us election
7 Oct 2008
Down and Out in Santa Barbara
As the countdown to the US election begins, Jess Hill and David Hollier set out on a roadtrip across the United States. Their mission? To talk to as many voters as they can in the next four weeks
After 24 hours in transit, we landed in Los Angeles last week just as Bush went prime-time to spruik the $700 billion bailout. In California, foreclosure rates are the second highest in the country. As Congress squabbled over the bailout (and conservative talkback radio blamed it all - and hurricane Katrina - on the Democrats), we drove across California to see the people and places directly affected by the housing crisis.Nancy Kapp's office is cramped. With barely enough room for a table and a chair on either side, she squeezes her buxom, velour-clad frame behind her desk, shakes both our hands vigorously, then looks at us expectantly.
We're sitting in the back of the Salvation Army building in Santa Barbara, a seriously rich coastal town two hours north from Los Angeles. The look of the town is so strictly managed that even this building looks glamorous. We've braved LA's freeways to find out if what we've been hearing is really true: are middle-class Californians really being forced to sleep in their cars?
Nancy co-ordinates the Safe Parking Project for non-profit outreach group New Beginnings, which provides secure overnight parking for 55 vehicles in 12 parking lots. According to reports, these carparks have become a refuge for California's new breed: the middle-class homeless.
"There are women in our group who had houses and were quite wealthy, and some families, a few of which had million-dollar homes," Nancy confirms. Since the foreclosure crisis hit California in earnest last year, Nancy has seen the demand for the parking lots explode - there's currently a waiting list to secure a spot.
In California, 16 per cent of people foreclosed on or evicted from their rental properties are forced to live on the street, according to a study conducted by the National Coalition for the Homeless. Many of these are choosing the relative safety of living in their vehicles. In California, however, camping out in your car can incur a US$50 fine - US$100 for repeat offences.
"Homeless people know how to be homeless, but middle class people do not know how to be homeless," Nancy tells us. "They're scared, and they don't know what to do - they're used to having it all. They're like, where am I going to use the bathroom?"
The parking lots are open from 7:00pm to 7:00am every day, and while they don't offer any facilities, they are at least a safe alternative to the streets. "At least they have 12 hours where they can go to a place, they're not going to get ticketed or hassled," says Nancy. "They have time to think, and plan."
Nearing 50, Nancy, who was homeless herself 20 years ago, comes across as poverty's answer to Erin Brockovich, only 20 years older and a whole lot brassier. "This issue can't be swept under the carpet anymore, because now it's happening to ‘real people'," she says, with a look that dares anyone to disagree. "In my parking lot, we have an 80-year-old lady who has to piss in a jar in her car. That's disgusting. The streets are the reality of what our Government is, and it's the ugliest picture I've ever seen. If they don't start saving these foreclosures there'll be a revolution."
As she says this, a mother and her adult daughter appear outside the door."‘Come in, come in," Nancy beckons, and the two women pull up chairs to sit half inside, half out. They introduce themselves as Sarah and Julia. They are an attractive pair - except for a few holes in her hoodie, you'd think Sarah was a typical Californian mum enjoying a day at the beach with her daughter. I have to look carefully to see the way Sarah's thumbs have worn through the cuffs of her sweater, which she wears like a second skin.
It's 6:30pm, and Nancy has to make her bread run. We get up to leave, and it's only then that I notice the silver electrical tape holding Julia's denim shorts together.
We offer to take them for coffee. Walking up the main street of Santa Barbara, as tourists window shop and families cruise past in SUVs, I feel alienated on their behalf. Julia leads us into one of the emptier cafes, and we order coffee and chamomile tea.
Like many Americans, it's not difficult to get Sarah and Julia talking. Their story is a Michael Moore wet dream. A stay-at-home mum for 22 years, Sarah became homeless after her marriage collapsed. After several Pyrrhic victories in court, Sarah was forced to file for bankruptcy. With her credit rating shot to pieces, renting became virtually impossible - real estate agents run credit checks on all applicants. "I was like, someone's gotta rent to me! I'm not a freak," she recalls, her peaked cap jutting out over her wraparound sunglasses, worn defiantly as night falls outside.
Struggling to find employment, Sarah started working as an extra on film sets in LA, earning US$8 an hour. "They feed you well," she tells us. Unwilling to live in a shelter, Sarah decided to live in the only safe place she had - her car. She's been living in it for over two years, and was joined by Julia, her 25-year-old daughter, a year ago when she too became homeless. With both women only eligible for minimum wage, renting is almost impossible. Michael Stoops, Executive Director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, concurs. "You'd have to work 100 hours a week at minimum wage to manage a rental here," he tells me.
