Purposeful, Hardworking – and Homeless
In 2018, Cokethia Goodman returned home from her long shift as a home health aide to the news that her lease would not be renewed. A single mother of four, she had only 30 days to relocate her family. Cokethia searched the internet for apartments that fit her tight budget, without success. Ultimately, she had to move her family to a distant neighborhood that required her children to change schools.
That rental, a dilapidated house, ended after her son reached into the water-filled sink and received a severe electric shock. When authorities inspected the property, they quickly condemned it, and the family had to move immediately. Going to a shelter was not an option, as Cokethia’s demanding job paid just over the low threshold to be accepted. The only option was to stay at an overpriced extended-stay motel. Cokethia’s arduous pursuit of subsidized housing, her countless calls and filling out of complicated applications to organizations offering housing support, all came to nothing: there was too much demand for too few opportunities. Cokethia’s funds were quickly exhausted, and she was obliged to move her family again. This time, they had to live out of her car.
Such lamentable occurrences repeat themselves in endless variation in cities all over America. It is part of the heartbreaking narrative of conscientious individuals and hardworking families who, despite full-time and even multiple jobs, cannot afford decent homes. And the story only gets worse. It’s an American epidemic.
Anthropologist and journalist Brian Goldstone related Cokethia’s story in “The New American Homeless,” an article in The New Republic that so moved PowHERful Foundation’s founder, Soledad O’Brien, that she organized a GoFundMe page for Cokethia’s family. The post raised $32,000, some of which went to Nicholas House Atlanta (a non-profit agency) to benefit others in ongoing homelessness in the Atlanta area. The contribution Cokethia and her family received served as a tremendous stopgap. However, the funds were quickly absorbed with rental prices soaring due to high demand, and long-stay rooming in motels was prohibitively overpriced. Buying a home was impossibly restrictive, even with the support of agencies tasked to help. For Cokethia and so many others, homelessness remains a constant threat and – far too often – a devastating reality.
In his new book, There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America (Crown), Brian Goldstone masterfully recounts the horror of several working Atlanta families who, like Cokethia’s, have direct experience with our country’s housing crisis. Forced to crash with friends or to double up with other families in cramped quarters, to pay for decrepit rooms in ill-maintained, extended-stay hotels, or to sleep in their cars: too many American families have to endure the most dire conditions just to have a roof over their heads.
As Goldstone relates, rent prices across the U.S. have, since 1985, exceeded income gains by 325 percent. “The myth that hard work will lead to stability has been shattered, revealing a stark disconnect between the story America tells about itself and the reality of deepening precarity.” In the U.S., there is simply not enough affordable housing.
Too many PowHERful Scholars have known homelessness before and even during college until they were taken under the Foundation’s wing. As one of our Scholars, who came to us in her final year of college and after the death of both parents, told us, “I’ve been homeless at multiple points in my life: as a child, a teenager, and as a young adult while completing my college degree. Now, in my late 20s, I once again find myself struggling to find an affordable place – this time because my neighborhood is becoming gentrified. Rents are skyrocketing.
“When I was in college, my father and I got evicted from our apartment of nine years, so we entered the shelter system with the goal of finding a new apartment in under a year. I was able to find a place, but before all the documents were signed, my father passed away.
“After my father's passing, I continued to look for an apartment. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the housing shortage was acute, and I ended up living in a housing shelter for over a year. Homelessness was a great strain on my relationships – it was hard to make and keep plans with friends, or to travel. I often chose to adhere to shelter curfew protocols instead of spending time with my friends or family.
“However, while at the shelter, I managed to not only keep my job, but to continue working towards my Bachelor’s degree. It was such a challenging, tumultuous time – but, somehow, the conditions of the pandemic actually made it easier to focus, and I successfully completed my degree.”
Homelessness places an immense strain on ongoing education – a double misfortune, given that education is the most effective means of rising out of poverty and homelessness. In There Is No Place for Us, Goldstone recounts instances of children pulled out of school because of a forced move, of those living in cars and having nowhere to shower, dress, or prepare for school. Older students who do their best to study in preparation for college find that displacement interrupts their efforts and makes it almost impossible to fulfill demanding entry requirements. If these students manage somehow to make it into college, the successive blows of housing insecurity derail their progress and often thwart their best hopes.
As one of our Scholars shared, “Honestly, I feel like I missed out on some of my college and educational experience due to insecurity with housing. To save money, I lived off-campus, but found myself breaking the lease of a shared apartment due to roommates backing out. This happened twice in three years, so I ended up sleeping on more couches than I can count… But, with the help of PowHERful Foundation, I was able to get back on track and achieve my goal of graduating from college and pursuing my career.”
Another PowHERful Scholar recounts how, for her, homelessness followed tragedy: “I was on track for my nursing degree in Louisiana and active in student government. As secretary of the student government association, I was running to become vice president. On the very day I won the election and was passing out flyers, officers approached me and gave me the unspeakable news: my sister had just been killed while in police custody. Only 3 years before, my mother died of illness, so now my sister’s death and the manner in which she died put me over the top. It rocked my foundation. I was completely shattered and unable to continue my studies. Nothing mattered anymore to me. I lost my apartment because I couldn’t maintain the two jobs necessary to cover the rent, and ended up couch-hopping in a very difficult environment.
“I withdrew from society, I had no job and no direction – I was just lost. Then, Soledad O’Brien heard of my plight through friends at Ducville Farm in Louisiana and the PowHERful Foundation ‘adopted’ me. Had it not been for the Foundation, I fear I would not have been able to heal as I have. AND to get back to and through college. Now I’m solidly situated in my career: I’ve been a scientist for 7 years.” PowHERful supported housing costs for this scholar a short distance from campus through her graduation, and supported her relocation upon landing her first significant employment.
The housing crisis and its impact on the education and well-being of countless victims shows no signs of abating. While renters at all income levels are seeing more and more of their income going to landlords, the squeeze is particularly pronounced for those near the bottom of the income scale. The epidemic of homelessness and housing insecurity is at emergency proportions, and all levels of government – federal, state, and local – must intervene.
Goldstone cites one promising model to address the crisis. Known as ‘social housing,’ this model features public or non-profit as opposed to private ownership and provides stable, quality housing for diverse income levels. Social housing of this kind has performed remarkably well in Finland and in Vienna, where “a whopping two-thirds of city residents live in high-quality, publicly owned apartments and spend about 22 percent of their post-tax income on rent and utilities.” Such successes demonstrate that homelessness does not need to be endured in this country. As citizens, we can inform ourselves and face up to this crisis, seeing it for the epidemic it is. As Goldstone reminds us, “We have the solutions. We have the resources. What we need now is the will to act.”
Image credit: PowHERful / OpenAI