I have no hot water and no propane, must cook in the microwave only, and shower at the park clubhouse along with other poor folks living on the edge. It is impossible to either cool or heat this motorhome properly, and it's so small that there is no place to sit, so I'm in bed almost all the time even though I wouldn't need to be in "normal" circumstances.

Now the reductions in services I count on have me worried about being forced to an even lower level of existence than I have now. I always considered myself to be lower middle class, but because I could always work, I didn't worry a lot. Man, have things changed since I hit 50 and became unemployable!

Last month my food stamps were reduced from $90 to $65/month. Medicaid no longer pays for my meds and I was forced onto a Medicare insurance company's rolls. This company refused to fill my primary pain medication prescription last month, and it took three days of telephone phone tag with recordings between the insurance company, my doctor's office, and the pharmacy to get it approved.

I'm just plain scared now. I receive only minimal health care from Medicare as it is, and I understand the amounts paid to my doctor by Medicare are going to be reduced. Will he continue to accept what they offer him and keep treating me? I just don't know.

I never dreamed I'd ever have to live like this, and I'm sure the same is true for so many Americans!

[Iowa]

40. vickitulsa, that is incredible...

I'm wondering if you have considered staring a journal here at DU. You have been forced to live on very little, and any one of us could be in your shoes in a heartbeat. I'd be interested in learning more about how you do it - the day to day decisions you make, mistakes you've made, do's and don'ts, dealing with the fear, how you're treated by others, govt. programs that help, govt. programs that aren't helpful, how you spend your day, etc. I'm of the opinion that most in this country face a decline in their standard of living - and I think we could all learn from someone who has learned to survive on $700 per month. Thank you for sharing your story in this thread, and please consider posting more.

[vickitulsa]

50. Thanks, Iowa, for your understanding and compassion.

And also to others here who recognize that my story is both tragic and true. I admit I've been a bit hesitant about posting lately here at DU for a reason. After my first flurry of posts when I signed up, when I received much positive feedback, it seemed that folks replied less and less, and I even got a couple of responses rather like Erika's below, challenging Sailingaway, even calling him "insane," when he told HIS true story. "What reality do you live in?" Some people just seem to have a hard time grasping that this IS reality for some of us....

Since I participated a couple of months ago in several threads here at DU related to living standards in this country and social programs that the poor depend on, telling some of the same details of my own situation that I gave here, I began to wonder if people were shying away from me because I made them feel uncomfortable. I mean, my own family has pretty much dropped contact with me, and I firmly believe it's for that reason, so why not some new friends here?

The really strange thing is, I have taken in homeless people and helped them get back on their feet more than once in the past when I was employed and doing okay. Only one at a time, of course, whenever fate brought someone needy across my path; compassion moved me to try to help as much as I could. And each time, I heard a story that reminded me of how quickly and easily *I* could be in that homeless person's shoes.

Still, we never think it really CAN happen to US, you know?

My brother doesn't dislike me, I know for a fact; yet he shies away from contact with me because he doesn't want me to ask to move in with him, knowing he can full well afford it. He earns $70,000/year and has an extra bedroom in his nice home, but he "wants his privacy" and has made it clear he doesn't want me there. (So that solution someone suggested below might not be available to many of us even if our extended family members could afford it.)

So, Iowa (and all), this is why I stopped posting very much, and stopped talking about my personal life struggles when I do post. Until yesterday, when I just couldn't help it! So many times discussions here touch on the ways that the poor are made to suffer even more than before under this administration, and how the middle class is rapidly sliding downward into the lower class zone. And I know from personal experience just how true and real this tragic situation is!

As for telling more details of how I manage, I'm always willing to answer questions, but I'm not very good at being brief. I tried a few months back starting a blog to talk about how I survive, what life is like for me, but I never was good at diaries or journals, either, and didn't get past the opening post. I didn't even get back to check on this thread for over a day, though I've learned that few threads remain active here for more than about 36 hours.

I guess I could say that one of the main mistakes I have made is to PUT THINGS OFF. You know, I put off saving money when I could have, although mostly I've only earned a subsistence living. I put off trying to find out just what was causing me so much pain because I was raised by a very strict father who insisted I always "work hurt" and not complain. I put off asking for, or applying for, financial help and social services -- not because of pride but because I didn't want to use what others needed more, AND because I valued my independence. Once you get "in the system," you end up having to sculpt your whole life around the rules of the government agencies that are "assisting" you.

