(Editor's note: This is the second article in a three part series on homelessness in the Upper Valley.)
Tina's father was a farm-worker and an alcoholic. As she grew up, her family was constantly homeless, living in barn stalls and the back of pick-up trucks. When she got married, Tina swore she had left a life of homelessness behind. But after her husband left her three years ago, she was evicted from her apartment. She and her daughters lived in a tent for two months and then a shelter for two and a half more before they finally found low-income housing.
Tina of White River Junction, Vt. is one of the 7.4 percent of Americans who have been homeless at some point during their lives. She shared her story last night as part of a panel called "Faces of Homelessness" in front of a hundred students and community members in Brace Commons.
Barbara of Hartland, Vt. joined the panel as well. Six and a half years ago, she said, she bought a car for $75, made license plates out of cardboard and set out from Arizona in search of a better life for her son.
Finding the shelter in Lebanon, N.H., where her husband was living, not open to families and the shelter for families closed for the month, they slept in a park until the police ran them out, she said.
Jill's son loves camping but it is not fun for her anymore, she reported. The two have been homeless since they were evicted from their apartment leaving her with a feeling of "emptiness, loneliness and low self-worth."
According to Jill, she is on what she characterized as a "landlords' blacklist" in the Upper Valley and is unable to find an apartment. She and her son are living in a shelter until June.
Jill reported that she works 52 hours per week. "It is not just winos, alcoholics and drug addicts who are homeless," she said."
Luke Perry of the National Coalition for the Homeless began the panel yesterday with introductory comments and a slide show.
He characterized homelessness as a "difficult and complex problem," and emphasized that it is about housing.
"People just can't afford places to live," he said.
Bob Olcott of the New Hampshire Coalition to End Homelessness later added that 31 percent of households in New Hampshire (both renters and owners) spend over 30 percent of their income on housing.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has said that spending on housing should not exceed this percentage of one's income, Olcott reported.
Perry asked the audience to look at the faces of the homeless individuals, families and children in his slide show presentation and to see that often one eye has the look of despair and the other a look of hope.
Indeed 45 percent of homeless people today are families with children and this is the fastest growing segment among the homeless population. Seven hundred thousand Americans will be homeless tonight, he said.
Perry concluded the evening's discussion by challenging the audience to examine ways they can get involved in fighting the problem of homelessness.
Barbara, in telling her story, offered a glimpse of how students can help. She and her husband were eventually able to find jobs and an apartment and then were introduced to Upper Valley Habitat for Humanity.
Barbara started to tear up as she said, "People like yourselves," she paused, recognizing members of the audience, "after their own hard days came out to help my husband and I build our house."
"It is the foundation for the rest of our lives," she concluded.
