Greg Hayworth, 44, graduated from Syracuse University and made a good living in his home state, California, from real estate and mortgage finance. Then that business crashed, and early last year the bank foreclosed on the house he was renting, forcing his family’s eviction.
Now the Hayworths and their three children represent a new face of homelessness in Orange County: formerly middle income, living week to week in a cramped motel room.
“I owe it to my kids to get out of here,” Hayworth said, recalling the night they saw a motel neighbor drag a half-naked woman out the door while he beat her.
As the recession has deepened, long-time workers who lost their jobs are facing the terror and stigma of homelessness for the first time, including those who have owned or rented for years. Some show up in shelters and on the streets, but others, like the Hayworths, are the hidden homeless living doubled up in apartments, in garages or in motels, uncounted in U.S. homeless data and often receiving little public aid.
Pardon me if the milk of human kindness has soured in my soul, but if you spent years raking in what had to be very big money in what was likely the world’s most booming real estate and mortgage market, why on earth do you have no liquid reserves saved and no home equity at age 44, particularly when you have children to care for?
I feel sad for the homeless and their families, but I agree with what #1 has pointed out; particularly when there is substantial evidence that they converted the value of their homes, 401(k)’s, and valuable stocks to take a chance with high risk securities. My priorities would be aimed at helping these destitute families first and let some of the institutions that are facing failure – let them fail since evidence is found that some of them started up to get a hold of some of that “easy” money during the rise of the shaky market. ~9,000 banking institutions failed in the 1928 Market crash but most people survived. The latest count on failures in this present situation is in the low 200’s – at least according to the blog info available to me.
That’s fine, ET…so where are the fellow’s investments? It appears they are nowhere to be found. I think the guy spent every dime.
As a 42 year old “middle incomer” with kids, I can certainly see how this happens — all too easily. Raising 3 kids isn’t cheap, and leaves precious little extra income for saving. Everything from braces to karate lessons just eats away at the weekly income. For many of us, our home equity is all the cushion we really have. That is, until you suddenly find your home worth half what it did yesterday…