I did some things right, though, and I'd be willing to share what those have been as well. But I know that some of you who have read this far are having trouble wading through all this.

So I'll stop for now and think about what you've suggested, and maybe I'll find a way to communicate better the most important things I'd like to share with you all.

[Iowa]

51. Thanks for replying, vickitulsa...

You're right, these threads die pretty quickly and I may be the only one to see your most recent post, since it was in reply to mine. But I do think what you have to say is very important - and you are an excellent writer. In fact, today I was searching through some old posts of mine looking for some statistics I had posted earlier (to paste into another post), and I tripped across one where I had replied to you several months ago! When I replied to your post in this thread I didn't connect your screen name with your earlier post. So both of your posts grabbed my attention, each independently of the other, and I think it's a combination of what you have to say and your ability to say it very well. So I do hope you'll post more.

Many of us who post here may fear the loss of most of our income, but we haven't actually experienced it (yet). And I think we could learn a lot from you - what to expect, how to prepare, how to deal with it if we're faced with it, etc. We all know there are many in that situation, but it all kind of occurs in the shadows, and we're left without a real picture of what it is that people really deal with on a day to day basis (like the situation with your brother - that would not have occurred to me). I think there are many (not on DU perhaps but among the general public) with the impression that they can turn down the heat a bit, eat hamburger/tuna instead of steak, cancel magazine subscriptions and cable TV, drive a smaller car, apply for all those government assistance programs, and everything will be pretty much the same as it was. Your posts shatter that image - and that's a real service to those who read your stuff. You're a person who worked for 30+ years, you're obviously a very bright, articulate, nice person - yet a disability took away any sense of security you had and changed your life dramatically. Actually, if the timing was correct and you did it just right, I think you could possibly get a book published (something I have done, so I know how that system works).

And yes, I don't know what was going on with those rude, cruel responses to Sailingaway's posts. I was interested in what he had to say, as were others. It struck me as bizarre - I actually re-read his posts a couple of times thinking I must have missed something.

I'll be on the lookout for your posts, and good luck with everything! Hopefully we'll all feel a bit more secure when we retake the House and Senate in '06! I know I will.

[ninkasi]

42. This is so very, very wrong....

I read about CEO's "compensation", often in millions of dollars, and wonder how long we can survive such a disparity between haves and have nots. More and more people are sliding into poverty, and for you to have worked for so many years, with so little to show for it, is obscene. It is criminal.

This income gap is increasing, and will someday reach a breaking point. People are literally dying so that the pampered elite can have even MORE than they do now. This is completely unacceptable in any decent society. I hope that things improve for you...you say you worked for over 33 years, so you did what you were supposed to do, and have now been discarded like trash by the conservatives, because you are no longer able to produce more wealth for them.

Anyone who says they are a good Christian, as the president and so many members of Congress do, are being hypocritical, because Jesus urged his followers to help the poor, the sick, and the weaker members of society. What we are seeing now is nothing less than government sanctioned rape of the middle and lower classes of society.

[Iowa]

46. Did you see the "USA Weekend" insert in the paper today?

There's an article in there about some folks who remodeled their homes. One spent half a million dollars on a kitchen remodel! A frickin' kitchen remodel! I was telling my wife about vickitulsa's situation and she pulled that out and showed it to me. These people were just bursting with pride about their new $500,000, two-thousand square foot, kitchen. Where there should be shame, there was pride.

Something has gotta change. Like you said - it's criminal.

[Kare]

47. What is the point in that?

Who needs a 2000 sq ft kitchen?
My whole freaking house is that size.
Who needs a kitchen the size of a house?

I could think of so many many many better uses to put
$500,000 into

Thats just wasteful

[ninkasi]

48. I didn't see that one

but I've seen other remodels that cost enormous amounts. It just seems insane to me that people with that much money are proud of showing it off. My conscience wouldn't permit me to live with such excess, while so many people are in want. This whole thing of class warfare is something we need to stop being intimidated by. Hell, yes, it's class warfare, and the wealthy have been doing all of the fighting so far. it's time for us to start fighting back.

Taxing the very wealthy is the first place to start. It wouldn't change their lifestyles in the slightest, they would still be rich, and we could remake the social safety nets that so badly need mending.

[phantom power]

49. I think more extended families will start living together.

Really, why not? That's how most people got along for thousands of years. It's our modern conception that every nuclear family should own their own home that's the "aberration."

