Landlord: "Pay Up or Get Out Today!"
February 5, 2011
While Obama and Clinton wax eloquent about raising the living standards of Egyptians, a 50-something woman in Virginia with disabilities faces homelessness. Here is a recent note: "The landlord needs the money and says to pay up or get out today. The Governor's secretary said to seek help elsewhere, which I did. I've asked my cousin Matthew for a job by leaving a message with his secretary.
He ignored my message.
Then I asked the Church where I am registered for help with rental assistance. They said they don't give it.
Catholic Charities, the Salvation Army, etc. are all tapped out. So where do I go from here?"
by "Mary Smith"
(for henrymakow.com)
Just to let you know: yesterday I applied for a job again, this time as a companion for a home health agency helping seniors. Last week, I got an as-needed babysitting job with the wife of the owner of the home health agency. She suggested that I call the agency, I applied for work with them, but they have to move and can't offer me anything now.
Unfortunately, they pay $8 an hour, and/or unless you have an overnight stay with a senior, which pays $150. It is impossible to live on $8 an hour part-time unless you live with a spouse or family. If you attempt to work on such a wage, you will not survive.
These days, the prevailing wage seems to be $8 an hour, which is 75 cents over minimum wage. Even though you cannot live on that sum, the attitude of most employers is "Be grateful for your pitiful wages because there are hundreds of people who would love to have your job." A friend in California says the same holds true there.
It's possible that such employers are hurting and can't pay more. It's also possible that they are rich and simply won't pay more. The same thing happened in the last Depression: Some employers knew their employees were hard up for work, and exploited them as a result.
Consequently, you have to bite your lip and take the low wages whether you like it or not. It may also mean that the only lodging you can afford is a storage unit, and storage unit facilities won't let you live there.
Many jobs are part-time now because employers cannot afford benefits. Or they simply don't want to pay benefits.
It's tough to find any kind of work at this point. Even telemarketing companies are not hiring here. Canvassing jobs knocking on doors to find work for contractors are also hard to come by.
Personally, I've given up on answering most want ads because there is usually a stampede of people answering them. And many of your competitors are more qualified than you. Having sent out hundreds of resumes in response to ads on Craig's List, after awhile you just feel like you might as well fold your resume into a paper airplane and throw it out the window in frustration.
Last week I spoke with a lady who is over 50 like me. She said that she had looked for a job for a year and a half after losing her job as a stock broker. She worked at a financial institution. The only job they would offer her was as a teller. She was insulted and appalled at being demoted after years and years of hard work. She gave up and is supported by her husband. Now she is a volunteer lobbyist.
The other day, I spoke with a California lawyer friend whose wife is a few years older than me. He said she has been out of work for 2 years, and there are plenty of people my age, 53 and older, who are in the same boat.
In the USA, many free job search support groups have sprung up to help the unemployed find work. Every other week, I meet with one led by a sympathetic career counselor who volunteers her services.
She says that studies have shown that people who join such groups find work faster than those who don't. It's easy to see why - job hunting is really discouraging and depressing because you deal with so much rejection. It's tough to keep yourself going without moral support. Saying "one more no eventually leads to a yes" gets hard to say to yourself after days and weeks of cold calling for jobs.
For example, at our last meeting, there was an extremely capable and experienced lady who visited the group. She appeared to be over 50. It was astounding to hear that she had been unemployed for a year and a half. Any employer would be fortunate to have her as an employee because she is experienced, articulate, competent, intelligent, professional, and responsible.
The career counselor told us that it now takes 6 months to 2 years to find a job here in Virginia. It's even worse in other parts of the USA.
One day, a man whom I would judge to be in his 50s came to the job search group. Most everyone there is over 40. He had been a successful executive at a health insurance company, and had been out of work for years. It was painful to listen to his struggle to re-enter the workforce and regain what he had lost financially. It seemed that he may never recover the lifestyle he once had. He hopes to become a landscaper.
Job search group members can bounce ideas off each other. Or simply remind you to do things you ought to keep doing, such as following up with employers that you have contacted. As the saying goes in sales, "The fortune is in the follow-up."
That's what happened to me after our latest group. Several weeks ago, I did what a recruiter friend told me to do: call the local library, and find a database of employers with a staff of 5 or under. They do the most hiring, he said, and they tend to want a jack-of-all-trades.
Yesterday, I called back such an employer. She is strongly considering hiring me and we will meet tomorrow. [Latest: She has been evicted due to eminent domain, The city rezoned and she has to move. Can't hire now] My recruiter friend said that if you can demonstrate to an employer the benefit of hiring you, the employer will probably hire you. And that's just what I did - the employer told me her problems; I told her how to fix them.
In the meantime, I am 3 months behind on rent. Having asked charities, family, churches and social services for help, it is now too late. The last attempt to ask for help from Social Services failed. No one will help me.
The landlord is understandably fed up with the situation and has given me 5 days to pay up or get out. Saturday is the last day. He said that he will take me to court to evict me Monday. In my state, they don't care if it's freezing out or if you freeze to death. Out you will go, and the shelters are full. I have no place to go.
Since I live in a rooming house, there is a 30 day lease. Last year the landlord and I had a tiff about parking; he gave me 30 days notice to get out as required by law. We mended the fence, which is broken again because I am 3 months behind on rent. He can kick me out next week if he wants because the 30 day notice has now expired.
If I don't get rental assistance, I will have to sleep in my car. It's cold out and I am concerned about freezing to death. One of my housemates was homeless for 6 years because he couldn't get help. He survived and got disability. His homeless friends weren't so lucky. Some of them died.
Also by Mary -- Sick and Destitute in Hard Times
Dan said (February 6, 2011):
Mary's case is a sign of the times. Unemployment has been steadily rising and in Houston it's just reached the point for the first time when homeless people froze in last week's freeze because the shelters were full up.
Just tonight, the priest in my parish actually dropped the warm and fuzzy themes of 'peace love and joy'. to break the denial, and sounded a bit more like Howard Beal. This is good, because the time for denial is over. The sermon wasn't a setup for passing the plate for a particular charity either. He wants people to feel compassion directly and do something about it themselves. People seem to have tendency to stiffen and harden their hearts in the early stages of a long term depression. There have been many economic downturns in American history, but this is the one from which there's to be no return. Survival is about more than coin. I would suggest people read the Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.