The Myth of the Welfare Queen and the Dead Beat Dad

 Since Ronald Reagan began to use the term Welfare Queen given to women on welfare, the minds of the middle class are on poor women. The men must have abandoned these welfare Queens so they must keep having these babies to get more money. Lock the dead beat dads up and make them pay is the Conservative view point.

First of all maybe 5% of women on welfare see it as a life long career.  Even the 5% of them maybe 1% of them have a bunch of kids. 

The majority of women on cash assistance use it as a temporary situation and quickly find employment. They may remain on food stamps and medical assistance for a little bit longer but eventually they are free of Government.


I remember the time I was free from caseworkers losing the paperwork and nosey middle class people looking for steaks in my grocery carts and rude behavior by people who must have issues who are jealous they can't get food stamps. Truth is Middles, we don't care one way or another about what you think or rather you like us or not.  However, we do care about our neighbors and peers.  Welfare is to be used temporary. You should be on cash no more than five years. Poor women do not tolerate laziness. 

Where are the fathers? In the child's life. It's an Urban myth that the fathers are gone. He may not be with the mother but he hasn't deserted his child or children.  The father's who are not in their Children's lives most of them are dead or in Prison. He may be gone but his family is not so even though he is now longer there his family makes sure the child knows who daddy is or was. 

Women with four or more kids are not welfare queens with four baby daddies most of the time they have one dad and are in long term relationships. Not parents work, they are free of government.  The other group are women who sleep with and get pregnant by ball players or Rappers for that child support.  They are not on welfare either. Their kids may have different dads.  The third type are the wives and girlfriends of ball players and Rappers. They are supported by their men.

I was on welfare in the early 80s. I was a young woman of 19 with one child.  Got off cash in 1987 and food and medical in 1991.  I have six kids three of them are adopted problem is I can't remember which three. Their mother was my oldest friend and she stopped providing care so I took them in.  I remained free of government until 2010 when I became ill. I was never a welfare Queen. 

Cash assistance in PA last received a raise when Ronald Reagan was in his first term in 1982. You receive $316 a month with one child and $98 with each additional child. Anyone who thinks this is an incentive to have more children has issues. 

You want to scream about welfare how about you hold the programs that Taxpayers pay for do what they are supposed to give young mothers skills that help them get jobs like Resumes, and interviewing skills but in reality they are baby sitting adults. You are paying for not only the Program but also Child Care and Transportation. Hold these people accountable.  

There really is no such thing as welfare queens because who can afford that.

Those that think churches should lose tax exemption should try living in the hood

I have heard a lot of people who want the church to lose their tax exempt status.  These folks never lived in the Hood, nor had to ever depend on Charity.  The majority of help in the ghettos come from the Salvation Army and St. Vincent's De Paul.  Both are Religious institutions.

Small churches, like City Reach, have outreaches with the poor.  They reach out to Convicted Felons,  people who are addicted to drugs, people trying to leave the Street gangs.  They do so out of love for their fellow human beings.

Last year when I went through issues with my health and losing my home the church women helped me from Pastor Melissa and Miss Jeanne who helped me clean my house to Miss Pam who took me to purchase my furniture at Goodwill. This is only some of the help I received.

Food Banks, clothing drives, Soup kitchens, and toy drives are mostly done by Christian churches.

There are no Grocery stores in my neighborhood.  We have a butcher shop that sells food that is not edible. We do not have a bank either.  The Farmers market comes on Saturday but a lot of people have to work.

Ask a former addict trying to stay clean off of Crack or heroin that feel so unlovable what Real Christian love is? Ask someone who left the gang but continue to live the Thug lifestyle, to hear positive things about you.  Instead of hearing negative things as they tell you about the Lord they serve.

City Reach Braddock offers a Friday meal with their service. A lot of Homeless people eat there.

So my question to people who do not want the Church to be tax exempt what are you doing for the poor.  The United Way doesn't help the poor the Salvation Army does.

Raising My Kids in the Hood During the Wars

Yesterday was one of those rare days that I heard from all my adult children.  They are busy living their lives and raising their families. I thought about raising them in the Hood.

