S. Tahoe families struggle to find stable housing
By Nicole Zaborsky
Homelessness has many faces. Some are old, some are young. It affects all races, religions and sexes. It can be triggered by a poor economy, inconsistent work, a medical catastrophe, and death of a family member. In Lake Tahoe Unified School District there are 246 homeless students.
I recently sat down with one of those students to understand a day in the life of a homeless student.
For five months, Keira (not her real name) has been living in a one-room motel with four other family members and pets. The cost of a motel is $35 a night or $1,065 a month.
“We move weekly. Our homelessness is a result of inconsistent employment. In December of last year, we were living in a three-bedroom house. We had a kitchen, we each had a bed, and we had a proper place to do our homework,” she said.
Homelessness is a serious issue in South Lake Tahoe. Photo/Albert Bridge
While they are appreciative they have a roof over their heads, there is a desire to better their living situation. At most motels, there is only a hot plate and no refrigerator, which can lead to families eating less healthy and more expensive meals. Many families eat prepared foods because of the lack of kitchen appliances, meal preparation space. And for Keira’s family, because they are moving each week.
“It’s overwhelming. Our family’s situation is like being in a hole and there is no movement. It’s hard to get up in the morning, and it’s hard to get to school, but I don’t give up. When I come to school, I leave my baggage at the door and focus on the progress in myself,” she said.
To cope with her five months of homelessness, Keira says, “I distract myself. I hang out with friends and we go on hikes. I try not to dwell on my situation. My pets help me cope.”
She can easily feel stuck, and overwhelmed that the family situation is not progressing.
“I focus on myself and my education to ensure I graduate from high school in June. I will be the first in my family to graduate,” Keira said.
LTUSD counselors and staff work with the homeless youth and their families. They assist families to connect to community resources such as food, apartment searches and job leads. Wait lists for Section 8 housing, credit and reference checks, and saving the money for the deposit are barriers to homeless families obtaining long-term housing.
Keira shares, “We have faced renter abuse. Our family has been given verbal promises that a house will be rented to us in exchange for cleaning it. Then the landlord never returns our calls.”
Keira has a job. Her income assists the family pay for food, rent and basic needs. Her story is one that many of our community members face.
There is a Warm Room Committee that has been meeting to develop multi-pronged options for families facing homelessness or unstable housing. The next Warm Room Facilities Advisory Group meeting is June 5, 10:30am at Live Violence Free. Volunteers are welcome to assist with tasks and actions.
Additionally, the St. Joseph Community Land Trust has begun to accept donations to assist LTUSD families transition from motel to long-term rental housing. Call 530.541.8930 for more information. Checks may be mailed to St. Joseph Community Land Trust, 1041 Lyons Ave., South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150. Mark the check “Motel to Housing Fund”.
Nicole Zaborsky is coordinator for the Lake Tahoe Collaborative and member of the Warm Room Committee.
keira certainly seems motivated to change her circumstances. more power to her. this article states that she has a job that “assists the family pay for food, rent, and basic needs”. you go girl. i wonder who else in the family has a job. sounds like “inconsistent employment” is the basis for this family’s predicament. i also wonder how a 5-member family living in one room has pets.
Sounds like this poor girl is stuck with some loser parents. At least she seems motivated to change her situation.
I recently put my place up for rent next door. I was surprised at the number of people livng in motels that wanted to rent my little house. I let a homeless guy stay for awhile in exchange for doing work cleaning and painting up the old house there, and letting him sleep there. I finally found a couple to rent to who seem to be good and the house has never looked better.
Homlessnes along with inconsitent employment needs to be addresed by this community and the city of South Lake Tahoe.
Keep Tahoe moving forward and not sliding backward.
Take care, Old Long Skiis
If you are a child living in a motel, it doesn’t necessarily mean that your parents are losers. This young person has a grip on her situation and is making the best of it, as humans do in times of challenges.
I know lots of adults that have a roof over their heads that could benefit from her words to ‘leave the baggage at the door…go for a hike, distract myself and focus on the ‘progress in myself’. Profound.
