No homes. No jobs. Not even beds at shelters. Here's how families are fighting to stay together.
Advocates are seeking a paradigm shift in the country’s housing policy—moving past the rhetoric of the “ownership society” and recognizing the critical role of affordable rental housing
Michelle Chen, ColorLines
Last fall (2008), Yolanda James and her three children were lost in their own city. After foreclosure had forced them from their South Los Angeles apartment, they ran into closed doors at every turn. Aid agencies offered referrals to other offices, but no relief, and neither the shelter system nor the city's high-priced housing market had room for them. James burned through her welfare money to pay for motel rooms and later resorted to sleeping with her children in their car. "I was, like, two or three different people at one time," she recalled. "I had to get on the grind, to hustle, to make sure my kids--when they get out of school, I could feed them, or I could take them somewhere to shower and bathe for the next day."
