Erik Eckholm, writing for the New York Times, has a piece out called ‘Living in Motels, the Hidden Homeless’, in which he makes Orange County, CA seem like Calcutta. The only parameters for labeling them as ‘hidden’ being that they find refuge in motels, garages and shelters; do not show up in federal homeless data; and are not recipients of aid as much as the conventional homeless.

Motel families exist by the hundreds in Denver, along freeway-bypassed Route 1 on the Eastern Seaboard, and in other cities from Chattanooga, Tenn., to Portland, Ore. But they are especially prevalent in Orange County, which has high rents, a shortage of public housing and a surplus of older motels that once housed Disneyland visitors. - Living in Motels, the Hidden Homeless, by Erik Eckholm, New York Times, March 10, 2009.

Article also states that over 1000 families are homeless in Orange. One of the motels in Costa Mesa gets the full star treatment. A homeless man stuck in the Costa Mesa Motor Inn with his family describes how one of his neighbours was dragging a half-naked woman out of  the door while beating her.

Meanwhile, National Center on Family Homelessness’ new report, America’s Youngest Outcasts: State Report Card on Child Homelessness states that 1.5 million kids go to sleep without a home every year. One child out of every 50 American children is now homeless.

What’s so hidden about 1.5 million homeless kids? It’s hidden in plain sight, in front of your eyes. The only reason it’s hidden is because you don’t want to see them. While a few thousand people employed in Wall Street are getting trillions of dollars in bailouts, a sum total of $1.5 billion was allocated for ‘homeless prevention’ in the stimulus.

Color me biased, but I think it’s fair eough to say that Washington’s priorities are slightly warped.

Posted on March 11th, 2009 by Thomas
Filed under: Hotels, News