Sarah and Julia have been living like nomads, parking along the California coastline - "If we have to live like this, we might as well have a kickass view" - and moving on regularly to avoid being caught. When their car broke down a few months ago, they joined AAA (America's NRMA) for US$100, which entitled them to four free tows of up to 100 miles. After their last tow, they knew they had to pull something out of the hat.
In true American style, they turned to God. "We decided to go on a 250 mile Faith Walk, and keep walking until God intervened and gave us a car," she tells us, finally taking off her sunglasses. Her sharp blue eyes are deep set, and the circles under them were dark. "We had literally walked across the road with our packs on when a lady stopped us to ask what we were doing. I told her our story, and it turns out she was just about to sell her car, or donate it to a charitable organisation. She gave it to us outright, and even got it registered for us."
Just as things started looking up, Julia started having severe allergic reactions to almost everything she was eating. Her health has recently deteriorated so badly that she can only eat raw food - "not exactly easy on our budget," she says quietly. Without health insurance she can't see a specialist. They are considering driving to Canada.
We ask Sarah and Julia about the upcoming election. Sarah is dismissive. "I've never wanted to vote for anybody in my whole adult life," she says, shaking her head. For Julia, politics is just a part of the wider conspiracy to create a one-world government. When we asked Nancy about the election she was emphatic. "It is essential that people vote Democrat. Not because they're anything great, but because four more years of Republicans will ruin this country."
As a jazz band starts up beside us, we leave and walk the women to their car. "I always have mixed feelings at this point," Sarah says, looking at her car. "It's sort of like home sweet home, but then... It's better than nothing, I guess."
Our farewell is inevitably awkward. They don't ask for charity, but are clearly holding onto the connection we've forged. We sense the boredom of it - the nothingness of day-to-day survival. They don't believe there's anything in the system to support their desire to get ahead, are tired of scraping but too proud to beg. We hug them goodbye and wish them luck, then leave them in the warm Santa Barbara night.
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It’s incredible to read that even a city like Santa Barbara, which just exudes wealth from the first moment you spot it, is suffering in this crisis.
I’d be interested to know know if being homeless, or not having a place of residence, affects voter registration at all… Is there a possibility that many of the people who have suffered the most from these recent developments will be disenfranchised as a result?
The Yanks should heed the sage advice of our great leader Keating and accept the recession they NEED to have. Instead, both sides of politics went for the bailout option, which has so far failed to deliver ‘investor confidence’. It’s this expectation that stocks should deliver 20% returns year after year that needs the correction a recession or, God forbid, a depression can deliver.
I read this in the SMH today, "Days from becoming the largest bankruptcy in US history, Lehman Brothers steered millions to departing executives even while pleading for a federal rescue, US Congress has been told." Richard S. Fuld Junior, chief executive officer of Lehman Brothers, is complaining that he only got sixty million in cash! (the other 250 million was in stocks). Poor guy!
How ironic that the once free market touting McCain now wants to crack down on Wall St greed, while at the same time denouncing a federal health care plan as the scourge of socialism. How many houses and cars do you own again John? Palin says the Republicans will govern for the people. I hope Jess and David can find out just how many moose burger eatin’, creationist, gun totin’ voters out there who believe they are ‘the people’ she’s talking about. Found any in Santa Barbara yet?
The utter disconnect between Dream & Reality has even seeped into amerikan sitcoms.It started with "Roseanne" but the current example is on TCN9,"Two and a Half Men" with Roberta the housekeeper often pointing out that she has to catch three buses back to her trailertrash home after cleaning the rich drunk’s toilet etc. Barbare Ehrenreich did a nice exposition last century in "Nickle & Dimed". The simple fact is that the ameriakn dream is a nightmare to 2/3 of the population, the remaing 100M vote for whoever lies best or most plausibly. There are no good lies.
Palin is probably as scary as it gets, but she’s a perfect metaphor for the whole dang thing - looks like one thing, but is something else. Are women voters really beguiled by a former beauty queen to the degree that they don;t notice she is a ‘moose-burger eating, creationist, gun totin’ conservative looney. (Thanks to Wonky for the apt description).
Maybe everyone could stop patting themselves on the back for not building a bridge to nowhere and set about building a bridge to somewhere. A bridge to safe accommodation and healthcare for all would be a good start. The economy we save, people just seem be collateral damage.
