By Jessica Hopper, Tim Sandler and Cristina Boado
Rock Center
Before the sun rises, Cindy and Patrick Kennard wake their three daughters, fold their cots in a Sunday school classroom and pack their lives into suitcases.
“This is an every Sunday ritual,” said Cindy Kennard. “It’s something that we do every week and so it just becomes natural. We know the best thing is to get up and keep moving.”
The Kennard family of five from Johnson City, Tenn., is homeless. Perhaps the most surprising thing about the Kennards is that despite their homelessness, they are still a working family. For the last seven years, Patrick Kennard has worked a full-time job with benefits at a bank call center and until recently, Cindy Kennard worked as a director of a daycare facility.
Photo credit: Ann Curry
Cindy and Patrick Kennard
“When we fell, we fell hard and we fell fast,” Cindy Kennard told NBC News’ Ann Curry in an interview airing Thursday, Nov. 29 on NBC’s Rock Center with Brian Williams.
The Kennards are one of a growing number of working families who have become homeless. In the wake of the recession, experts say that families like the Kennards represent a historic juncture when it comes to homelessness in America.
“It’s hard sometimes for people to appreciate. They’re so used to the stereotyped homeless populations, the visible homeless, if you will, who live outdoors in public locations and they’re not aware that there are literally hundreds of thousands of people, many of them working, who are homeless as well,” said Dennis Culhane, a University of Pennsylvania social policy professor whose research focuses on homelessness.
Photo credit: Ann Curry
The Kennard family settling in at another church shelter. Each week, the family stays in a different Sunday school classroom.
The number of people in homeless families living in suburban and rural areas rose nearly 60 percent during the depths of the Great Recession, according to figures from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). More than one million school-aged children are now homeless, according to the Department of Education.
“There are more children homeless now than have ever been before,” Culhane said.
WATCH VIDEO: No Place Like Home: Working families increasingly homeless
For Patrick Kennard, the feeling that he’s failed his three daughters, 9-year-old Jillian, 14-year-old Melodie and 16-year-old Brianne, sends him into despair.
“I think I could have handled this whole situation better had it not been for the fact that I was taking my three children into it with me,” said Kennard. “They didn’t do anything to deserve this. They didn’t do anything. They’re totally innocent.”
How to help the families featured on our show
Photo credit: Ann Curry
The Kennard family (clockwise starting on far left): 16-year-old Brianne Kennard, Cindy Kennard, 14-year-old Melodie Kennard, 9-year-old Jillian Kennard and Patrick Kennard
Cindy and Patrick Kennard, married 19 years, worked hard to pursue the American dream. They have college degrees. Both tried to build their savings as they worked. Their dream began to crumble when Patrick Kennard suffered kidney problems that led to expensive hospital stays and mounting medical bills. Even with the health insurance he had from work, the family still owed around $5,000. Their car broke down repeatedly, costing them more than $3,000. The couple's debt began to mount. Combining their student loan debt and medical bills, they found themselves more than $35,000 in debt.
Unable to afford child care, Cindy Kennard was forced to quit her job leaving them with only her husband's income, around $35,000 a year. The family was living paycheck to paycheck and still did not have enough to cover their monthly expenses. They became behind on their rent. They downsized to a cramped two-bedroom apartment from their more spacious four-bedroom apartment. Again, they were unable to afford rent and were evicted.
“I wanted to dig a hole and let somebody cover me up,” said Cindy Kennard.
The youngest Kennard, 9-year-old Jillian, took the eviction news especially hard. “I was scared because I loved the house and I didn’t want to leave it,” she said.
The Kennards pondered living in their van or at a campground. They made heart-breaking decisions, including pawning their wedding rings for $100.
Photo credit: Ann Curry
Cindy and Patrick Kennard holding hands.
“One of the hardest things that I’ve ever had to do was to sell my wedding band,” Patrick Kennard said. “That ring on my finger meant the world to me.”
For Cindy and Patrick Kennard’s daughters, being homeless means living a life of uncertainty and sometimes shame.
Through tears, 16-year-old Brianne described the hardest part about being a homeless kid: hoping no one finds out.
