'Putting us out on the streets': Seniors face eviction amid deadly outbreak
At 82, Carley P Angell falls in the category for those at risk of serious illness if exposed to coronavirus. In two weeks, she could also end up in the same category as the tens of thousands in California who are at-risk and homeless.
Public health officials are issuing warnings for those in her age range to stay home and self-isolate, but Angell and the 11 other seniors remaining at the Brookdale San Pablo assisted living facility still face eviction at the end of the month.
“We are scared,” Angell said. “We realize we are a very vulnerable population. We’re the ones that coronavirus is hitting the hardest, and here we are, being forced out on to the streets with no place to go.”
When a global pandemic hits a state already gripped by a housing affordability crisis, the impact is both devastating and far-reaching. Those on the margins bear the brunt the hardest, forced to venture out to fight for their housing when public health warnings are discouraging people from social contact.
“We’re caught between anxiety and terror,” Angell said. “Some of us don’t have places to go. We’ve been looking and we can’t afford them and the places we can afford are so awful, we and our children would not want us to go there.”
In a state with sky-high rents, more than are willing to admit teeter on the edge of housing insecurity. Self-quarantine without the option to work from home, or getting sick without paid sick leave could mean not being able to pay the bills.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/putting-us-out-on-the-streets-seniors-face-eviction-amid-deadly-outbreak/ar-BB11d1PL?li=BBnb7Kz