I was a poor single parent, who lived a lot of places although in the same zip code.  No matter what part of 15104 we lived, gun violence and the drug trade was always there. Sitting outside gunshots ringing out and everyone hitting the ground. My two and a half year son witnesses a drug bust across the street; He told everyone about the "Ninjas breaking into the Broken House" describing the undercover Task Force police officers dressed in black ninja outfits pulling a raid on the Crack house. We had to worry about the color of clothes they put on their body we were not allowed to have red clothes on because the gang members would threaten the kids.

As they grew up and started school I worried about the fighting and bullying that happened so often at schools as well as racism from some teachers at school.

The fights got worse in highschool but as a parent I was terrified of the children outside especially the boys. You not only have to worry about your sons and daughters being shot you have to worry about your kids entering the Drug trade or becoming a member of a gang. I was lucky my kids were nerds and preferred the company of nerds.

There were plenty of time when outside violence did not threaten our kids; Trips to Kennywood Park,  a local amusement park, Church Picnics, Christmas celebrations,  and Trick or Treating on Halloween.

The hardest thing for a parent happened after a homicide when the children and teenagers would beg you to move but you knew that you could not move anywhere else.

Yes growing up in the Hood is tough but it is home.

The Deserving Poor VS The Undeserving Poor

There have been two types of poor people in the eyes of the middle class and wealthy. It's been that way since the Middle Ages.  The Deserving poor are the single parents, children,  the sick, and the disabled.  The Undeserving poor are able body people who refuse to work.  No one, not even the poor, want lazy people to be rewarded for not doing anything to help themselves. This being said, some abled body people cannot work because they made a mistake.  They committed a felony and paid for it. Thanks to the box they can no longer get a job.

I work with the mentally ill who have committed felonies. It is difficult help them find jobs. Most of them end up on SSI because they have mental Illness.


What about the other convicted felons who can not find a job? They were young and dumb when they broke the law. Now they are older and wiser; they want to work but no one will give them a second chance. They have no choice but to return to crime to survive.

These young men and women are eager to do anything and end up being wonderful employees.

No I'm not suggesting that a grocery store hire someone who committed Retail theft, but they can be hired into a position that doesn't involve cash or merchandise.

My employer hires convicted felons unless they were involved with abuse or neglect do to the fact that we care for our consumers in their homes.

Employers should ask felons about their crime and even ask for references from Parole Officers, Community Leaders and Pastors that can shed light on who that person is today.

We also need to make sure that after they serve their Sentence and they are now law abiding citizens the record should go away.

People are foolish to believe that hiring Felons is being tough on crime when in reality their actions are fueling the crime rate because when a person who can't get a job will return to crime to feed themselves.

I am not asking you to coddle ex felonies but give them a shot you may be surprised. He or she may turn out to be the most loyal employee you ever had.

Infant Mortility and Poor Women

Yesterday my daughter who is eight months pregnant received a visit from the Healthy Start Project. It’s a federal program designed to cut the Infant Mortality rate among poor and African American women. The Program educates poor women about how to keep their babies from being low birth weight and keep them alive for the first year. Twenty-six years ago my daughter was enrolled in this program as a research subject for the Project. It was called the same thing.


I got to thinking about Infant Mortality and Poverty since impoverished women seem to have a problem with low birth rates and infant mortality. Not one article written by doctors could explain to me why. They could only guess. The truth is Poor women do NOT trust people who do research or even middle-class people. We are not going to just open up to people who want to study us. I wonder how middle-class people would feel if we researched them and treated them like we were monkeys in a cage.




How do we know that poor women lose more babies than rich women? As for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), we know the rules. Most of us Grandmothers remember putting our kids to bed on their bellies, but in 1995, when my youngest daughter was born, we were taught to put babies on their backs. We did it, because just like mothers all over the world, we feared SIDS.

It remains that way. I never advised my daughters to put my grandchildren on their backs because I wanted them to survive.


I am weary of researchers linking everything to poverty. Lots of things cannot be blamed on poverty alone. I am also leery of African-American women being lumped together. If you are lumping women together by race and not dividing them up by income level, how can you be sure they are all impoverished? The  majority of African American women are NOT impoverished and I doubt that the researchers know how many poor white women they interviewed if they weren't classified by white.


