You paid your rent and you’re still homeless?

March 2009

When we talk about the foreclosure crisis, we generally think about people who had a loan they could not afford. But when the borrower is a landlord, foreclosure has some unintended consequences. The foreclosure crisis – fueled by the subprime loan meltdown – is increasingly affecting stable households. More than 3,157,806 foreclosure filings were reported in 2008. Even more are projected for 2009.

This scenario rings true for Debra Warner (name changed) who recently shared her shocking experience of homelessness to the Inglewood City Council. Ms. Warner (Age 73) became homeless in Inglewood (without notice) after a bank foreclosed on the apartment building where she was renting. You should note, Ms. Warner has never before been homeless, does not suffer from a mental disorder and does not have any substance abuse issues.

After losing her apartment, Ms. Warner lived in her car with her dogs Buddy and Anastasia until she attended an Inglewood City Council meeting to request help. She recounted the events that led to her homelessness with a plea to Inglewood Mayor, Roosevelt Dorn for help. Hearing Ms. Warner’s story, Mayor Dorn responded by requesting she receive immediate help from Inglewood personnel, and Inglewood staff called on PATH to help get Ms. Warner off of the streets and back into permanent housing.

PATH took Ms. Warner into the Hollywood Center program, where she and her two dogs could stay, thanks to Petco Place (www.petcoplace.org), an innovative animal residence located at the PATH Hollywood Center that offers shelter to pets belonging to homeless individuals. Within a few weeks, the City of Inglewood secured Ms. Warner a voucher for permanent housing, and she happily moved into her new apartment last week.

This story has a happy ending, however, the number of people who have plummeted into homelessness because of apartment foreclosures has skyrocketed, making an already overburdened shelter system even more fragile. The U.S. housing market is in desperate need of balancing so that individuals who find themselves in Debra’s shoes have the appropriate resources to help them find their way back home.