A Home On Four Wheels

by Shannon Moriarty · 2008-10-22 10:01:00 UTC
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Two months ago, the Tufts family - Janel, Dard, and their three little boys - were living a comfortable, middle-class life in Wyoming. Today, the entire family is lives out of the family's most valuable possession: a minivan.

KFMB in San Diego told the story today on the Tufts family's plight into homelessness:

Dard lost his well-paying construction job. Janel's waitressing job was not enough to make ends meet, and the family lost their home. They packed up and headed west, expecting to find work quickly. Instead, they're now homeless, spending their nights parked along the beach, and their days trying to find room at local shelters.

The three boys, ages 3, 4 and 7, cram into the back seats of the 15-year-old minivan to sleep. During the day, the family searches for work, shelter and food, often getting lunch at St. Vincent de Paul's and managing breakfast and dinner themselves, cooking with a propane stove.

To keep the kids clean, the Tufts take advantage of public restrooms at the beach.

"Our days are so full with simply staying clean, getting food, you know, making sure the kids are taken care of," Janel said.

Tragically, it doesn't look like shelter space will become available for the Tufts family anytime soon:

Ron Dennison is program manager of Travelers Aid, which works to find beds for the homeless in San Diego County, a wait he says could last up to six months for a family of five.

"It's a growing problem, and probably will only get worse," Dennison said.

Like many families living out of their cars and vans across the country, the Tufts family is working hard everyday to find work. In the meantime, they face the challenge of finding safe places to park to sleep at night, using on public restrooms for personal hygiene, and the exhausting strain of living in public without being noticed.

Sadly, as the number of foreclosures rise and family homelessness worsens, shelters will continue to feel the strain of our sick economy. As a result, families falling on rough times who cannot find shelter will be forced to resort to the unthinkable in order to survive.

Looks like Wall Street is not the only one in need of a bailout.

[Picture: the NY Times told the story last year of another family forced to live out of their car.]

Shannon Moriarty has worked in various homeless shelters and service organizations around the country. She is a graduate student studying housing and urban policy at Tufts University.
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