What happens when you lose your home at 72 in Amesbury, Massachusetts?

When you become homeless, you kind of revert into this solitude. It's humiliating. I find, especially the women, we don't say anything to anyone about it. My name is Judith and I've been living in my car at 72 years old since the end of February. - Good morning. I'd like a medium sized black. - I’ll be right with you. - Okay. I'm not always this sweet sounding, either. It's a facade. The first thing I do when I get up and start my day, I go and get a cup of coffee. and then I head across the street to the cemetery and organize my car for the day. Now, St Mary's Cemetery is a local place where a lot of homeless people come to. I've seen a woman my age who is currently living in the trees over here. I'm a working visual artist. I have been my whole life. Once a woman is single and aging, she has no safety net. None. For the last five, six years of my work life, even with my Social Security, I was not able to pay rent with that combined income. - What were you doing? - I was working as a cashier at the Market Basket. It's not safe living like this when you're older. You have to drive everywhere you need to go. If I'm going to have something to eat, I have to go someplace to get food. If I need to use the bathroom, I have to get in the car and drive someplace. We're at my storage container, and this is where I had the movers bring all of my belongings. A lifetime of work and collecting, And this is it. I kept my drafting table, and I tried to keep it open because I was hoping that maybe I could work a little bit from here. But it's ridiculous. Impossible. This is the cabinet where I keep a lot of my stored goods when I'm home. This is my son with his first tuna. And this is my children when they were little. And this is something my daughter made in school. And here's our family portrait. Here I am on the Rowley site at apartments.com, and there's one rental available and it's for $3,500. My budget, pushing it, is $2,000. No one is moving anywhere because there's no place to move to. I’m just like crying all the time. It's ridiculous. Just ridiculous. I don't know. I guess I expect more of myself. This is another adventure. I'm just too old for it anymore. I really understand that when you're in the middle of something, it feels like it's never going to end. But, you know, I can't find a place. I can't find a place. I've exhausted my resources. I looked in southern Maine, I looked in southern New Hampshire, I looked in northern New Hampshire. I really looked at everything. I need help. Welcome things. Welcome my cooking supplies to our new home. It's not quite real yet. I just expect it to go away at any second Is that you my Pye? Yes, it is. It is so nice to have you living with me again. Every morning I've had my coffee and sat here looking at where I am and everything. I just cry. I just cry and cry and be grateful. Very grateful.

Channel: GBH News

Views: 3,388,016

Keywords: Boston, older women, homeless woman, rents too damn high, housing crisis, massachusetts, gbh, gbh news, evcition, evicted, evicted massachusetts, massachusetts housing crisis, MA housing crisis, homeless MA, homeless women, living in a car, newburyport, newburyport ma, newburyport massachusetts, amesbury, amesbury massachusetts, amesbury MA, UMassBoston, gerontology institute, Community Teamwork Inc., pricedout, GBH News Priced Out, justiceinaging, umass boston, justice in aging

Id: wXigmmgo1kA

Length: 6min 42sec (402 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 09 2023