Richard Hill
www.richardhill.com.au
I’m not so frightened of what Sarah Palin is, as much by what she isn’t. Her ignorance on foreign policy is on a par with George Bush’s.
And the idea that should John McCain be out of the country she would be at the helm is almost absurd.
I hope you two (Jess & David) get to talk to some American people who are actually going to vote, rather than concentrating on demonising the US dream by superimposing it with a vision of the US nightmare as perceived by a minority of disenfranchised down and outers.
I am disappointed by this article. Obviously the result of any US Federal election is significant given its international ramifications. Coming as it does this year amidst an apparent US economic meltdown, it is as important to us as is our own in Australia. The premise, then, of two experienced journalists travelling the nation to explore the intersection between the political and the individual, is promising.
However, the article is diappointingly partisan and, worse, cavalier. The description of Nancy Kapp is disrespectful, almost sniggering. The idea of describing the experience of two homeless women as ‘mike moore’s wet dream’ beggars belief in its arrogance and insensitivity. God only know what mike moore would think, but it is far more disconcerting to think of those women reading of themselves in that way. The article reads as a fireside war-story of a voyeuristic joy-seeker i might have met 20 years ago in a backpackers’ hostel. It is patently not the work of experienced journalists. I hope the next article reveals a sophisticated understanding of the issues underpinning this election, as I would appreciate that as an interested follower. Far more importantly, though, i hope it reveals a sensitivity and respect for those individuals examined and portrayed on the www.
Lucky they aren’t in Sydney: parking meters here are $4.50/hour!
Hi Celeste,
I appreciate your sensitivity around this matter, but the experience we had with Nancy, Sarah and Julia was very off the cuff, and they were far more candid (and ‘cavalier’) about their situation than we were in this article. In reference to ‘Michael Moore’s wet dream’, that’s actually something that Sarah and Julia brought up when we were having coffee together, after they told us how shocked they were by his film ‘Sicko’. These people were not bleeding hearts, but sassy women with great senses of humour; upon seeing a Toyota commercial showing a man who lived out of his car for a month, Sarah sent a letter to Toyota suggesting they sponsor her, since she’d been living out of her Toyota for two years.
I don’t consider the description to be disrespectful - god knows I’ve been referred to as buxom more than once, and I have never taken it as an insult. She was brassy in a fabulous way, and a comparison with Erin Brockovitch, one of the world’s most successful activists, is hardly an insult.
I thought our closing paragraph was pretty clear on how we felt about the pair, whom we shared a great evening with.
fairnessfella
This is a beautifully written piece. I’m a bit surprised that the commenters so far are riding their hobby horses and not noting how special this reportage is.
What a drama, what a metaphore. The country which made the car iconic, which linked all of life’s aspirations to a sleek four wheels, ends up with the car as a homeless shelter . What a poignant documentary this would make
My partner and I just got back from 10 days in the Santa Barbara area where I had to do business for a couple of days. I have visited SB on 5 previous occasions over the last 8 years and know the whole area well.
We stayed with an old friend in Goleta which includes some of the poorest areas of SB, got out and about a real lot and spoke to many people from all social levels in diners etc.
There was no evidence of reduced consumer buying power in places like Walmart and Cosco from a visit I did 2 years back.
People are clearly worried but several realtors I spoke to said there was no real evidence of an increase in foreclosures in other than a few upmarket places like Ojai.
There were no more down and outs visible in and around SB than one would see around Sydney.
As far as I could see, this article is essentially just another exercise in selective journalistic BS.
Hi ecoeng,
Yes, I agree - Santa Barbara is an incredibly wealthy town, one which the homeless are almost invisible. That’s part of the reason why this parking program was started - the locals were getting freaked out by the increasing amount of homeless people on the streets, so the council was forced to create this parking program to get cars out of the pretty beach areas and into specially allocated parking lots, where tourists can’t see them.
The point of this article is to show that these people don’t look homeless - they could (and our subjects did) look like any other tourist wandering around town. They are invisible - they’re ‘middle class’. They work the same as most people do. The only difference is they live in their cars.
And it is not ‘selective journalistic BS’ to report California as having the highest number of foreclosures in the States and in the history of the United States since the Great Depression - go to the Realty Trak website to explore the extent of this crisis. Real estate offices we spoke to were also trying to be upbeat - as you would expect them to be in their industry.
Perhaps if you’d spoken to some of the social welfare groups (like New Beginnings and the National Coalition for the Homeless, to name a few of the ones we did) you would have come away with a different picture.