You can become homeless in L.A. even if you pay your rent on time every month

 

Paying your rent on time each month no longer assures a roof over your head in the current economy in L.A. 

In Los Angeles homeless providers see an emerging demographic, families who lost their homes because the apartment building where they had paid their rent on time for years went into foreclosure, making them homeless even though they have good rent payment histories. 

“We're seeing cases where the Apartment building is being foreclosed and tenants have to move out,” said Kai Stansberry of of PATH (People Aiding the Homeless).  People may be paying their rent, but the owner may not have been paying the bank.   "We've seen an increase in families, specifically families who are being displaced from apartments,” said Stansberry.  “When apartment buildings go into foreclosure, it could be the banks are not structured to assume the role of landlord.  We're seeing a lot of people being evicted.”

If anyone expects help from the federal government, The waiting list for Section 8 housing is closed most of the time in Los Angeles County.  Administrators there say the Section 8 list will reopen for a period of time early in 2009.  They expect to take in 300,000 applications, out of which 3000 to 4000 families max will get Section 8 certificates, then once again the list in Los Angeles will close - unless things change under new federal directors in the Obama Administration.

“People try to maintain their standard of living as long as they can.  That's why it’s hard to document how many are from the middle class.”  She described the downward slide a working person can take, living in a car as long as they can keep the car running. 

As Kai talked I realized she was describing exactly what my daughter and I went through in 2003 when we became homeless, even though I was working and paying the rent on time. 

 We lived in our car, even though at the time I was working on the Paramount lot on the Dr. Phil show. 

Having a car to sleep in is one advantage a working middle class person may have when they become homeless.

“Many people who haven’t been in The System before live in cars as long as they can and still go to work when they're homeless,” Kai Stansberry said.  “We don’t see them at PATH until every support falls apart under them, when they lose the car and everything.”

If anyone expects help from the federal government, The waiting list for Section 8 housing is closed most of the time in Los Angeles County.  Administrators say Section 8 list will reopen for a period of time early in 2009.  They expect to take in 300,000 applications, out of which 3000 to 4000 families max will get Section 8 certificates.  Then once again the list in Los Angeles will close - unless things change under new federal directors in the Obama Administration.

But the president-elect  said recently the economy will probably go down farther before it starts going back up again, even if all Obama’s plans go to work full speed immediately on his inauguration. 

“The providers who operate in our access center are reporting an increase in families, specifically families who are being displaced from apartments,” Kai said.

She added, “People become homeless at various income brackets.  We often see people who have masters and PhD level educations taking $10 or $11 an hour jobs.”‘

One time during the two years we were homeleess, we went to PATH at its location near Vermont and Beverly, as we pulled into the parking lot  in the eight year old Ford Taurus, the assemblage of needy people waiting to go inside PATH gave out an audible sigh, as a group in unison,.  We were the only PATH clients that day with the luxury of portable shelter your can can become..

I asked Stansberry, Where do homeless families go?

“Over simplified, growing numbers of homeless is just placing a burden on an already burdened system, because there are no new beds.  Newly homeless people just have to merge into the system.”

She added, “There are 80 thousand homeless people in LA County and only 16 thousand shelter beds.”

I wonder where they all go to urinate.  Isn’t that a public health issue?

CONTACTS:

Watch for upcoming stories about the homeless experience in L.A. here at City Buzz Examiner.

Meanwhile read about PATH at: http://www.epath.org/index_01.php

And the CEO of PATH blogs at: www.lahomelessblog.org 
 
If you live in LA, you can see the kinds of crimes committed in your neighborhood at http://www.lapdcrimemaps.org/
 
Also in LA: Call 211 for referrals to a wide variety of services available for people who are falling through the cracks.