HOW EXPENSIVE IS MOTEL/HOTEL LIVING?
I often wonder why so many good “WORKING POOR” people live in these types of settings. So, I asked the question, as I currently dwell there too.
Why do you live in this hotel/motel?
Quite often, more-so than not, their answer would be simply;
“IT’S CHEAP AND I DON’T HAVE TO PAY FOR CABLE AND ELECTRIC”
So, I had to think about that, and this is what I came up with.
SSI/SSDI PAYMENTS:
$750-$1400 per month – POOR FOLKS INCOME RANGE – DON’T FEEL BAD, I’M THERE WITH YOU.
Now let us do the math from the low end, and based on SSI Checks.
SSI PAYMENT: $841.00 PER MONTH
RENT: With Everything Included: $750
CAR PAYMENT: $90.00
CAR INSURANCE: Can’t afford
GROCERIES: SMALL AMOUNT OF FOOD STAMPS
-AND-
THAT DOES NOT INCLUDE “ANY” HYGIENE NEEDS FOR THE POOR FOLKS.
MOST DO WELL AT LEAST 5-6 DAYS – AFTER THAT:
THE SURVIVAL-25 DAYS OF REAL STRUGGLE TO THE END OF MONTH:
YOU WILL HAVE TO BEG, BORROW, AND STEAL THE REST OF THE MONTH IN ORDER TO SURVIVE. OH, IF YOU ARE ONE OF THE FORTUNATE ONES THAT CAN PAWN A TV or TWO, THEN “WHALLA” A BREATH OF FRESH AIR. WE CAN GO BUY “POT PIES” AND A HAPPY MEAL FOR THE KIDS. Oh yeah, kids live in these filthy places too.
NOW, inside “SOME” of these “ESTABLISHMENTS” rooms, they allow us poor folks to dwell in with a “lease,” “BUT” forbid us poor folks to “utilize electric cooking” gear. It’s confusing to me. They take a chunk of my money but, we are not allowed to cook a healthy meal in the room without being fined, and forced out.
Individuals are forced to utilize a super small microwaves that is only useful for “boiling” water, and a very “small” FRIDGE that has been in play since the building’s inception.
Where do you think the few extra dollars we have go, in order to make us “WORKING POOR” feel as if we achieved something.
Let me tell you. We go to a fast food eatery, to spend close to our last dollar all within close proximity to our dwellings. Our “WORKING POOR” money is always recycled back into the community.
So, in the end, the first 5-DAYS OF EACH MONTH from receiving our checks, the “WORKING POOR” folks give every penny we have to these establishments and local businesses. With no other real means for survival, other than the thought, “ANOTHER DAY TO STRUGGLE”
But yet, “WE” are told NOT to utilize electric cooking gear that would allow us to “AT LEAST,” AT THE BARE MINIMUM, HAVE A HEALTHY MEAL.
These things happen for many various reasons, but in Missouri, I’ve learned, by living those scenario, based on information provided to “CASENET” by my previous landlords in Sullivan, MO “TRUSTED PROPERTY MANAGEMENT COMPANY, HD REAL ESTATE, AND (J.T. HARDY, who has served as their City Manager, Mayor, and Alderman). Look at that city now. The information they knew could and would place me here, in this type of living hole. They’ve played this game many times over and over in the courthouses. They gave me a lesson on why “NOT” to rent from anyone in Sullivan, MO. Stay away from any signs that are “WHITE AND GREEN” in Sullivan, and I do mean “ANY” SIGNS.
Once published on “CASENET” for “HOUSING” reasons, the only place any “WORKING POOR/GOVERNMENT CHECK RECIPIENT” can go in Missouri is the “HOTELS/MOTELS” and they are waiting in the wings because “Government” checks and “Working Poor” checks are good to them.
“DON’T GET ME WRONG” – CERTAIN HOTELS/MOTELS ESTABLISHMENTS, NOT ALL. THE SMARTS ONES WHO ARE NOT TOO GREEDY, OR STRAPPED FINANCIALLY DON’T ENTER THESE TYPE OF ARENAS.
WHY DO PEOPLE TURN TO THESE ESTABLISHMENTS?
