Homeless Seek Shelters in Motels as Foreclosures Swamp Cities

The US economy is in doldrums. With the rise in unemployment people are faltering on mortgage payments. As a result, foreclosures have become very common. As banks take over properties, the homeowners just do not have any place to go. They are taking refuge in motels. Take for instance, 37-year old Tarya Seagraves-Quee. A nurse by profession, Quee has now put up in a motel with three of her children. She says that she is trying her best to manage and has even learnt cooking in a microwave oven. Quee is not alone. In Massachusetts, many families are shifting to motels as their homes are foreclosed upon. States and governments have no other option but to find alternative homes for the swelling groups of the homeless. Motels have now emerged as the favorite option for these people although it means tax payers are chipping in with $2 million per month. State governments have placed 830 families. The number is indeed unthinkable. The director of Boston Health Care for the Homeless, Nancy Paladino, says the number of homeless is increasing and this is the highest the company has ever seen. A comparable trend can be noticed in other cities too. In Indianapolis, shelters for the homeless have become so overcrowded that they are turning away families. Now the growing numbers of homeless have no other option but to take vouchers that are being distributed by voluntary organizations like United Way for staying in motels. The director of the Coalition for Homeless Intervention and Prevention Indianapolis, Michael Hurst, says that the number of people staying in motels has definitely increased. The group is compiling data on the number of homeless staying in motels and has found that their numbers have definitely increased. There is the case of Wilson family in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metropolitan area. After a hassling time in a shelter for the homeless, the Wilson family has now turned to a budget motel. Frederick Wilson, 42, says that the family moved to Texas from Minnesota. Both Frederick and his wife Annette have found jobs. After spending about 20 days in a shelter in Dallas, they moved into an apartment. In Phoenix, too, the demand for accommodation shoots up as more families turn homeless because of foreclosures. The situation is indeed alarming with people losing jobs. These people had taken loans with flexible interest and when the market crashed they are out on the streets.