“Sometimes when we’re on our way to school, we have to ride up here in, like, a church van and people can probably see that and then they probably wonder why,” Brianne said. “But people finding out is probably one of the scariest things.”
Brianne has told a few of her close friends who have kept her secret. She was willing to speak publicly about it for the first time because she wants to help other kids like her.
“When we became homeless, we lost everything but our faith and that’s what I would say is don’t lose your faith,” said Brianne of her advice to other homeless families.
Nine-year-old Jillian also feared telling classmates about her family’s struggle.
Photo credit: Ann Curry
Jillian Kennard built the bird house pictured and carries it with her from shelter to shelter because it reminds her of her old house.
“I didn’t want everybody to laugh at me,” she said.
When her friends left school and returned to their homes, she went to a shelter. Jillian said, “I felt happy for them because they had a house and I didn’t.”
The red-headed little girl clings to a pink bird house she built out of popsicle sticks, glitter and glue because it reminds her of the family’s old home.
She sometimes has nightmares and dreams of one day having a slumber party in her own room with a bed covered in Tinkerbell sheets.
The family has moved 15 times in the last four months. Through a church and community program sheltering homeless families called the Interfaith Hospitality Network, the family rotates to a different Sunday school classroom each week.
“I had the stereotypical man holding up the sign, ‘Will work for food, have family, need help’ and I never realized how close I was to being that person,” Patrick Kennard said. “Homelessness can happen to anybody. We’re proof of that.”
Brian Rosecrance runs the Interfaith Hospitality Network’s chapter in Johnson City, Tenn., that’s been helping the Kennards as they find their financial footing. He said he has seen a distinct change in the families seeking help.
Photo credit: Ann Curry
“In the past three, four years, we’ve seen higher-educated people. We’ve seen people who are currently employed coming to us. We’ve seen a lot of families with job layoff situations where they were laid off a month or two ago and now they’re homeless,” Rosecrance said.
Rosecrance said his waiting list of families needing help continues to grow. Part of what makes the Interfaith Hospitality Network unique is that it allows families to stay together.
“One thing that I've seen for as many years as I've been doing this is a real resilience with these families,” Rosecrance said. “And I think that's the whole secret. That, you know, mom and dad don't have to go one place while the kids stay with other relatives or they don't have to be separated in a shelter between men and women.”
Advocates say there are not enough shelters for the nation’s new wave of homeless families and many shelters separate men and women because of security reasons.
Shaun Donovan, the secretary of HUD, said that shelters must begin to use their funding differently to accommodate the rise in homeless families. He acknowledged that family-friendly shelters are under-funded.
“I’m not satisfied that we have the full amount of resources that we need and we will continue to fight for more,” Donovan said.
Donovan said he is working on an ambitious plan to reach families before they become homeless.
“I absolutely believe and the president [President Barack Obama] has fought for greater investment in homelessness in making sure we have adequate shelter, but also in making sure we have new, innovative directions that we can go to prevent it,” Donovan said.
Photo credit: Ann Curry
The Kennard couple outside what will be their new apartment.
Back in Tennessee, the Kennard sisters say that they are learning unexpected lessons from homelessness.
“I’ve learned to love more, to love more people, to love the family more and love the outside world,” said Brianne.
The family recently received some good news. The church shelter they’ve been staying in offered them a grant to help them pay rent for up to five years. The family is expecting to move into a four-bedroom apartment next week.
Perhaps Jillian will now be able to put down her bird house and decorate her own room with Tinkerbell décor.
Photo credit: Ann Curry
Jillian looking at her birdhouse.
To help the Kennard Family: Email kennardfamily5@gmail.com
To help Darlene Gaines and her sons: Email Darlenegaines2012@gmail.com
Editor's Note: Ann Curry's full report airs Thursday, Nov. 29, at 10pm/9CDT on NBC's Rock Center with Brian Williams.