They do “NOT” require “1st, last, plus cleaning deposits to move-in“. Most “LOW-END” entities like these force the poorest of the poor to figure out a new “STRUGGLE HUSTLE” EVERYDAY, the moment they take their “GOVERNMENTS AND WORKING POOR CHECKS”
They only require a small background check and proof that you receive a Government and/or a Working Poor “Check”. Once in, some of these working poor “GOOD PEOPLE” with “GOVERNMENT” checks find themselves working in specified areas for these entities. FREE AND FOR YEARS. YES, SOME PEOPLE LIVE IN THESE SETTING FOR YEARS. They truly don’t understand.
CASE AND POINT: A couple of days ago, I entered a local establishment to purchase my groceries.
Now, what I am going to tell you “BROKE” me down completely. By the time I arrived at my car, I was crying. My husband asked me “What’s wrong?”
I told him, when I was coming out of the store, I gave a bag of our meat away. I said, there was a young lady who was detained because she could NOT afford to buy the meat she needed. She had a couple of young kids with her and she was crying because she had stolen some meat and was being detained.
I ask the person detaining them, Can you please just let them go, I’ll pay for the meat. He stated he could not. I then decided to give her a pack of my meat.
The young lady stated to me: “I was hungry, I am a seasonal worker and I haven’t gotten my “unemployment” check yet, and “WE” (meaning her and the kids she was providing for) had nothing to eat all day.
I told her I am sorry. I said hopefully they will just give you a ticket and let you go home.
PEOPLE LOOK AT YOUR CALENDARS. WHAT DO YOU SEE?
I SEE GOOD WORKING POOR FOLKS STRUGGLING HARDER THAN MOST CAN EVER IMAGINE.
POOR folks do it “ALL” while “RESTING” their “TIRED” bodies in filthy places each night. And to be denied and afraid to eat a proper meal is “SENSELESS”.
MY SUGGESTION: IF YOU CAN TAKE SUCH A LARGE AMOUNT OF MONEY FROM THE WORKING POOR EACH WEEK, EACH MONTH, OR WHAT HAVE YOU, THEN YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO PROVIDE AT MINIMUM, A UTENSIL THAT IS VERSATILE, AND WOULD ALLOW A “DECENT MEAL” FOR US WORKING POOR.
AN “AIR FRYER”
PUT A “BRAND NEW AIR FRYER” IN EVERY ROOM AND THAT WOULD GIVE THOSE WHO WOULD LIKE TO HAVE A “HEALTHY” MEAL A BETTER CHANCE TO CONTINUE TO “STAY HEALTHY” AND “SERVE THE COMMUNITY” WITHOUT WONDERING IF THEY ARE BREAKING ANY “HOUSE” RULES. RULES THAT ARE GOING TO PLACE THEM ON THE STREETS WITH ONLY A TENT.
Kicked out for wanting to use an “ELECTRIC” skillet – To Eat A “Healthy” Meal. – CRUEL. WILL TAKE $750.00 EACH MONTH FOR RENT THOUGH. THIS IS A TRUE EXAMPLE OF HOW POOR PEOPLE ARE BEING DEVASTATED IN THE HOUSING RENTAL SYSTEMS.
Several tenants that I have spoken with believe that if “1-person” mess up by not following “THE RULES” that “EVERYONE” living in this establishment will be forced to move out immediately. This to me, is sad to hear. –ALL ABOUT A COOKING UTENSIL– Any concerns about bugs, no big deal, they will forever exist in these type of places. So cooking a “HEALTHY” meal should be a priority.
When a person or people are afraid like this, and doesn’t really know their rights, those persons/people will do whatever the manager request of them, even if it is “NOT” the right way to conduct business. Like requesting long term dwellers to participate in the cleaning duties.
SOME PEOPLE HAVE BEEN LIVING IN THESE SETTINGS, PAYING RENT, AND PROVIDING “FREE SERVICES” FOR MANY YEARS BECAUSE THEY DON’T KNOW THEIR RIGHTS AND THEY ARE “AFRAID” OF BEING “KICKED OUT” ON THE STREETS.
WHO’S REALLY HELPING WHO?
WELCOME TO THE “WORKING POOR” RABBIT HOLE – A PLACE WHERE THE “WORKING POOR” COME TO DIE. I KNOW, BECAUSE WE JUST RECENTLY LOST A BEAUTIFUL SOUL, WHO LIKE MYSELF, HAD A LEASE AND LIVED HERE. R.I.P.
YOU DO THE MATH!
Anita Williams, Owner
Householddealz.com