  The same with Latinos every Latino is not poor. The only factor that poor people have in common that may be different is stress, but mostly we are stressed because we have no money or because of the violence in our communities. However, middle-class people still seemed more stressed because a lot of them are stuck in jobs that they hate




 

Where do we go? The Gentrifaction night mare

I remember living in Hawkins Village, one of Allegheny County's housing projects, I noticed several people who were not from the Braddock area. Most of them came from the Hill District. These folks were angry that BLACK people forced them from their homes. They were outraged because most of these people were young and grew up in the Burb.  The Rents went up and the Property Levels went up and they were priced out of their life long homes. They were asked why they lived in Hawkins Village?
"Because its Gentrification Proof." They said "We can't live like that again."
"Braddock is Gentrification proof and has been for years. We made sure of that." I said.


Years earlier several people were trying to buy homes cheap so they can sell them to middle class people and force us out. They wanted to develop the area.  We allowed the crime rate get bad and yes we frightened the Middle Class people so that they would leave and never come back. We successfully lowered the Property rates so that if the prices tripled we would still be able to own a home.  The same was done to North Braddock as well.

                                      Hawkins Village where I lived from 2000 until 2005








Middle class people you moving in is NOT necessary a good thing and as long as you move in and remember where you are moving too that is fine but remember YOU can live anywhere you want and we can not. I don't know who told you that Gentrification is good for us but its NOT.


You moving here doesn't have to be a bad thing. We welcome anyone no matter what race or income level but you have to remember that we will not allow you to take over. We don't put any numbers on how many can live here as long as you remember this we will NOT be pushed out.


East Liberty was another neighborhood in Pittsburgh that underwent Gentrification this time by White People. The people displaced from that neighborhood were no more angrier or sad then those displaced from Homewood (Again from black middle class). They had to go.


So where are we supposed to go Middle class people? You can live practically any where you like? Why must you push us out. Now we are overcrowded.


My friend Carol shared this link with me about my City, Pittsburgh PA. This will tell you about how the City of Pittsburgh kicked out the poor.

What About Our Issues?

I have either been involved with or have been heavily recruited into joining some causes.

My main cause is urban violence and other urban issues like hunger, homelessness, lack of affordable grocery stores, etc.  When I mention this to the very people who want me to help them, they tell me it's not as important to them. This is one of the things I hear: “It's not real. Black people do not kill each other; it's white cops doing it.” This comes from Black Lives Matter.

“What about the black babies killed by abortion?” comes from black pro-lifers.

“We need to defeat Trump first,” said one member of the Trump Resistance.

I'm tired of hearing that my issue doesn't matter. We are dying daily and you think we don't matter.

Sit me out of all your causes. I'm too busy fighting for my people.

Protestors

Preparing for my Newest Grandchild

 My youngest daughter is about to have her second child, another girl, and while I am excited and busy trying to get what the baby needs; I am also wondering if she will live in peace or will the violence ends. It's not like I'm not used to this type of thinking, it's not much different than when my own children were little.

More people are becoming Activists than when my own kids were little. People, mostly women, who are using their anger and Social Media to stop the violence and get justice for those murdered.

We are Stop The Violence and we actively support the families of people murdered across racial and income levels. We also work to get young people to report what they see and also trying to remove the no snitching rule. This rule and fear has to end. No one is being tortured now and this rule is hurting us not helping us.

It's time we start living in a non violent world and start loving each other.

Where are the men?

My son and grandson

 Today I read a post on my facebook page by a black Conservative who read one of those silly research subjects about poverty written by people who have never met poor people let alone is been to the ghetto. This study says that poor people who get married escape poverty.  This may be somewhat true but it's mostly wrong.

Yes I believe in marriage and would like to see more people in the Hood would get married.

The main reason why people do not get married is because the men are gone.  They are dead or serving life in Prison without the possibility of parole.

Men started killing each other off in the late 80s and this trend hasn't stopped.  One Homicide costs the hood at least two men one to the grave yard and one to the state pen. What people do not understand that a lot of these men left wives behind.

There are a lot of people who have good ideas but they can't tell us how to bring our men back from the Cemetery or out of the Prisons.