Additional Resources:
Organizations Featured in Our Report
Interfaith Hospitality Network
Government Organizations
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Homeless Resource Exchange
United States Interagency Council on Homelessness
Homeless Advocacy Groups
National Coalition for the Homeless
National Alliance to End Homelessness
Leave a Comment:
Just think how many families could be helped if the half billionaires and billionaires would stop hoarding all that money in offshore accounts and used some of it to help people like this. Yes, under out capitalist system you are free to accrue as much money as possible. But when is enough, enough? The multimillionaires and billionaires have more money than they can spend in many lifetimes. However for most of them greed has become a way of life. Numbers get tossed around without context, Note that a billion is one thousand million dollars! More than enough to share and still have plenty left.
The system is broken. I have worked my butt off my whole life, my wife as well, she was laid off when Rupert Murdock bought a company she worked for, then outsourced 90% of the work to India. What they could not outsource, they brought Indians in for, then made my wife train her replacement, then laid EVERYONE off. She is still looking for a job.
At this point I was forced to go back to working a manual job part time, as my regular work hours had slowed to under 25 hours a week most of the time. I have serious injuries, a pile of medical debt, even though I had insurance. I work every day in severe pain... we collect nothing from the government. we are pretty much a paycheck away from being on a cot next to these people. our system is broken folks.. if you are hurt... you are screwed .. my wife worked at that company for 11 years.. had outstanding reviews and many employee awards.. there is no loyalty anymore towards employees.
I owned my own company for 20 years.. just a small business, but we had the American dream..then we i got injured at work we had to sell the house, and every single thing we owned basically.. money in the bank? gone on medical bills...i don't know what the answer is but,, the system is not working anymore.
I hope these folks get on their feet.. hey I may need that cot! At least my kids are grown and out of the house before it got really bad for us.. I am happy about that.
There you have it!
The Obama regime would you have believe the SINGLE reason there are poor folk is because the rich folk are not paying enough tax.
Taxes are irrelevant to the matter. OFF-SHORING of our jobs is what has driven wages down and caused our current situation.
TAXES ARE "NON SEQUITIUR"
BRING BACK OUR JOBS FROM CHINA AND INDIA!!!!!!!!!!!!
Beyond that I could care less what a rich person pays or does not pay in taxes. What we need to care about is what they pay in WAGES AND SALARIES!!!!!!!!
WAKE UP AMERICA!!!!!!
You are so correct. We are a small business and if all the 'tax cuts' are dropped we will have to drop employees. Where will that get the unemployment rate? Why do they worry so much about how much we earn. Worry more about how many we employ or do not employ...as it may be in the near future.
They look so happy! Attitude makes all the difference in the world. I sincerely hope and pray they, and others like them, pull through.
I have a women's center in Dallas and one of our first cases was a family like this where the mother and breadwinner of the family had been laid off and unemployed for 6 months, she had a bachelors degree and had recently found a new job making pretty good money but the debt she accued during the period she was laid off caused her to loose her house therefore ruining her credit. On top of that she had two boys to take care of therefore couldn't go to a shelter because they would have separated the boys from her. The new face of the homeless isnt the stereotype of the old man in front of the liquor store begging for change; it's the man sitting in the cubicle next to you.
Off-Shoring of our jobs is what has caused this calamity, not low or high taxes on the wealthy.
Hard to say they just fell on hard times. Three kids?! That's an entitlement from a era long gone. Wake up people. You're not entitled to kids anymore. You have to be able to bank at least 200K per child (not on credit) before you have one, to be sure you can support them until age 18. If you can't do that, you're at risk for this type of situation.
This is a sticky situation because you don't need all 200K up front, so let's not act like is. Secondly, how do you make reproduction *not* a human right. Read the book "Beggars and Choosers" all about choice. If you cannot actually make ANY choice, then you have NO choice. And it isn't the children who made this family bankrupt- a family in America needs 50-60,000+ a year in order to make livable standards. Medical bills could easily be that and if you don't pay, they will garnish your wages. So if you fall into a genetic disease (like this man did n the story), then are you to give up your children because of it? Is driving a @!$%#ty car that you need because there is no reliable public transit, skimping on food and everything else in life not enough? What happens to the children then? Who will pay foster care? Who will maintain the orphanages? What do you do about all the mental health issues brought about by that? It isn't like he had this disease then said TIME FOR BABBYS! So in short, go @!$%# yourself you cruel @!$%#.
