How People Become Homeless in America
By Kirsten Anderberg (
www.kirstenanderberg.com)
It is clear that the middle class do not understand what is going on when it comes to the struggles of people in poverty, because they are not being presented with those struggles. As a matter of fact, part of the job of the mainstream media, our government, and the police, is to HIDE homelessness and poverty struggles from the middle class and elite sectors of society. Part of the "freedom" America is fighting for in Iraq, is the freedom to benefit from a wide capitalist class chasm WITHOUT GUILT. Without guilt is huge. It is no fun to have a mansion if everyone stands outside your gates calling you a pig and you are shamed and scorned as a glutton always. Mansions are only fun if everyone envies you and treats you as superior for such acquisitions. Having expensive trendy clothing is not fun if you are called a jerk, rather than cool, for having them. It is pretty easy to take the "joy" out of exclusive perks for the privileged, by just pointing out how elitist they are. That is why they try to keep poor people out of sight, and out of mind, of the privileged classes. So part of class insulation is not having to be called out for gluttony, and to be gated and protected from seeing or hearing about the plights of the poor.
How do people become homeless in America? This is something the typical middle class person does not understand due to the privilege of having those struggles hidden from them. When I did a bunch of personal interviews at a local homeless encampment in Seattle called Tent City, many of those living there had jobs. They told me they had jobs, they had money. But no one would rent to them. And I can personally verify that this is truth. They are not making this barrier to housing up. I am facing it myself.
For instance, every single application I have filled out for housing in the last few weeks has asked if I was ever convicted of a felony. One place I applied to a few weeks back, misread a screening report and rejected my application based on me being a convicted felon. But I am NOT a convicted felon. I told this potential landlord that was false information, and her response was, "If you THINK you are not a felon, you need to talk to someone." If I THINK? No, I KNOW I am not a felon. But I was cast with such a weird shadow of suspicion and prejudice for being MISTAKEN for a felon, that it reminded me how oppressive this American "freedom" is. And it got me to thinking. They ask if you were ever a convicted felon on every single housing rental application. If you are a convicted felon, even if you already served your time, you apparently are going to be rejected housing on a large scale. I was just treated horribly because they THOUGHT I was a felon. So what is jail all about, if you continue to pay your dues to society forevermore? If you have EVER been convicted of a felony, even if you paid society back for your wrongs through captivity (however that works), you will be denied most nice housing.
There are other barriers to housing. Poverty itself is a barrier to housing. Since 1979, landlords have been denying rentals to me based on the premise that I do not earn three times the rental amount. And in 2005, the same requirement is being asked of me still, and it is far too steep a hurdle. Without lots of money in store somewhere, and a job that pays twice the minimum wage, at least, it is a struggle to find landlords who will rent to you. Right now, for a $600 a month one bedroom or studio apartment in Seattle, which is about the average cheap price out there, you are required by many landlords to earn $1800 a month, which is well over $7 an hour times 40 hour weeks. A month with 5 weeks in it, will bring in $1400 before taxes; a month with 4 weeks, only $1120, before taxes. With this model, the full time minimum wage employee is eligible for housing units that cost $374 a month, which is not realistic. I have not seen one apartment advertised in Seattle at under $500 a month in the last month, and I have looked at hundreds of ads.
Another barrier is credit history. Even if you have a solid rental history, credit history will prevent you from getting rentals. I have not been a day late on rent in over four years, nor have I ever caused property damage to my homes. Yet my negative credit rating is preventing people from renting to me, even with first and last month's rent up front and a damage deposit equal to another month's rent. Last week, a friend of mine tried to offer an apartment $800 in a deposit, as well as us offering first and last month's rent (all of which I had to scrape and borrow to get ahold of) and I was still denied, based on bad credit history! My friend then even volunteered to cosign the lease for me, and they still refused, based on my credit history! I do not owe enough to go bankrupt like people I know who just discharge $200,000 in debts for cars, vacations, etc. I just owe enough to prevent me from being allowed to pay yet another land owner's mortgage for him. I owe just enough to make me homeless, but not enough to go bankrupt over.
Another barrier I am running into is work history. Since I am a freelance writer and performer, in addition to being a contracted laborer at times, and am paid sporadically and unpredictably, no one wants to rent to me, even though my rent has not been late once in over 4 years. Additionally, the places I publish could frighten a landlord. Telling a landlord I am well-published on anarchist/feminist/pagan/activist sites and in radical media, may not win them over. Sending them to my website could be fatal. Proving I have income is very hard. Some third party is supposed to do that. But what am I supposed to do? Send prospective landlords to editors who have published me a few times? That is absurd. So, I can barely prove I work at all.
Another barrier I am running into is the $40 application fees. I cannot keep giving these people $40 to turn me down based on all these reasons. I tell them up front about my finances and rental history, and yet, they take my $40 and reject me based on those reasons! I have to struggle to make FOOD money. Now I am just handing over $40 a piece to APPLY to places, that are turning me down one after another. Soon, I will have spent all my rent money on application fees, and will be homeless. Once homeless, I will have no contact phone for prospective landlords to call. Not having a cell phone and trying to find housing on foot, and by bus, is also ridiculously hard. I am becoming physically exhausted from trying to find housing, as well as emotionally exhausted from these hurdles being thrown in my path that I simply cannot clear. You may wonder why I am looking for an apartment, rather than shared housing. Well, I found that no shared housing wanted older women. Seriously. When I went to interview after interview at shared housing, it was always younger people and they always looked at me like I was REALLY old when they rejected me for the young chick who applied. So, I have given up on that, and am simply trying to just PAY for housing for myself now. Which is seeming more and more impossible.
So, I have scraped together first, last and deposit monies, I have even found help to pay for some application fees, yet I am still facing homelessness in 5 days. I have been looking and applying for housing nonstop for weeks now. I have a near perfect rental history. I am a good tenant. But I cannot give my money away due to hoop after hoop I am told to jump through, hoops I CANNOT jump through. Hoops put there on purpose to keep the poor out. So, the next time you see a homeless person, you need to realize they may have a full time job, but just be denied housing based on this long list of prejudices I just outlined here. I think one of the most important roles that perhaps activists need to start looking at pursuing is becoming apartment managers, so that people like me can get rentals. If you are a land owner, please consider turning your property into affordable housing, with reasonable rental requirements that include the working poor, immediately. No peace until everyone has a place to sleep. "And he who has deserved to drink from the ocean of life deserves to fill his cup from your little stream." - K. Gibran
