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July 28, 2011 in Nation/World
Sheltered in motels, “hidden homeless” wait, hope
PHILADELPHIA — Sometimes the problems are so overwhelming that Robert Cordero steps away from his children for a few minutes to pull himself together.
While two sons and three daughters play in a cluttered Cherry Hill, N.J., motel room, he turns up the radio, closes the bathroom door, and cries.
“I can’t let them see me that way. … Who will they look up to?” said the 40-year-old single father. “I have to go back and try to raise five kids.”
Cordero’s family has lived at the Hillside Inn for more than five months, along with a couple dozen other homeless people surviving on public assistance.
He and his children — ages 8 to 16 — moved there after Cordero lost his home-remodeling job and they were evicted from a Woodlynne, N.J., apartment.
The Hillside guests are among untold thousands nationwide who have been laid off during the economic downturn, then forced from houses and apartments to motels, officials said.
Unseen by motorists speeding by on Route 38, the men, women and children live in single rooms at the motel, where beds double as dinner tables, and folded clothes, food and toys are stacked high along the walls.
They’re trying to hold families together while looking for work — “on or off the books” — and getting by on welfare, food stamps, housing assistance and Medicaid.
Their needs strain the fiscally strapped state government, which is trying to hold the line on spending. In the fiscal 2012 budget, the Christie administration set aside $307 million for welfare clients, about $47.5 million more than in fiscal 2010.
Nearly 14,000 people were identified as homeless in New Jersey last year, said the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Nationally, about 650,000 were living in shelters and motels, at the homes of friends and family, or on the street, HUD said. At least 1.59 million people were homeless at least one night last year.
“Many times, these are families who were doing very well until one or both parents lost their job or had a health problem or a foreclosure,” said Carol Kaufman-Scarborough, a professor of marketing at Rutgers University-Camden who recently completed a paper on the “hidden homeless” in motels.
Others “may be employed,” she said. “It’s just that their wages are not enough to pay for an apartment plus utilities.”
They “want to keep their families together and provide education for their children,” added Kaufman-Scarborough, associate dean of the undergraduate program at Rutgers’ School of Business. But “there is a significant lack of affordable housing.”
Homeless advocates find themselves helping a new group of people who are out on the street for the first time, said Richard Brown, chief executive officer of Monarch Housing Associates, a statewide nonprofit organization in Cranford, N.J., that helps the homeless find housing.
“This is their first experience falling through the cracks,” Brown said. “They can’t make ends meet and then end up living in motels, shelters and cars — or couch-surfing from one relative to another.
“There are families that have doubled up and tripled up because the economy has kept them from affording housing,” he said.
“There are more and more furlough days,” Brown added. “People aren’t getting raises and are losing a few hours of work.”
“That leaves them stretched and close to the edge,” he said. “These are scary times for all of us.
“If you don’t hear the voices (of the homeless), they’re hidden.”
___
Outside the Hillside Inn, there is little evidence of the homeless people who live there.
Inside is another story; space is tight.
In Cordero’s room, belongings cover every surface — the chest of drawers, the small refrigerator, and the floor along the walls (at least up to the waist).
The children make the best of their small world. Robert Jr., 16; Austin, 13; Carmen Anna, 11; Grace, 9; and Destiny, 8, lie or sit on two beds, playing and watching television.
They are discouraged from going outside. All that is there is an asphalt parking lot.
“The boys each have a dresser drawer, and the two youngest girls share a drawer,” Cordero said. “My 11-year-old has her own drawer … and I put my stuff on top of a storage bin.”
The four youngest take a bus each day to the Boys & Girl Clubs of Camden County while Robert Jr. heads by bus to Gloucester City, where he plays with a traveling baseball team.
Their mother, Samantha Van Horn, 41, who has not lived with the family since last summer, has been visiting lately — especially since Cordero was rehired this month by an Audubon home remodeler to perform carpentry, plumbing, and electrical work.
“I come here to help with the kids,” said Van Horn, another job hunter. “It’s not easy finding work. I’m trying to get a job at McDonald’s.”
After being out of work for nine months, Cordero knows how difficult the hunt can be. He hopes to use his new paycheck to move out of the motel to an apartment.
“I like working six or seven days a week,” he said. “When I sit home, I’m crawling up the walls.”
“You have to keep your spirits up and say, ‘Tomorrow will be better,’ ” he said. “If I give up, my kids will think it’s OK to give up.”
___
When the homeless look for help in Camden County, the first question officials ask is basic: Where was your last home?
“We try to figure out if they’re our responsibility,” said Shawn Sheekey, director of the Camden County Board of Social Services. “Where did you become homeless? If it’s another jurisdiction, we send them back there,” he said. If not, “we typically send that person, particularly individuals, to a shelter,” sometimes to motels.
“It costs $50 a night for us to put a single adult in a motel, $85 for a family,” he said.