I agree children are expensive and the cost should not be foisted onto the tax payer. As for $200K, that is ONLY $10,000 a year till age 20.
There are more millionaires than ever in our country and they find ways to invest their money in foreign causes when there is a greater cause closer to home. If every one of them agreed to sponsor 10 families - get them a place to live, a job, investment counselors for 5 years with the agreement that each of these families would, in turn, sponsor 1 other family, we could really make a dent in the problem over a period of time. I know I feel just one step ahead of the homeless situation at times on my salary as an educator. If I had the money, I would help. But, then again, that is why the wealthy stay wealthy because they don't give it away. Let me win the lottery, I will make a change. That I promise.
dJENr8 you can help right now.
go on craigslist in your state under the general section, please post needs,
www.modestneeds.org
www.2hands.org
donate or volunteer at a local shelter
We all can do something.
i can see why kids are coming out of school so dumb. shame on you. the wealthy give quite a bit to help. romney gave more in one year than obama/biden combined for 15 yrs. maybe if educators would teach real fundamentals instead of the socialist drivel we wouldnt have so many idiots in the workforce. as far as foriegn investments. between paying ransoms to the unions and tons of federal regs stifiling businesses most companies wouldnt have gone overseas
There are many reasons for homelessness. Some have criminal records and others have spending issues. I found myself homeless at 24 after running a business that bought in some 30,000 a month in good months but lived high on the hog and did not put money away for a rainy day. My situation was mine and mine alone and the responsibility was mine and mine alone. To be sure there were others at fault, but none so much as me.
Homelessness is a think you sometimes need to go through to show you how good you had it before and motivate you to work three times as hard never to go back there again.
Welfare and charity does not address the root causes of homelessness.
As for our terrible economic situation in the world???
Look NO further than off-shoring of our jobs to cheap third world nations and pay no attention to those who would tell you it is low taxes instead that cause this. You KNOW this it not true!
We, the middle class, began to shoot ourselves in the foot when we put Reagan in the White House by a landslide. It's been downhill for us since then, and we need to wake up politically and figure out how to take our country back from the 1%. Get money out of politics. Shut the racist, stingy, hateful teabaggers up! I've read many stories like those of this family, and the woman who wrote about her situation in a comment. It's very sad, and should not happen in the wealthiest country on the planet. First, socialism s NOT a bad word. We need to cut defense spending to a fraction of what it currently is, end corporate welfare completely, and begin programs of building shelters on a massive scale that can keep families together, increase food aid, and provide decent medical care for all. The insurance industry needs to be done away with. We need to take our government back and return this country to the people!
I'm an American living in France, with excellent medical facilities and a health system unparalleled. I pay 40%, the governement pays 60%. I buy a health insurance supplement to cover the 40%, and I pay 75€ a month for that coverage. There are no limits to the coverage, and in case something major happens, I cannot be dropped. My meds cost a tenth of what they cost me in the states, and a private room stay at a hospital is 600€ a day. Recent gall bladder surgery cost me 3500€, which the state and my private insurance covered. Seeing a general practice doctor is 22€ and seeing a specialist is 78€. Labs are 28€ for a blood and urine workup. There are no long waits like there are in other countries with dual private and public medical services (Canada, England). Everyone here uses the same excellent services, rich or poor. How do they do it? They don't let the big pharmas or hospital chains run up the prices for things over the years. They know what it costs to produce meds and supplies and they hold those companies' feet to the fire to give the best prices to a huge market. So far so good. Why couldn't we do that? There are only a few fat cats who'll get gored, so let's get to it. Why should Americans be poor to pay the incredible profits of the big health companies and big Pharma? Come on, join the rest of the modern world.
we wont do it because of lobbyist for one and they would call that unconstitutional but we need to do it. Free market system and other terms like this do not work in todays world. The founding fathers did not see this world economy coming. We can support capitalism and 'fre market' all we want and do so until America disappears and then where will this free market capitalistic society be?
