Don’t look away, this could happen to you!

Don’t look away, this could happen to you!

By Maggie Gray

I have discovered a massive epidemic in this country. Senior women who are divorced, widowed, some childless are now finding themselves out of jobs, marriages ending, adult children not able to take them in and forced to make decisions that are shocking. Rent caps are being removed, REITS are buying mobile home communities doubling Park rents, subsidized apartment buildings are sold to private buyers removing rent limits, the reasons are endless thus causing this deplorable surge in homeless seniors. Landlords are raising rents that price out these seniors and their only solution is to give up their home prior to eviction and hit the road in the last security they have - their car or van.

There are hundreds of videos on youTube interviewing women living in California and Arizona explaining how they ended up at Quartzsite, Arizona. Quartzsite, Arizona is a very famous location owned by the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) that allows free parking on its land for boondockers. Thousands are traveling there as it is affordable and offers a viable solution for a homeless person with no other resources left but to now call their car “home”.

As a reader, I know what you’re thinking. What did they do wrong? It could never happen to me. They must have drug or alcohol problems. It isn’t my problem. Yet, should we turn our backs on these seniors? Is it someone else’s problem? This senior person is someone’s mom, dad, aunt, uncle, son or daughter, or worse - grandparent. Many who are interviewed are college educated women who raised their families and lost jobs through layoffs, business closures or just being pushed out with no legal recourse to fight the job loss. I was 60 years old when I was laid off from my law firm downtown Minneapolis. That day, in an inner-sanctum conference room, I stood with five other individuals as we were handed our white envelopes. I never saw it coming. I had been a machine cranking out real estate contract work reporting to high-level partners and on a Tuesday morning, I became nothing. Zero. Unemployed. Jobless. Useless. Discarded. Terrified. After almost 28 years of a law background, I was 60 years old, no understanding of how I was tossed aside, and my law career ended that day.

Every interview I landed, I still felt rage and it showed in my interviews. Every opportunity to meet with hiring staff, the question always came up, “where do you see yourself in five to ten years Ms. Gray”. After five interviews, my final law firm interview, I answered “hopefully not dead or homeless” and I got up and left the room. All my faith and trust in a career was obliterated and my safety net with my law career ended because I had aged but didn’t realize I was now deemed useless.

Now dear readers, you can see why I am the perfect person to write this piece. I have been at the end of a corporate “riff”, or “layoff”. Layoffs ruin lives, marriages and financial dreams. We as seniors have to dust ourselves off and find a silver lining, not just the silver now running through our hairline and inevitable weathering face that cannot be concealed in a job interview even when our Resume is on the top of the interviewer’s pile. We get the polite 15 minutes and can feel the temper of the room when we arrive and leave. Younger people demand less money, better health, cheaper insurance, longer work hours, ad nauseam.

I want to be a viable solution with information I can provide that small town USA can be a luxury they need to explore, a luxury they can afford on a limited budget. There are thousands of small towns across this country that offer affordable homes, government-subsidized apartments and more options that certainly are a much better solution than ending up in a car in the desert convinced this is the only choice.

I chose Fairfax to create a new life that only a small town could offer. I love Fairfax even with its lack of a grocery store or pharmacy. But to walk out to my mailbox in my bathrobe, to watch kids running up and down the street riding bikes, walking to the community pool, quiet small town life is the healthiest way to live in America. As small as Fairfax is, it has a large heart and when you reach out there are so many people that offer solutions here. I love our florist shop, our hardware store, Jeff the contractor, Dave’s gas station, our local newspaper, the bakery, the large trucks that pass by blowing through town going somewhere, anywhere but here, our local police driving by waving, a run-away dog everyone tracks to find the owner, the list is endless.

Yes, rural America is losing hospitals, nursing homes, grocery stores, or worse, but driving 35 minutes to New Ulm for medical care or groceries is NO sacrifice versus living in your car. What about medical care or emergency needs? Some women have decided to just die in their vehicles. Can’t we do better? How is it that people who have worked their entire lives, paid taxes and lived their best lives are now living the remainder of their lives in a car? What happens when their transmission or engine give out? What about heat? What about air conditioning? What about safety? What can we do?

Tiny home villages are being developed but code and state/city ordinances are definitely a burden. Manufactured housing feigns itself as “affordable housing” in mobile home communities but chattel lending options is often high-interest rates and even higher park rents in established communities which thus no longer is perceived as affordable for singles and families. We hear there is a housing shortage? There’s no shortage of housing, it’s just not affordable due to tough financing, escalating interest rates and buyers not able to obtain conventional or FHA-mortgages through credit issues or other underlying problems. Yet there are thousands of government-subsidized housing units in small towns that are vacant and waiting for residents.

I haven’t approached the City of Fairfax about open land that could possibly be zoned or re-zoned to allow for a Tiny home community. Many city fathers cringe at the idea of affordable housing whether it is apartment buildings, mobile home communities or multi-housing buildings. New Ulm just got an investor to revive their affordable housing project much to the chagrin of many residents there. But then are we those who don’t want to know about affordable housing? Is it an inner city problem that we hope never comes here? Folks, it is here. So I wonder if Fairfax could be a haven for tiny homes? Now that the assisted living facility is renting out apartments, affordable housing options are increasing in Fairfax but I have dogs, so for someone living alone finding solace and comfort with their dog, that is not a solution for a senior woman now living in her car.

In my next article, I will talk about launching my new youTube channel. These same women are being interviewed on youTube bragging how they turned their van or car into their new “home”. I want to say GOOD for you while my heart is breaking seeing the hidden terror they cover up with smiles and hope that this is the answer to homelessness. I am a senior woman and expect more from our country than this. So I am going to rattle some cages, put myself out there and help some seniors out of their cars and find answers for these women so they know someone is listening. If we don’t see or hear them, what happens if no one hears us in our time of need? Hmmm?

Maggie can be reached at maggie@grayheart.com