Homosexuality is up in the Hood not because of sex but because straight women are lonely and due to the male shortage they will look for love with females.  Again people preach but can Nnot bring our men back.

The decent men like my son leave the Hood and are heavily involved with their Children's lives.

You don't have to be selling drugs or committing crimes to be shot and killed by attending a party or cook out.

So Conservatives unless you can come up with a way to raise the dead or send non violence shut up about marriage.

Democrats and Republicians acting like Bloods and Crips

Today as I watched in horror as some Political nut job shot a Senior Republican Congressman.  I also watched several friends react with threats and anger at all Democrats.

  I really didn't see much of a difference between so called Normal Americans who act just like people in the Hood after a family member or friend is murdered. They react in violence.  Yes it's the US VS THEM mentality.  

The Truth is Gabby Gifford's was shot by a Crazy person who identified as a Republican. Rep Scalace was shot by a person who identified as a Socialist.  

I hear people shout things like "all Liberals should be shot because they are Un American"

All Conservatives deserve violence because they have violent ideas." Both said to their Perspective groups that get them likes on Social media but to me is fuel to the fire. 

Do you know what the Congressional members of the Republican caucus did when Gifford was shot.  They cried and prayed.  They were outraged.  Today the Democratic members of Congress cried and prayed.  Most were at another ball field huddled together. My Representative Mike Doyle said they felt helpless and wanted to protect their fellow Congressmen.  Despite their Political Jabs they are friends. 

To many people can't agree to disagree without violence or anger. I am guilty of it myself. 

I understand the Hood they have reasons to be angry and they have the right to be angry at BOTH parties for bad policies that put us in the position we are in. We take it out on each other. People die every day because of anger.  

We are working with our young people teaching them that words DO NOT kill you and it's not worth killing for and going to Prison. It's very hard to do when they see Political people act the same way. What do you have to be angry about? Why can't you just get along? You can't talk about us unless you learn to control your anger.  Both Liberals and Conservatives do it.  

Maybe everyone should take a page out of people who serve in Congress and love each other. 

My heart goes out to everyone shot today but NOT for the shooter.  

The Mass Shooting no one talks about

 On March 9, 2016, while a family were having a backyard cookout in Wilkinsburg, PA.  At 11:00 two men fired at the people one man firing a hand gun forcing the people to run on the porch.  The second Ma began picking the victims off with an automatic weapon shooting eight people and killing six including an unborn baby.
The victims were all members of the same family and they were identified as: Jerry Shelton age 35, His cousin Tina Shelton age 37, Brittney Powell, sister of Jerry Powell, Charlotta Powell the pregnant sister of Brittney and Jerry and Shads Mahone another cousin.

Police arrested Chevron Shelton and Robert Thomas for the shooting. The motive being revenge for another murder in 2013 that they suspected one of the victims Lawrence Shelton of committing.

This happens all to often in the Hood.  One murder often leads to more as the loved ones of the first homicide kills suspects of that homicide.
The suspects are in Allegheny County Jail and are awaiting trail.

This story didn't get the attention of other stories because the victims were ghetto.
The Middle Class black community continue to be embarrassed by people who live in the hood. The white Liberals are to afraid of being labeled racist that they were OK ignoring the deaths of six people.

This is a local story in fact it happened in the town where I work.
I will never forget this story or the victims of this horrific mass shooting.

It's so hard to say Goodbye

Thursday is the fifth anniversary of my Best Friend Beth's death.  She overdosed on heroin about two weeks before she actually passed away.  I didn't know she was doing heroin.

I knew Beth since I was a small child but because she was 10 years older than me she and I didn't become friends until I was 25 years old. 

I moved in with her and shared the rent.  We went through a lot together good and bad 

Beth was a Bougsie girl and I was as ghetto as I can be.  She used to lecture me about always fighting by telling me only trash fights in the street.  However,  she did enjoy using my muscle when she needed to.  We girls enjoyed sitting around the table in her back yard.  We laughed and shared our lives together as women. There were many over the years of all races,  ethnic backgrounds and income levels. Beth had that sort of personality.