BTW, doesnt anyone else see that we are headed toward a Saudi Arabia type of society where there are super rich people and millions and millions of those sleeping on concrete floors. What is happening to these people is not a presidents fault or even congresses, it is a system that doesnt work anymore. and we are close to not getting it back. What you read here will be the norm. Do you know that congressmen dont write laws anymore, lobbyist firms do and send them up to 'their ' congressman to the house and senate floors. Lobby firms ran by corporations and industry. We have to get a supreme court with some balls to outlaw this stuff and set it the way it used to be. And if we cant make it here in this country, we dont need it. And it should be unlawful to buy it anywhere else. Major changes have to be made.
Even in the Czech Republic, I had similar services. For a democracy less than twenty years old, they actually got it right. I could get my entire year supply of birth control for a fee I paid because I wasn't a citizen and it was less than $15. I pay $50 A MONTH for pills and the appointment alone was over $300. The sad part is, even with insurance a lot of people still have to pay, along with having their paycheck lessened. It is immensely sad how we cannot do basic services. Prague has a better subway set up- it has three lines maybe four now, I was there in '06/'07 and it was so incredibly efficient, I was stunned. Here, mention public health and public transit and you get eye rolls. =( If people went over there, they would honestly be stupefied.
Big Pharma passes the reduced cost of meds overseas on to people living in America.
And, yes, federal social programs are unconstitutional in the United States. People would know that if they had actually read the Constitution and what those who wrote it had to say about the nature of it. And it was the "father" of the Constitution who specifically stated that "charity* is no part of the legislative duty of government."
* You can insert the phrase "social programs" in the place of charity.
I would just not pay the medical bills!!! What are they going to do take away thier home?
Declare bankruptcy!. Do something get an apartment for $500 a month. Anything.
Walk a mile in their shoes. Your be singing a different tune.
You can't just not pay. Not all debt works that way. You not only get harassing phone calls, but they will garnish your wages without concern for your family or other living expenses. Also apartments for $500/a month hardly exist anymore. I live in Pittsburgh in a lower class area and a studio (one room) will go for $600. Plus, they won't rent to you if you have even a blemish on your report. In many areas of the country the rent is high because there aren't a lot of rentals available. Or they are wealthy people who flipped houses and have no idea what it actually costs.
Though this family is going through rough times, the 5-year grant that this family is set to receive to help them afford an apartment is an uplifting news. The children in this family deserve to stay in a safe and stable dwelling.
Why can't we adopt the Canadian health system where everybody has health insurance. It is true that the Canadians pay higher taxes so that their government can afford to maintain a health system but their system seemed to be better than the American health system.
Everybody in this country should support government efforts to establish and fund a health system that would prevent people from falling into deep debt if they get sick. Yes, taxes needs to be increased but that is part of the things that is needed to improve the health system in this country.
And Canadians are coming to America in droves to get simple procedures like MRIs and knee surgery that they either can't get or have to wait more than a year to get.
And, Joe, why should I have to pay so that you can have health care? Go buy your own health care?
Obama is taking us down adead end road !!!! Wake up people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
dont be stupid. this isnt the fault of a president. they would have you believe that. Romney, Obama, Dems, Pubs, it doesnt matter. This countries policies are formed by lobby firms who actually write the laws and they are owned and operated by corporations and industries.
The government and the healthcare system should be ashamed that we are the ONLY developed country that allows it citizens to be financially ruined due to medical conditions. Even Latin American countries like Panama, Ecuador, and Costa Rica take better care of their people.
Land of the free and home of the brave??? Just make sure you never get sick!!!
Hey deaddick not to worry anymore we all get barry care starting in 2014, no more worry, be happy everything will be just great. Lost my insurance because of a divorce and got government health care for about a year called the VA. And had to wait 7 months to see the dentist. Hey you going to love governement health care, same employees that work there like DMV, Post Office, union teachers, etc.
Health care is a commodity just like food or clothing or shelter or the latest video game. If you want it and can afford it, you go pay for it. You don't have a right to anything that is provided by others and you most certainly don't have a right to demand that others pay for it!
Don't forget all the people that Rent, they are homeless also.