Maybe we should all mentally prepare ourselve for that kind of reality. And not fall into the trap of thinking it's something to be ashamed of. Just another kind of living arrangement, and one that was the norm until relatively recently.

[jaysunb]

7. American History

same shit....different day.

[sailingaway]

8. an 80s chevy suberburn will accept a queen sized bed in the back

pretty well, and you can keep cool with a 5000 btu cheap AC unit in the window. You can find many places to hide in a city like fort lauderdale... Spray paint the rear windows silver and it isnt verry noticeable when you have the light on at night.. 5 months about one and a half years ago now... :hide:

[Erika]

9. What's a suberburn?

Must be a bushco term.

[physioex]

26. LOL....

I think he meant Suburban (It is a Large SUV made by General Motors).......

[Trevelyan]

12. Welcome to DU sailingaway (1 posts) You sound pretty street-smart and

we could all use your advice and experience. :shrug: :cry: :hide: :yoiks:

:7

:hi: :grouphug:

[Erika]

18. I've lived in Ft. Lauderdale

Excuse me. The post was insane.

[sailingaway]

21. insane?

well, aside from my miss-spelling, hitting a low point and having to do what one must to survive is anything but insane. I had to live in my suburban for 5 months before i could get enough work to Finlay rent an apartment. you must think such a situation is funny or something, well let me tell you, it isn't.

[Erika]

24. Where did I express humor?

What reality do you exist in?

[sailingaway]

23. thank you

my old account evidently got toasted, i was at 700 posts too.. :) Oh well, i start again.

[babylonsister]

35. Only problem with that now is you can't afford the gas.

Welcome to DU, sailingaway! As sad as it is, thank you for sharing your experience.

[Trevelyan]

10. K&R Too sad but must talk about. At a DH Lawrence conference, a retiring

Brit professor told me in 1998 that she was seeing what she had never expected in London, young people holding signs 'Will Work For Food." Clinton and the PTBs (powers that be -- Carlyle, Illuminati, etc. etc.) have been working on this one for a long, long time.

[Erika]

17. So, you are blaming Clinton?

Weird.

[physioex]

27. You know....

He maybe partially right....Clinton did move to the center and push the so called "welfare reform" which is partly responsible for the mess we are in...

[Trevelyan]

11. I was distressed during the clinton regime that despite having a "Dem" in

office, when I went with a Baptist group once a month to distribute lunches to the homeless around the White House who have now been evicted completely by bush's ugly and symbolic destruction of DC with all the "security" concrete barriers. I thought we have a dem in office why are there all these homeless still around the White House and would see stories on the MSM about the incredible hardships that clinton's cutting of welfare and healthcare were causing. I used to blame the repig congress but now I believe clinton was always a part of the BFEE.

After clinton left office, i read a Newsweek or time article about the homeless that I had saved and it quotes a clinton official saying that the homeless had learned to game the system.

[Erika]

16. Huh?

The guy in the parking lot with his face in his hands had nothing to do with politics.

You're blaming Clinton?

[fed-up]

13. I visited my brother in Fairfax a few years ago and was disguted to see

all the McMansions that mostly government employees or government related employees were living in...

Our tax dollars at work.....

[Erika]

19. Govt employees were living in?

Where did you get the info?

[fed-up]

20. From my brother-gov't employees include FBI, CIA, and related jobs,

also lobbyists, EPA, and many thousands of other gov't employees. It's too late and I'm too tired to list all the various jobs that "running" the government entails.

The disparity between those living in Fairfax and those living a scant 10-15 blocks from the White House is enormous.

edited to add, don't forget Pentagon employees.

[Erika]

22. The people I know who live in Fairfax

are your average Joe's and Jill's.

[fed-up]

29. Here are some demographics for Fairfax City/County, Wash D.C. & my county

Fairfax County
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairfax_County%2C_Virginia

The median income for a household in the county was $81,050, and the median income for a family was $92,146. Males had a median income of $60,503 versus $41,802 for females. The per capita income for the county was $36,888. 4.50% of the population and 3.00% of families were below the poverty line. 5.20% of those under the age of 18 and 4.00% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.
Judged by median income, Fairfax County was the richest county in the country through the late 1990's but was recently overtaken by Douglas County, Colorado and is currently the second wealthiest county in the country--as judged by median household income.


