The Homeless Middle Class? I’m Disgusted.

Yes, I am disgusted. Not at this new phenomenon of people, but at the fact that we, as a country, are having trouble even paying rent. I just read a story on CNN about Barbara Harvey, a 67-year old mother of three grown children and former loan processor, who is living out of her car with her two dogs. Without asking the myriad questions about why her three children are allowing her to live in her car, I am curious as to how she’s ended up sleeping with her dogs in a parking lot.

Barbara lost her job as a loan processor earlier this year. Because she lives in Santa Barbara, where home prices are over $1 million, she lost her home as well after not being able to afford living there anymore. Unable to return to her lifestyle, she is now working at an $8.00 an hour job, drawing Social Security, and still not making ends meet–at least not enough to put a roof over her head.

So where does she sleep every night? In her car, in a parking lot. What type of parking lot? Well, that’s where it gets humorous–not funny. The parking lot is one of 12 parking lots around Santa Barbara set up to accomodate the middle-class homeless. Yep, you read right–MIDDLE CLASS HOMELESS.

The parking lots are open from 7pm to 7am, and they’re run by New Beginnings Counseling Center, a homeless outreach organization.

As a member of the middle-class, I can’t but get angry and upset by this entire fiasco. What??? Homeless middle-class? Yep, right here in America, we’re getting beat down, and I think, personally, that something’s gotta give.

While Barbara and others may choose to live in their cars temporarily while they get back on their feet, it’s more a testament to her and the others in her situation than it is anything else. These are people who are hard workers, have done everything right, and are still in trouble. The country needs to fix what’s broken, before we get to the point of no return.