Other black women didn't understand how a black woman was named Beth so they would call her Bev, which drove her crazy.  One good friend called her Beffers and my sister called her Betty just to drive her nuts.

She died on June 15, 2012. I was devastated and the pain I felt that day continues to this day.  I'm left with a lot of emotions.  I was supposed to protect her but she still got hooked on drugs.  I was sad because of the friendship I lost and a companion that I loved. I was also worried about her soul and where she was spending eternity.

I found out two years later that it was heroin and I grew angry at the woman who got her hooked on that poison.  She, herself, died of an overdose in 2015.

I hate heroin and I hate the fact that I can't just go see Beth and talk to her.  I feel guilty because I didn't know she was on it.  I was also angry at her for using that drug in the first place.

I will always miss my best friend. I have a new Best Friend now but I will never forget Beth.

Why Do White Liberals ignore the problems in the Hood? Why do Black Middle Class Liberals deny that that any problem exists?

A young man posing with a gun

 

I have had this question on my mind for at least 26 years. Why do White Liberals ignore that the Inner city has this high homicide rate?

These white liberals will scream for Gun control laws from the Mountain top  if a mass shooting happens in the Suburbs.  I wondered if these same liberals would scream about gun control when we were the victim of a mass shooting.

On March 9, 2016 in Wilkinsburg, PA two gun man slaughtered 5 people and since one of the women were pregnant they were charged with six homicides.

I was surprised that the only people who posted this story or even mentioned it were Conservative Whites and Hood Whites. As for the Black people they commented. Black people from the hood and black Conservatives expressed outrage and sympathy for the family and joined the chorus that we needed to do something.  Black Liberals blamed the white man and even the police.

The international press carried this story and even some Conservative press covered it. Black magazines like The Root, and The Griot—two online black magazines covered it. It was on these sites that the people of the hood saw black middle class Liberals tell people who lived in the hood that they should be ashamed for  telling people where they lived. They told us that black on black crime was a myth that we were foolish enough to believe this myth.  The people in the hood grew angry and refused to help groups like Black Lives Matter during their protests we weren’t going to join their protest when they denied that we were killing ourselves.

We watched as black Middle class young people called people racist or threatened to get them fired from their jobs if they did not stick to the story that black on black crime was a myth and that white cops were killing these black men.

We watched in horror as black middle class Liberals told our children that they had better not snitch on someone black. They really have no idea how it feels to watch several people die every year during the Killing season. They really have no idea how we need to start snitching when it comes to people committing homicide. We were angry that they would do that to our children.

So to the White Liberal—the black middle class Liberal is only a small percentage of the people likely to vote Democratic. They will vote for the Democrat no matter who is running.  The black from the Hood may not vote because he/she feels both parties are bad for them.  The other 10% of Black people are Conservative and tend to vote Republican.

Unless White Liberals stop listening to the small amount of people in your party and start listening to the larger community of people who live in these communities you will continue to lose.

To the white liberal Black on Black crime is NOT racist it’s a reality that millions of people every day have to live with.  It’s not a myth. White cops are not coming into poor black hoods and killing black men and setting up other black men. The fact that you believe this stupid foolish mess makes me wonder about you

You should never ignore gun violence because the victim and killer are the same color. You would never ignore a white killing another white. Why would you ignore us?

A Street gang member with his gun

Just Another Day in The Hood

people attending a funeral

Today on my way to church, I was walking through the Hood.  

First I walk by three drunks stumbling out of the bar.  Talking real loud and singing.  Young people were sitting outside smoking weed with their music blasting. Couples were fighting about cheating and baby daddy's and baby Mama's. Because this happens every day, I do not pay attention. 

I could see the local funeral home and because of the number of youth I know it was someone young. I search my mind and remembered earlier this week a 26 year old Jitney driver was murdered. The tee shirts worn by the family and friends that bear the name of the deceased and the Sunrise and Sunset. I felt sad for the family,  his child who is only a toddler, and for our whole Community  This is something we can never pretend it's nothing just being hood.  This can never become normal but sadly it has. 

Fist fight 

The teenagers outside and even inside of the Church want to fight each other.  Women fist fighting over kids.  No one sees that one leads to another.  What starts as a fight ends up with the funeral of one and Life in Prison for the other. It's a lose lose situation for us as a people. 

