I knew this day was coming. People often wonder how the homeless become homeless. Many of course are mentally ill or have drug addiction that keeps them down. But how about that population of working people, how do they become homeless? Well I can tell you first hand how it happens. First you lose a job, your main source of income, so you end up depleting your savings/nest egg. When you regain employment, it is a third of what it once was. So you are literally going from paycheck to paycheck, occasionally getting the lights turned off on you. But all the while you are “holding down the fort”. The one bill you pay on time and in full every month is that rent.
And then the landlord sends you a notice. Now the notice doesn’t really say this but this is what it really means. “We are kicking you out because you have lived there long enough and the rents around you have increased and we can now get $1000 more a month from a new tenant then what you are paying” So you have 60 days to save first and last all the while still paying rent. You are unable to, the 60 days comes and goes and now you find yourself homeless.
This is not a made up story. I am in the middle of the story. Of course I will fight it and will get more then 60 days but this is how you become homeless. I was barely recovering from the layoff 2 years ago and the long so very very long job search and barely getting a new contract. And there is no way I can pay the rent I have plus save a dime. What do I do, stop paying rent ?
Now you all know I was planning on leaving this summer to start the journey for the guide anyhow but this makes things a little more urgent. I need the vehicle sooner then I realized, thanks to the gentrification effort of my landlord. I have faith bigger then a mustard seed that this is the right project and somehow things will manifest when they are needed. I was surprised how calm I was when I read the letter. Had I not been working on this project already this letter could have been devastating.
Stay tuned to see how it all unfolds.