Yea but we love it warren, me I don't have to pay anymore property taxes, county taxes, and school taxes. Yea we have that in New York state, it was a great day for me selling my home and moving into an apartment. Just knowing that the vile and corrupt teachers union could get no more of my hard earned money brought me so much joy. See it truly is the little things in life to be thankful for, and not sending my money to the governement is high on the list.
been there, done that, all of the above. we are in a bad downward spiral, and our country's leadership(?) is making things worse, not helping them get better. my wife and i-we were managers in a self storage, had a rent free managers apt. when we lost that job, we had to get a 4 bed duplex, my wife found another job, i started SS. had to downsize to a little 2 bed trailer house. now, with all the tax increases, new property taxes for increased school spending, we are really close to losing this place, becoming homeless. there is a lot more to this story, nobody has time to hear it all, but i have a very hard time seeing how the country can survive another 4 years of our present incompetent government. we are fast becoming a 3rd world country.
Go to school get a better job. It is not the governments fault you are a failure.
Wake up and take care of yourself. Sacrifice is what is needed to get ahead.
Nobody is entitled to anything and everyone needs to work hard to get ahead.
I think having a shelter like this available for families is a blessing. It would be great to have more of them. It is so sad to see our nation in this situation.
200 years ago, America was an experiment in a new way of living for people. America was established based on the ideal that people were smart enough to live their own lives with minimal interference from the government. We have been loosing that ideal that our founding fathers new was best for our citizens. Both parties, Republican and Democrat, have been bought and paid for by wealthy people and big corporations. Remember Obama's job czar, the president of GE? Obama made millions of dollars for Warren Buffett when he blocked the canadian oil pipeline, Buffett has large holdings in the rail companies that transport the oil because the pipeline was not built. The point is, our government is out of control, regardless of which party controls what. Professional politicians look out for their own best interests, which means they are all beholden to one wealthy special interest or another. We need less government interference in our economy and our lives. Free markets and Capitalism have done more to help people have better lives than any other system. Opportunity is what is promised in the US, not guarenteed results.
I don't see why they became homeless. Both parents were working. Besides rent should have come first instead of medical bills. The kids were old enough to take of themselves and the younger one so the mother didn't need to quit her job. Right now my sister and her 6 children are homeless due to the fact they had to leave their home due to an abusive situation. Her husband went to jail. I am glad they got away from him. Now my sister is in a homelessness program where she has an apartment where she has to get a job in 90 days. Hopefully she will get one since she is in a job training program. Her children were taken away from her by Child Protection Services and now she is getting them back.
My brother is homeless, 62 yrs old, lives in his car for the past +16 months, Kenyon college grad, worked in Asia for + 6yrs, and is long-term unemployed. He ha had a Govt provided housing voucher guaranteeing one year of rent payments but can't find a landlord to accept it b/c they don't want to deal w. the paperwork. B/c he's a single man he is at the bottom of the pile for shelters and already stayed in the local one for the max. time permitted, 3 mo, and is not allowed to return for 5 yrs!
His pride will not allow him to stop searching for work in a career. How he continues to go on being positive I don't know. He does get medicaid and food stamps. He must move his car every 3-4 hrs so as not to be arrested for vagrancy. He couldn't afford his car reg and insur. and was arrested for those expiring. The impounding of his car costs $1000 + $75/day at impound lot. So w/o a car and his belongings he would have nothing. I bailed him out and paid for temp coverage so the car could be returned.
The solution would be to find housing and a job but I don't see the light at the end of this tunnel.
Your brother is homeless and you're letting him be homeless? Shame on you! Take him in and provide a little corner of a room in your house for him to sleep!
CCR2
There could be good reasons why he hasn't taken his brother in. My sister-in-law would not allow her homeless brother-in-law to stay with them because he insisted on talking about suicide in front of her children. Plus, he influenced her husband to stop taking his medications for depression. He cannot stay with his sister either. Last time, he endangered her young children by taking them out on a busy street, then he called Social Services to complain that her husband was too strict with them.
If this man can help his brother, fine. But not at the expense of his wife and children.
Tarzan-3462832
This is all true but what can you do.
What happened to that family and many others isn't about bad luck. it's about theft and tax code. Nobody wants to pay for American labor because it cuts into profit, and for the same reason pay taxes.