These days, the county is “seeing people who have never been on assistance,” Sheekey said. “They didn’t see themselves ever needing help, and they’re embarrassed to be in that position.”
In this economy, “I’ve seen a lot of people who are 40, 50 and 60 years old — and laid off,” Sheekey said. Some “have a college education and have to take waitress jobs.”
“Lesser jobs are being filled by people who have worked 30 and 40 years,” he said. “You see people struggling outside of their normal perfect life because of the economy.”
Life has been anything but perfect for Beth Allen and her 9-month-old daughter, Kaylee.
Living a few doors down from the Cordero family, they have a roof over their heads, but little else.
Unemployed and disabled, Allen said she was waiting to be approved for food stamps or welfare, and was nearly out of food.
So the former Erial, N.J., resident, who fled an abusive boyfriend, depended on the generosity of other homeless people.
“It’s been hell,” she said as she sat on the edge of her bed while Austin Cordero played with Kaylee. Her room was cluttered with clothes, toys and other baby paraphernalia.
“I was a sales representative for a medical equipment company until a drunk driver hit my car in Delaware” a few years ago, said Allen, 46. “I had a brain injury and still have some memory loss.”
Until the accident, she said, she always took care of herself. “I’ve worked really hard. I’ve given food and clothing to others, and now this,” said Allen, who has been at the Hillside since June 24.
“I’ve gone days without eating — and Kaylee has just a half-can of formula,” she said. “I’ve hit rock bottom.”
In a nearby room, Lakesha Bullard, 30; her son, Jaheem Bullard, 13; and her husband, Barry Williams, 56, faced their own challenges.
“I had an apartment,” Bullard said as she ate a dinner of chicken wings on her bed. “We didn’t have the funds and had to leave.”
Williams, who is HIV-positive, said he had been laid off from his job as a mail sorter for the U.S. Postal Service.
“I’ve been looking for work,” said Bullard, who lived at the motel for five months. “I want to get an apartment. It doesn’t matter where — just as long as it doesn’t have drugs.”
Another motel guest, O’Neil Hill Jr., is not ready to leave — though his caseworker has informed him that the money for the motel would be cut off.
Hill, who had been there since March 21, lost his Camden apartment to fire and has not found employment since his layoff from a telemarketing job in 2009.
“I have no idea what to do,” said Hill, 41. “I’ve got no savings.”
In another room, Michelle Carter was also feeling frustrated. Like others at the Hillside Inn, she is required to earn her welfare, so she works at a day care center.
But she also has two children, John, 6, and Siani, 8, and they have to be dropped off with family. “I can’t take care of the day care center and look for a job, too,” said Carter, who has been at Hillside for about eight months. “It’s hard to find work when you have kids.”
In the Corderos’ room, the children were watching television and wriggling around on the beds.
“It’s rough, really rough, when you come from something to nothing,” Cordero said. “That’s life.
“You can’t go down any more when you’ve hit rock bottom,” he said. “The only way we can go is up.”
Stocks plummet as outlook in Europe dims 
Dazzeetrader11 on July 28 at 1:51 p.m.
Sad story. MacDonalds is hiring. This story is part of what is killing the US. We pay for everything via taxes. It’s not a good story this one. BUT would you all rather be spending on this type of thing or lose the country? Obviously the man will and can work. Obama…where are those jobs? Still playing possum with the economy to suit your own ends?
madscientist on July 28 at 2:09 p.m.
Is this philadelphia? why don’t you write about some that is at least in Washington?
Traveler on July 28 at 2:44 p.m.
Dazzee, why don’t you ask the REPUBS where the jobs they promised to create are? They’ve blocked every ecomonic effort Obama has made, but they’ve certainly taken on NPR and Planned Parenthood.
Oh, yeah, because, as you said: “The House doesn’t give jobs nor does it create them.”
So the president does? How?
Shadedmuse on July 28 at 2:48 p.m.
Welcome to the Bush Ression, it took Bush 8 years to drive the economy into the ditch, President Obama is trying to get the economy out of the ditch but the repugnant=Tea-bagger party keep filling the Ditch with Water.
Shadedmuse on July 28 at 2:48 p.m.
Welcome to the Bush Ression, it took Bush 8 years to drive the economy into the ditch, President Obama is trying to get the economy out of the ditch but the repugnant=Tea-bagger party keep filling the Ditch with Water.
Diana on July 28 at 3:29 p.m.
The Bush tax cuts for the wealthy were/are supposed to create jobs. So where are they? Baggers ran in 2010 on jobs, so where are they? Where is the jobs bill that TammyFaye Boehner keeps talking about?
lowtechmaster on July 28 at 3:49 p.m.
Hey, folks, chill out. Under the Republican plans, these folks would have no place to go, no health insurance, and nothing to eat. Either they get a job, go into crime (and get shot), or die. No problem! The rich still get even richer!!
Dazzeetrader11 on July 28 at 5:17 p.m.
