By Queennandi Xsheba, PNN KEXU
It is not easy living day to day while in poverty- The long wait in lines to receive some kind of assistance, the frustration of keeping warm in a ten, praying that the police don’t have your possessions confiscated and the constant battle to keep your head up, refusing to give up on life altogether. Folks in deep struggle anxiously wait for politicians to make up their minds on whether or not any aid is on the way to make sure families have food on the table and a roof over their heads. It is safe to say that it is a real earth crisis going on, and on top of all of that being said landlords without a human conscience are still throwing people out on the cold streets because of the exodus of unemployment. Many in crisis are biting their nails to the core hoping that newly-elected president Joe Biden doesn't leave us for dead by feeding folks stale bread crumbs through stimulus checks that don't so much as cover the rent for a month- like Trump did. Joe Biden recently signed off on more aid for those in struggle, including a 15% increase in public aid such as CalWorks and CalFresh and a proposition to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. But what really needs to be done right along with the aid increases is to halt evictions during this COVID pandemic. Families and elders are being thrown out on the streets in masses as usual, even my grandson’s 83 year old great-grandmother has to be out of her home by the end of January, health issues and all. As I took to the streets I noted that young adults who are “maxed out” of the system are going through the motions also because of the lack of job placement and housing and more than half of the youth that are “maxed out” have turned to drugs and crime feeling that is the only option to survive- or simply just give up.
How does creating more famine help the economy? The aid to folks should not be in the form of a stimulus check that comes in the mail every now and then. What about the months in between- do we pay bills for a month and go without until the end of the year? Then one wonders why the crime rate goes up hand in hand with the COVID cases. Helping the people does help the economy, businesses stay afloat and keeps folks employed.
One the other hand, corporations and drug dealers are the only ones not losing money whatsoever. Banks like Wells Fargo and Bank of America are taking, taking, taking! Wells Fargo for instance are calling po’ folks like me saying they want to sue for unpaid due balances on accounts that have been settled and closed for years, while Bank of America refuses to reimburse funds stolen from vulnerable, disabled folks because it was a family member, not a stranger so therefore the money taken must have been authorized. Just taking from the people as usual, COVID or not.
Going back to the houseless issues at hand, if the government can supplement landlords through programs such as section 8, then why can there be an emergency rental assistance protocol put into place that helps folks to obtain and maintain their homes other than the temporary fixes of placing people into hotels and shelters with the uncertainty of being protected from COVID? Everyone knows that a “band-aid” fix is only a temporary “hold over” until the next fiscal quarter and that tactic has been proven over and over again to fail those who are most in need. It is understood that many landlords argue that they are in the business for the almighty dollar but what about the quality of life? Folks young and old are actually dying in the streets due to not only chronic illnesses, but chronic houselessness as well and that is against “the laws of the lord” as a whole. But until “man” decides to do “like right”, “Capitalist annihilation” will continue to happen as we are forced to wait in a long line- just to only suffer and perish.