When Eviction Means Death
Our Society Has Failed
*This post has a content warning for self-immolation of an elder.
Rent should not exist. Landlords should not exist exist. Evictions should not exist.
(But that’s a topic for next time)
On Monday I read the desperate story of 82 year old Anthony Goulding who set himself on fire as they tried to serve him an unjustified eviction notice.
He chose death over eviction.
Take a breath and please read this thread. When you’re ready, read this one too.
Pause for a moment to process what you just read.
When a person chooses to end their life instead of face homelessness?
Society has massively fucked up.
When you do your own research and find multiple stories of elders who have made this brutal choice?
Throw the entire violent system in the trash.
Poverty is not a failure of the individual, it is systemic and on purpose.
In my own life I’ve been homeless four times.
1990 (14 years old)
My mom (thankfully) divorced my abusive stepfather
She lost her business
She was unable to cover rent
We were served an eviction notice
I only have one memory from that day. The car was packed with boxes. As we tried to leave our home for the last time, the car wouldn’t start. I don’t have any memory after that. What I do remember it that for the next year, we slept on a relatives floor and lived in extended stay motels. Once my mom was able to save for a deposit, we rented a basement. Not a basement apartment - a basement.
In the past, I’d grieve the blank spaces in my memories. Experience has taught me that each loss was a cover protection.
1994 (18 years old)
She had found a home, a real home
We lived there for two years but, it didn’t last
We were served a second eviction notice
I left for college, I should have stayed
I didn’t want to leave her but I didn’t have anywhere else to go
On holidays, my mom would visit me because I had a place to live
It’s painful to think back and realize that I didn’t have a clue where she stayed. My young traumatized brain shut down to focus on my own survival.
2018
I went through my own divorce
I started to drive Uber in January to cover the cost of living on my own
I worked 12 hour days, 7 days a week
I started to rebuild my life
In May my car broke down
I couldn’t afford the $2000 repair
I fell behind on rent
I was served an eviction notice in July
I lived in my car that wouldn’t even start
Did you know it’s against the law to sleep in your car in certain states? Ask me how I know…
2020
I rebuilt my life for the second time
I started to work in psychedelics and decided to move to San Francisco
I sublet an apartment from an acquaintance (we had a verbal agreement)
I packed up my entire life and drove across country
The day after I arrived the owner sent me a text
It said “I changed my mind, I want my apartment back”
I was served an informal eviction notice
I had two weeks to leave but the move had drained my account
I had nowhere to live
I was forced to live in the car with my cats
We stayed there for months
This is why I’m determined to always have a car in my life. I don’t care if it requires me to take out a predatory loan. As long as I have a car, than I have a place to live.
What did you say, do I currently pay $450/month for a 2013 Honda with a 24% interest rate? Why yes, yes I do…
This should be a crime.
I decided to break down each experience to show you how quickly a life can spiral into homelessness.
But here’s the really fucked up part - I consider myself one of the lucky ones.
I can write.
The main reason I could rebuild my life over and over again is because I had platforms to share my story and was able to ask for help from my online communities at the time.
It wasn’t support from family - I don’t have any left.
It wasn’t social safety nets - please be serious.
It was community.
The community I have now? Your support is genuinely why I’m not homeless.
Think about people who don’t have a community. Think about elders who don’t have any support, online or in person - what happens to them?
This is the society we live in. Are you ok with that?
I fight for my life to stay housed every damn month because I’m clear that if I have to face homelessness for a fifth time, I won’t survive. I won’t want to live anymore. Chronic housing instability crushes the soul in a way that I don’t have words to describe.
If you’ve read my story and continue to feel judgment towards the unhoused population then chile, I can’t help you.
I invite you to play SPENT and see how do as a poor person.
If you can’t make it to the end of the month and your own basic needs are met, then I invite you to send a contribution of care to a person in need of support.
The “cost of living” is a terrifying phrase that should not exist.
Judge less. Care more.
#PovertySucks
*A reminder that you can download the updated resource guide for Palestine here or click the image below.
Henry sends warm hellos to nalo and mila.
I'm in a slightly worse situation than yourself. It isn't caused by capitalism. It's caused by people in the community. Capitalism should burn. However that would not solve the problem.
The problem is the greed, selfishness and narcissistic behavior of the overall population in America.
It's caused by the injustice system where you have to prove your innocence and evidence to that effect is ignored.
It's caused by laws that are unjust and meant to impoverish people.
It's caused by wage slavery to benefit the elite.
It's caused by a financial system meant to put people in financial slavery.
It's caused by the destruction of the family by the government.
It's caused by the destruction of the educational system.
It's caused by the moral and ethical bankruptcy of the country from those who feel that they deserve what they have stolen from the rest.
It's the people in America who have allowed this to happen. Most of the landlords I have known rent a room for the majority of the mortgage and expenses. They use the rental to pay their expenses and place the burden on the renter. It's perfectly legal.
I hope you are doing better. Good luck and warm regards to nola and mila
Oh Robin. The depth of inhumanity of all these systems is tragic. Basic human rights are Basic. Human. Rights. For everybody