Mr Mustauche ,Dont judge the parents.Quit pointing fingers,Get the facts first,
isee:yup
This story is missing some information. It did not say if the five people living in this circumstance were two parents and three children, or one parent and four children. Either way, having three or four children is just too many kids to financially support unless a person makes an awful lot of money, let alone provide them with any higher education. Also, Kiera said that “I will be the first in my family to graduate”. Does that mean she is the first child to graduate or that her parent(s) have not graduated from High School?
I feel badly for these and for other children who suffer for the choices of their parent(s). I learned firsthand from growing up in a family with 7-kids and in poverty that you better think about the consequences of your choices in advance and have a Plan B for those unexpected catastrophic events that WILL happen.
I wish this young woman well and hope she can go on to have guilt-free success in her life and not believe that she is obligated to financially take care of the rest of her family for the rest of her life.
Spouse – 4-mer-usmc
Yep. I’m sure the parents have made wonderful choices in life and aren’t abusing drugs and alcohol. Right. SLT has become a cespool of trailer/motel roaches.
If this poor girl does become successful I’m sure her loser parents will expect more handouts.
Ps. 1035 a month!? There are PLENTY of housing options for that price. My guess is they like the meth lifestyle.
Mr. mustache sure is sure a lot. He must be psychic.
One thing we know for sure from this article-1st last and deposit to get a decent apartment or house is almost impossible for people-no matter how many Tahoe jobs they work-we also know that Mr. moustache is a beckhole
@teatotal spell my name correctly when you speaketh of me peasant.
I am psychic. But it’s more of a burden than a gift.
Send the bums to placerville!
:)
Mr. M is just another ugly american who points his crooked fingers at less fortunate people. Must be good to be him, NOT!!!!!
My spelling was acceptable in every dictionary-however-you misspelled ‘psycho’
nature: All you ever say is about others pointing fingers. Can you Pleaaassse think up some other boring retort?!
I side with Mr. M . You are not alone my man !!!
Peasant? You ARE a psycho. And a pissant.
Touche’ TeaTotal!
This article really doesnt tell the whole story, who every did the umber on the rent is incorrect it should be 1245 when you include TOT taxes and according to the law this would be required. I personaly know of quite a few motels that rent long term and the cost is between 600 to 750 a month. It is also implying that saving the down payment is the biggest burden. I also know quite a few landlords that will work with people on down payment as long as they feel comfortable with them.
The biggest issue with them finding housing is provable income and good background checks. No land lord wants to take a risk with people who have proven in the past that they dont pay their bills on time, or they cant show that they have enough income to pay their rent. Esp. in this extremely tight rental market.
reloma-
You are an idiot.
If the landlord is charging 35 a night, this obviously includes his requirement to pay tot.
You missed the entire frigging problem….inconsistent employment, clearly stated. There are not too many jobs available around here for probably poorly educated people. This may not be the fault of poor choices, and it does not matter now. There is a problem for people to find steady work….there is none in many circumstances.
Rather than attack the unfortunates, the idea is to find help for the situation.
Remember the saying “There but for the grace of God go I.”
You and more than a few of the earlier commenters need to experience a few hard times to calibrate your sense of empathy.
I have a couple spare rooms I would let some homeless stay in. If they can pass a drug test and prove they are looking for gainful employment. Therefore my rooms will remain empty. Nature bats you are a fatty.
Mr m -Since you’ve stooped to commenting on body parts, don’t you know what they say about guys with mustaches??- well, what women say about guys with mustaches…… I hope you are manually dexteris- you’ll be needing that quality.
No-one wants to live with ‘the ‘stache’…and I can see why. He is mean spirited and I’m sure he used to pull the wings and legs off of insects when he was a kid, for fun.
Isee…I don’t know what women say about guys with mustaches(though I hope it doesn’t apply to guys with goatees). But your comment made me wonder if
“the ‘stache” looks like the leather guy from The Village People (but only for a second, then I take a break for more interesting and mentally stimulating tasks, like watching paint dry).
Hmmmm, ya, I wouldnt waste any time wondering how the ‘stache’ can live with himself. It must be a pretty lonely existance.