Fairfax City
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairfax,_Virginia

The median income for a household in the city was $67,642, and the median income for a family was $78,921. Males had a median income of $50,348 versus $38,351 for females. The per capita income for the city was $31,247. 5.7% of the population and 2.4% of families were below the poverty line. 4.3% of those under the age of 18 and 2.1% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.

Washington D.C.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_D.C.

The median income for a household in the city was $40,127, and the median income for a family was $46,283. Males had a median income of $40,513 versus $36,361 for females. The per capita income for the city was $28,659. 20.2% of the population and 16.7% of families were below the poverty line. 31.1% of those under the age of 18 and 16.4% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.

Butte County, CA

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butte_County%2C_California

The median income for a household in the county was $31,924, and the median income for a family was $41,010. Males had a median income of $34,137 versus $25,393 for females. The per capita income for the county was $17,517. 19.80% of the population and 12.20% of families were below the poverty line. 23.80% of those under the age of 18 and 7.30% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.

[bettyellen]

37. so it looks like you know jill and joe, but don't know jack!

now tell us all about fort lauderdale.

[Porcupine]

15. Car, Storage Unit, Gym Membership and vacant apartments......

I know people in my town are sleeping in cars. Several have advanced this to sleeping in the car (cheap), keeping a storage unit ($50 monthly) and a gym membership to clean up ($65 monthly). Several advanced thinkers have figured out how to get into vacant apartments posing as prospective renters ($2.50). Most come and go quietly but occasionally we catch one.

Squatting is now a lifestyle like it or not.

I miss the old republic.

[DeltaLady]

25. We know the problem. The challenge is to come up

with a viable solution. A town or municipality holds "public land." As such, it is the sole property of the individuals who reside and pay taxes in that particular area. It follows that without a public vote, a measure passed by a city council or other elected politicians would be questionable from a legal standpoint. I wonder if this issue has come up in the Supreme Court of any state in the union? If the individual residents of our cities and towns are confronted with this problem at the ballot box it would ignite rhetoric and thereby give voice to the "invisible" problem. The citizens of every town, city and hamlet should decide how to best handle this situation. Though some would indeed make it illegal to be homeless, most communities would find a way to be more accommodating, be it a bond issue for low cost subsidized housing or a soup and shower kitchen where those in need could take care of the basics. Everyone needs to understand we're all in this together, and there is a positive side to most things. As far as community enrichment, the elderly would find themselves welcome and needed as volunteers as would the young who would learn the lessons of compassion and charity.

If we can't do that much then surely this nation has lost its soul and integrity.

[area51]

28. "Modern day Hoovervilles all across America"

Yes, the economy is much worse off than the republican media is saying. It's extremely hard to get a job.

[BeHereNow]

32. Many of my students are always hungry...

I suspect that some of them may be homeless and I know
that some of them live with grandparents or relatives
due to the fact that their parents are unable to
afford housing. It breaks my heart to see children
vitimized by poverty.
Compassionate conservatism my ass.
:cry:
BHN

[RedEarth]

33. tragic, but true.....

[unblock]

36. but they're living in BETTER CARS than they were 10 years ago

:sarcasm:

[Jim Warren]

39. Yeah, now they got themselves cd players too n/t

[AndyA]

38. Disgraceful. Let's not help Americans, let's send it all overseas

to other countries that we've devastated with needless war.

Yer doin' a heck of a job, Bushie.

WORST. PRESIDENT. EVER.

IMPEACH.

PROSECUTE.

INCARCERATE.

[happydreams]

41. I am very close to homeless myself and have met alot

of people recently who live on the street, or in cars. Most of them have serious addiction/behavior problems. Many, like myself, are veterans. The vets I've met have some serious PTSD.

[AuntiBush]

43. Heartbreaking...

Last year I started seeing people pushing carts, rooting through trash. Hadn't seen that since the Reagan/Bush1 era.

It literally blew my mind, broke my heart all at the same time. Right around the corner at a popular intersection were busbots w/their buckets. I had a thing or two to say to them when I passed by, pointing around the corner to a few people (men and women in their supposed golden years) who could use that cash.

They left me alone whenever I sat at the super-long intersection as I offered them help, and food even when I could barely get by myself. It was the least I could do and I probably should have done even more.

Edited to add: And do you think the 4 right-wing church & state evangelical Churches, all within walking distance of this area came out to help these poor noticeable souls? Hell no! Stop and had a talk with them too.