I think this is the OBAMA DEPRESSION. With debt he electively added plus his continuance of wars and having added a few more, I think you libs might be honest. Obama’s incompetent. Never worked outside of government support. NO business or economic background or training. He’s just not going to figure it out. All he wants is votes…..so he spend and spends on projects that’ll collect him lots of votes. PLUS there a big corruption factor with him as well.
Look at the headlines everywhere! America’s figure this bum out. He’s “cooked”. GOOD!
Traveler on July 28 at 5:43 p.m.
Dazzee,
“With debt he electively added …”
You mean the $2.5 trilion he added, as opposed to the $10.5 trillion he inherited — $4.8 trillion of which was added by GW Bush (“electively” through two massive tax cuts, an unfunded Medicare benefit and two off-the-books wars?
“plus his continuance of wars …”
Started by GW Bush, who when he invaded Iraq (who had nothing to do with 9/11 and had no weapons of mass destruction, as GWB asserted) promised it would only cost a few billion and would pay for itself.
“and having added a few more,”
“A few”? I can only think of Libya, in which no U.S. service members have been killed — or even set foot on the ground.
“All he wants is votes”
Yeah, and Repubs NEVER think about that. (snort)
“PLUS there a big corruption factor with him as well. Look at the headlines everywhere!”
Okay, you’ve got me there. Got any specific headlines to back up your claim? Sounds to me like you’ve been huffing too much Foxygen again.
Dazzeetrader11 on July 28 at 5:55 p.m.
No I mean the 4.5 trillion he added. PLUS his bailouts and his stumulus. Satisfy you 56? Look it up. It’s what he did..all by himself.
Traveler on July 28 at 6:25 p.m.
“4.5 trilion he added”??? Where’d you get that number?
“PLUS his bailouts…”
Well, if you’re referring to the TARP, you should look it up to see what happened to the first half — under Bush Treasury Secretary Paulson — and the second half — under Obama Treasury Secretary Geithner. Here’s a good quote (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troubled_Asset_Relief_Program): “Originally expected to cost the U.S. taxpayers as much as $300 billion,[1] by December 16, 2010, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated the total cost would be $25 billion,”
“… and his stumulus.”
Check out this article “The Stimulus Plan: How to Spend $787 Billion” (http://projects.nytimes.com/44th_president/stimulus) and you’ll see dozens and dozens of stimulus (note the spelling) projects. Here are the top seven, and their costs:
1) Tax Cuts for Individuals ($400 tax credit for workers; $250 for Social Security recipients: $116.2 billion
2) Health; Aid to States (Help states with Medicaid costs): $87.1 billion
3) Tax Cuts for Individuals (Extend patch for the alternative minimum tax): $69.8 billion
4) Education and Job Training; Aid to States (Help states prevent cuts to essential services like education): $53.6 billion
5) Unemployment (Extend and increase unemployment compensation): $35.8 billion
6) Transportation (Provide money for highways and bridges): $27.5 billion
7) Health; Unemployment (Health coverage under Cobra): $25.1 billion
Yeah, that’s a lot of wasted money to all his cronies.
And what about your uncorroborated “big corruption claim”? I’m still waiting on that one…
Dazzeetrader11 on July 28 at 8:40 p.m.
Hey 56….look at the debt we’re trying to cover this week. It’s up to $14.6 trillion. Bush left with $10.2 trillion in debt. Ad and substract much?
Obamacare much? Ever study that one?
Union? and their exemptions?
Stimulus?
Obamacare and it’s exemptions?
Hey…remember the “shovel ready” work of his?
Notice how his stern fake speeches on banking refore?
Wall St reform?< nothing was done.
Corruption and a HUGE debt. Got the picture now? Maybe you really don’t understand. Do you need or want a graphic? I know you’re new to the message blogs here…we’ve been going at these facts for 2 years. If I can help you, I will. Sometimes we forget the newcomers haven’t been in on the conversations.
misjustice on July 28 at 9:29 p.m.
Hold on, hidden homeless, as soon as the Tea Bag Party finishes tanking the economy and magnifying the schism in the Republican’t Party they’ll get ‘round to ya’ll.
I mean, afterall, when running for office, their mantra was “jobs, jobs, jobs” which is what you folks need. They’ve just been a little too busy to get around to addressing that jobs thingy. What with the most pressing agenda of defunding PP and PBS and NPR occupying all of their time, it’s all they can do to make it to all those boooorrrring fund raisers, and stuff. Poor souls!
But don’t worry, they are running out of things to defund; so I’m sure that they’ll get around to that jobs thingy soon, real soon.
Well, maybe not too soon. I mean, afterall, there’s summer vacation with all those fact finding trips, and then all of that important stuff to be done back in the district - $5,000.00 meet and greet rubber chicken dinners - oh, and then there’s that budget thingy, and then the holiday season is upon us and everyone knows that nothing gets done - except fund raising - from mid-November through the New Year.
Well, I’m sure that they’ll pencil you in, some where.
And good luck with that!
; )