Poverty through History

I'm in the middle of doing a research project of how the poor lived during the Medieval times until the Victorian ages. 
During the early Middle Ages poor people relied on Charity. Most rich believed that giving to the poor was a good thing and their Christian duty but the problem were most people was poor and they didn't know where to start.

The Peasants lives were harsh.  They were overworked,  over taxed,  and dirty.  They paid a high rent for both their house and the land. The houses they lived in were made of mud,  straw,  and manure.  They were hot in the summer and cold in the winter.

They had to take an oath of allegiance to the Lord. This meant the family had to pay high taxes and do all the physical labor.  To break this oath resulted in severe punishment and was often fatal.

Due to horrible sanitation conditions hygiene was impossible which made them Ill and caused danger.

What the Lord of the manor did not take the Catholic Church took in the form of high tithes. Often they did not have cash and needed to pay in produce.  The Catholic Church became wealthy off of the backs of the poor.

I will continue this series daily.  This is very interesting.

Hunger and Hunger Emergencies

Every poor family knows hunger and has experienced food emergencies. 

Food emergencies happen before hungry. A food emergency is less than 24 hours of food. At this point, the adults in the family must locate meals via the Food Banks. This doesn't mean the problem is solved because often there are not any food banks in your area. 

The next thing poor people then must do is to alert family and friends. Tell a poor person that you have no food in the house and watch them come through with flying colors. They don't give you a lecture; they just go to their cupboards and bring you food. 

Hunger is the worst thing a human can go through in life. Hunger is torture, slow and painful. First come the hunger pains that everyone experiences. This lasts for about a day or day and a half. You began to be very tired and listless. Your eyes become dull and a feeling of desperation overcomes you. 

Good people who do not usually steal will shoplift food or steal. I have experienced this several times in the past. One time I told my friend in Rochester, New York that I was hungry and she sent me food by ordering food from Schwan's truck. She made me promise to inform her when I get to my reserves: rice, potatoes, and pasta. 

Gisele Fetterman, the First Lady of Braddock, co-founded Food Rescue 412. They work with local grocery stores. Instead of throwing food away that they can no longer sell, they donate the food to Food Rescue 412. The group then picks up the food and delivers it to poor families. People reach out to Gisele all the time and Gisele will deliver the food. 

How does a family on Food Stamps become hungry? Most of the time it happens because their caseworker loses their paperwork. Then the family may have to wait three weeks. This puts poor people in the position of deciding between food and bills. 

Hunger and food emergencies are the worst. 

We do not have proper grocery stores and must purchase our food from places like Family Dollar or Dollar Stores because we don't drive and can't afford a Jitney. 

It's Hard to Stop selling drugs and Fighting

I sold drugs from the age of 14 until the age of 48. I fought from the age of 5 until 52. I struggle with both till this day especially fighting. 

Today I had an issue at work and this back stabbing female Causal decided to spread rumors about me and lie on me.  

I was angry and wanted to quit my job and go fight this woman but I didn't.  

I am ghetto with a capital G and decided and thought of Revenge.  I knew I only had to make a few phone calls and we would have fought her bad. 

Three people stopped me from fighting and they were my Pastor,  my Best Friend,  and my teacher. 

While I was in my anger faze I was talking to my boss over the phone and she told me I need my job and not to allow anyone to cost me my income. 

"I don't need my job I have ways to make money. " that was literally the first time in five years that it entered my mind to sell drugs. 

I wasn't being mean or angry but I meant it.  I will NOT stay at a job just because. I would rather sell drugs then be unhappy.  Now the truth is I would find another job before I resorted to selling drugs but it bothered me that it came to my mind so quickly. 

I'm a Christian who is struggling to change my life but when I'm angry,  scared,  or hurt I think of either one or both. 

Slum Lords Preying on the Poor

I wrote in yesterday's blog about becoming homeless. Today I'm going to write about Slumlords, a problem I've had to deal with several times in my life.

