The Downward Spiral

First, came the request to leave. The renters hadn't done anything wrong, not yet. The family of four had been living in a one-bedroom apartment at the back of a house. They kept the apartment clean. Then the primary inhabitant of the house, an elderly woman, became frail. Her son, the landlord, told his tenants he needed them to move so he could use the apartment for a fulltime caretaker for his mother.

The little girl told her friends,"We're moving soon. I don't know where."

The stress, always high in a low-income family, increased. They looked for a place. Every place was too expensive. Everything required moving costs they didn't have. They tried to save. They fought. She lost her job. They got behind on the rent. The landlord let them stay a few months to work something out. They got farther behind on the rent. They split up.

The little girl sat on her neighbor's front steps and told them "We're moving tomorrow," but she didn't know where.

Dad moved into his car and looked for a place. Mom and the kids got evicted. All of their belongings were put out on the sidewalk. The little girl gave away her toys to the other little girls on the block. Her older brother brought a knife to school and got expelled. He told one of the girls on the block that he did it on purpose, that he wanted to get expelled, that he was tired of getting picked on.

Mom and the kids stay on a friend's couch. Dad gets a motel room. Mom can't get the kids to school on time. Dad gets custody. Mercifully, the school year comes to a close.

Dad and mom get back together. Now everyone is staying in the car, or in a motel when they've got money, but they're trying to save enough to get a place to live. Dad still goes to work. Sometimes the kids sleep in a friend's living room while their parents sleep in the car.

They shower at friends' houses, or at a truck stop. They eat fast-food take-out for dinner. The kids are in school, but that isn't easy either. The little girl has to go to a new school because her address has changed. The brother is in a continuation program because of his expulsion, but they're going. They do their homework. They still like to play with their friends.

Dad's elderly father's apartment building catches fire. Now he's homeless too.

They go to a local agency and apply for housing assistance. Miraculously, they qualify. They can get a housing voucher! The voucher will let them pay 1/3 of their income for rent, and cover the rest. They have 60 days to find a place for all five of them or the voucher will go to someone else.

The first two rental applications don't go well. They don't pass the credit check.

There are 50 days left to use the voucher.

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This is a real story, one I have been following up close. The family lives in Gilroy.