The best way around this is to shift jobs offshore to reduce labor cost and capital offshore to reduce or eliminate tax burden.
In the end what you get is a family who has done it right and still kept their faith; suffering through depressed wages where one medical crisis has caused financial disaster (69% of all bankruptcy is caused by medical bills).
The result of what we as a people have done to ourselves over the past 20-30 years should come as no surprise.
You don't get something for nothing there is cause and affect, there is a zero sum. Writing tax code which rewards tax avoidance by shipping jobs and capital out of a country is not wise. It not only reduces the amount of capital investment which create jobs, it reduces a nations tax base.
Paying taxes offsets the cost of a variety of government responsibilities and services, everything from defense, education, fire and policing services, disaster relief, paving roads, building bridges, and social safety nets. Foreign offshore employees and banks do not pay U.S taxes. When we allow these types of tax avoidance we cause our own unemployment and de-fund our government.
This renders a nation impotent and causes it to buy its way out at a cost of 16b in national debt.
Not true. Any reasonable person can have an idea what it is like without have to go through the process.
This article leaves out much information in an attempt to generate sympathy for their plight. There is a reason they are in their situation, and blaming it on anything other than themselves is wrong. As is usually the case, when you delve deeper, logical causes will emerge, and they will be something the subject does not want known.
No job? Ha. Lots of low paying jobs with no qualifications required. If funny to see people complain about not having a job when so many have two just to make ends meet.
I agree with Shaun Donovan director of Hud. things need to change. I am a landlord and have several tenants that have Hud paying there bills. If these tenants try to get jobs or better themselves they loose there support structure. Programs like hud and welfare need to be designed and used to help and encourage people to be contributing members of society. I.E> these should be supplemental programs to help families get on and stay on the right track. Use these programs to encourage people to work and to volunteer in exchange for some help or assistance. Everyone has a unique situation but a lot of people just take advantage of the system. Further more the Money used to bail out the banks never should have happened it should have went to the people falling behind in there mortgage payments. If this money was used to help all these families stay in there homes along with the clean up of the predatory lending. We would have a lot less homeless and the banks would have a lot less defaults it is not rocket science we can help these people if we stop feeding the rich politicians that make up stupid bail out programs. Think about it if you use the money to give to the people as support for their mortgage payments you help the people and the banks would not have as many defaults.
Shaun Donovan, Please feel free to reach out to me I have several Ideas that might help you help the people.
This could have been avoidable because they could have paid those medical bills with affordable payments.doctors and hospitals are willing to work with people.I feel empathy for their plight but peole need to ask for help sooner instead of being proud and digging themselves into a hole.I wish them a brighter future.
Just a cleaning lady.
After receiving a medical bill for $14,000, (for kidney surgery), I asked for help. The hospital's "charity" program allowed me to have payments of nearly $300/month at over 12% interest! Some charity!
My boyfriend had a 5 way bypass surgery.He asked the surgeon what the cost was and he said whatever your insurance charges.He only was out of pocket about $500.00 and he made payments at no interest. I'm sorry that your hospital wouldn't work with you.If I'm ever in this boat,I'll put my mothers name on my house before surgery so a lien can't be placed for payment.Obamacare is not the answer.My insurance premiums went up already.It's not full coverage either.
It is important to protect your credit....it is more important to protect your family. Medical bills and most credit card debts can be wiped out in 3 years via Bankruptcy. They simply take what you make, subtract what you need to live and the difference goes to your debtors. 3 years you have a clean slate without going homeless and yes credit card companies will issue credit cards to people going through bankruptcy. Peace and wishing all a happy holidays. Also hope whoever wins the Power ball and other mega jackpots enjoys life, helps peoople rather then having it ruin their lives which is what happen when we have the means to persue our worst desires and submit.
Brian,Great post and an educated one to boot.People should seek all avenues before putting themselves out on the street.
After reading all the comments I was not surprised to see some "Tea-Tards" jump in with their rhetoric against Obama.
Have some @!$%#ing compassion for your fellow human beings for christ's sake.
Having compassion is giving to charity or providing a meal or a place to sleep to someone. Paying the government to do your charity work for you is just evil.