A slumlord in the ghetto doesn't care about his property. He doesn't care about the safety of his tenant,  he only cares about his/her money. He comes at the beginning of the month for his money and that's it.  The City,  borough, or Township is usually after him about the condition of the property because he doesn't worry about cutting the grass or getting rid of the weeds. He also doesn't pay the taxes all the time.

I've been unlucky enough to have had several landlords who were slum lords.  I'm going to write about my experience with each one.

The first one owned a triplex and sealed the window seals.  He never fixed anything that broke or blamed everything on the tenant. The cement outside steps needed to be fixed they were a tripping hazard.  My daughter tripped and fall down the steps and had a seizure. This was such a bad experience I moved to public housing because I needed a safe place for my children and I to live.  This one paid his taxes though.

The second one literally had one tenant move out while another moved in. He never fixed anything and had a problem buying new water heaters. The water heater broke every three months and he would replace it with old water heaters  He did not like paying his taxes either. I had a hole in my kitchen floor that my daughter fell into and was literally stuck there.

I moved from that one to a Boarding House run by a friend.  Well he got hooked on crack and didn't pay the bills so all the Utilities got shut off.

The last man was the worse.  He was told several hundred times that cats,  raccoons, and other wild animals were coming into the house.  He did nothing about it choosing instead to blame the cats on me. I got called the Cat woman despite only having two cats.

He tried to illegally evict me sending me a text telling me I had two days to move.

He had the water shut off and the meter taken out. He then called the Health Department and Children Youth and Families,  the Child Welfare department of the state.

How does this happen? I don't have any credit at all.  I never pass a credit check and I do not want credit cards to help.  I also have no idea about managing money I'm poor there is never any money to manage.
The property is usually cheap and it's in 15104 which is my requirement.

I live in a place where the property is cheap and well maintained.  She fixes what needs fixed and follows all laws.  More than likely I will stay for years because she's a real landlord.

Homeless for Christmas

Homeless family 

Last year I had an issue when my Landlord, if you can call him that, tried to illegally evict me. 

I fell behind in my rent due to no income for two months. I could have gotten help with the rent but he wanted me out. He, however, did not choose to take me to the magistrate and legally evict me. He had my water shut off and the meter removed and then called the Health Department on me. 

That did not work but I still did not get an eviction notice. I was looking but was unable to find a place I could afford and one big enough for my daughter, granddaughter, and myself. 

We did get our day in court and worked through the Court System. Yet he still never enforced the eviction. In the end of October the Landlord called Child Protective Services on my daughter. After investigating they found that he was a slum lord and he is now in the legal system for endangering the welfare of a child. 

They also told us to pack what we could take and told us that we were going to a hotel. On December 1, 2016 we moved into a motel on Route 30 in North Versailles. We were now officially homeless. 

It was not easy. My co-worker and supervisor made sure I got to work. There were buses but only in the morning and evening on weekdays. I work the weekend and evenings. 

Although we had a place to stay that was warm with running water, we were stuck there because we do not have a car. We were supposed to get rides but they were unreliable.

We looked at a place in North Braddock on Bell Avenue. It is a nice three-bedroom duplex that I can afford. We told the Landlady we were interested and made arrangements to sign the lease two days before Christmas. Two days before the lease was going to be signed, CYF (our Child Protective Agency) told us they would not be paying for the hotel anymore. They informed me the night before that I had to be out. 

I didn't know what to do or where to go. I called my daughter and she said we could stay with her. I also got assistance from my church and my boss. We moved in with my daughter for about 9 days. We moved into our place on New Years Day. We lost everything and had no furniture. However, my Pastor found a Refrigerator for me. We had that and the Air Mattresses my friend Carol gave us. I got my furniture from my sister in Christ we went to the Goodwill in Monroeville and got two chairs,  and a couch for $10 a peice. I also got a lot of donations and from the Free Store in Braddock. 

I was very stressed out during the entire year and this was no different when I was homeless.  How was I going to get back and forth to work? How were we going to look for a place to live? What about my property? 

I also discovered my daughter was pregnant with her second child which added more stress to both of us. 

After I was informed that CYF were no longer going to pay for my hotel I broke down at the church and couldn't think.  My boss literally had to think for me.  She had me call my daughter who told me again that I could stay with her.