Eviction

Frequent Classism Exposed contributor L.A. Kurth invited students in her class at a California community college to share their thoughts on affordable housing. Here is one student’s response.

All my life I have lived in a rental home or an apartment, except for the brief period of time when my family and I had a home of our own. But due to late payments, we lost the house to foreclosure.

However that never changed the fact that my brother, sister and I always had clothes on our backs, a roof over our heads, and food to eat.

If this seems too good to be true, that’s because it is.

Crisis

Not too soon after we had moved into our new home, which we rented, my father passed away. He was the primary source of income. Losing him not only put my family through an emotional crisis, but a financial one as well. For the longest time my mom battled depression and fought to provide for me, my siblings and herself. This led us to live a paycheck to paycheck lifestyle. And we had to rely on EBT (food stamps) to purchase groceries.

What money wasn’t used for rent was left for savings, so we could pay rent. So when it comes to families with a single mother trying to survive or just get by, this really does hit home.