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What is it like to be a family experiencing homelessness.
Ever wonder how a family makes it day to day while living in their car? Just take a moment to think about your routine and the tasks of your day. How would you accomplish them while living in a car? While this is a fictional account it is based on stories we have been told by people who have experienced homelessness. Here is a day in the life of a family experiencing homelessness:
6:00 am Wake up.
There are no shades in your car so as soon as the sun comes up you are awake. It’s ok though because there is a lot to do before your two children are ready for school and you can head to work. You feel a sense of relief that the police didn’t stop to speak with you at 2:30am like they did the night before. This parking lot behind a box store is a good place to park the car for teh night.
6:30 am The YMCA.
You bought a membership so that you would have a place to shower, brush your teeth, use the bathroom and get ready each morning.You could use the Kwik Trip bathrooms but there are a lot of truckers there and it doesn’t always seem like an ideal place for your kids.
As you and your kids get ready you realize that you are running out of clean clothes. You grabbed only a few items when you were evicted and do not want to use your last few dollars at the laundromat.
7:30am Breakfast.
You are back in your car with the kids and pull a couple of breakfast bars and juice boxes out of the Walgreens bag in the trunk. Even if you had a few more dollars there isn’t any place to make breakfast or store milk for cereal. You are thankful that the school offers a free and reduced lunch for the kids.
8:00am School.
It’s time to drop the kids off at school. It is about a half hour before their day starts but you have to be at work by 8:30am so you can’t afford to wait. They can play on the playground. You hate this idea, but you cannot afford to lose your job. It should be ok because the teachers are around preparing for their day.
8:30am Work.
As you drive to work you realize that you are running low on gas. You have to call the shelter again anyway so maybe they can help with a gas card. You have been calling a few times a week hoping they have shelter space.
2:00pm Your Boss.
Work has been really busy and your boss asks if you can work until 6pm today. There is no way you feel comfortable leaving the kids unattended at school. You say no and invent a reason. There is no way you would ever want your employer to know that you do not have a home. You are afraid that your unwillingness to go the extra mile and stay late could jeopardize your employment.
5:30pm Dinner.
It’s a nice night so you are able to eat your McDonald’s Dinner at the park. The kids are able to play on the equipment and do their homework at the picnic table. You did get a gas card today but there is still no room at the shelter.
8:00pm Evening Time.
It’s a little early to find your “safe place” so you walk through the box store with your kids for a little while. They find some toys they ask you to buy for them but the answer is no. You dread the night time because your thoughts start to race about your safety, how you will make it through another day and what happens if one of the kids gets sick at night like a few weeks ago.
10pm Sleep.
The kids are asleep. You doze in and out of sleep throughout the night. Thoughts of worry and uncertainty fill your dreams. You wonder, how did I ever get here? How will I ever get out of this situation? At least you made it through this day.
As stated at the beginning, this is a fictional account. We do not know of any one family who has had these exact experiences. Yet we have heard enough stories over ten years to know that this is an accurate portrayal of what it is like to experience homelessness.