During this difficult time in our economy, more families are choosing to travel locally because they can’t afford a luxury vacation abroad. Instead their packing up the kids and taking to the road to explore their own back yards. In order to save money, instead of stopping at high priced hotels; they’re stopping at Mom and Pop motels along the way, saving a ton of money.
Many of the lower grade hotels and motels get a bad wrap, because of wall paper peeling off the wall in the lobby or lack of privacy because of thin walls. You can forget about the amenities, there might not be a microwave or fridge in the room or those fancy shampoos. Sometimes these places will remind you of those road trips you took with your parents or grandparents as a kid. There’s no room service and the pool might not be working but at least it’s cheap. Could there be another reason why these places are so cheap? Ya darn toot’en there’s a reason.
As the hotel industry is hit hard by the economy many hotels are reevaluating how they can make ends meet each month. This has forced many to think outside the box and be creative in order to keep the lights on and their staff paid each week.
For those who are finding themselves without a home they have three options; a shelter, under a bridge or taking one of the many rooms being offered by owners of motels and hotels struggling to survive.
Paul, a forty year old father of four, lives in a two bed, room with his wife at one of these types of motels in the middle of the heartland. “It’s better than living under a bridge or in a shelter, where I’d get no sleep at night for fear of someone hurting my two girls,” he said as we sat down to a cup of coffee. “It’s ironic that I’m forced to live in this place”, he said closing his eyes in shame. Before my life turned ugly, we lived in a beautiful home, had two cars, a good job and money in the bank.”
When asked what type of work Paul had before the bottom dropped out from beneath his feet, this writer was shocked at his response. Paul is one of thousands who is classified as Reservist in the United States Navy and who owned his own consulting company that catered to the defense industry. Due to frequent deployments, six in total, his consulting company failed. Without the added income life as he knew it began to spiral down into an abyss. His credit rating was destroyed, he owes more money than he can make and he’s driving a clunker to get back and forth from his temporary construction job. “At least we have a roof over our heads,” he says with a smile. Paul isn’t alone in his struggle; there are thousands just like him trying to survive after serving his country while in uniform.
Three former National Guardsman and their families are also living in hotels such as these because when they returned home from the combat zone, they lost their homes too. With no jobs available in the area in which they lived, they packed up what little belongings they have and took to the road in search of work. Construction work is great if you can find it in this economy and thank heavens they found it near a military base about to bring in over 25,000 new personnel. Each man feels the same as Paul does, serve your country honorably and return to an ungrateful nation. David’s son is in a wheelchair because he had MS, without a job he has no insurance. Without active duty orders he has no insurance. The only way he can get his son the medical attention he had to have an address in order to qualify for social services assistance; the manager of the motel allows his residents to receive mail to gain the assistance they need. The manager, John, is former Army enlisted during the Gulf War. “Kevin, David, Steven and Paul are all great guys, they help me maintain this place by cutting the grass or fix things when needed. It makes it a win-win for all of us,” said John. “We’ve become a family here over the last couple of years. Ma’am. We watch out for each other and help each other figure out life. We even share our food, our wives drive each other to appointments, even watch the kids so the parents can have some quality time together,” said David.
Theresa, a sparkly female in her mid-forties lives a few doors down from Paul and his family. After a bad car accident that totaled her car, leaving her with three slipped disks, two surgeries, therapy and a ton of medical bills, she lost her job as a secretary in a law firm. “I’ve got skills, but I can’t sit at a desk for long. Can’t find a real job and the only employment I’ve found is as a housekeeper at another hotel down the road”. When asked if she contacted any churches in the area, her response was, “Of course I did, but I was turned down for any assistance. “Actually, I was told that if they helped me, they’d have to help everyone else too,” she said shaking her head in disgust. “I’ve been a devout Catholic my entire life and my own church turned me down when I asked for help,” she added as tears began to trickle down her cheek. At the very moment when you need strength of God and you turn to your church for help and spiritual guidance, only to be turned away, feelings of abandonment rush through your veins like molten lava. You also feel as though God has forsaken you completely, when in fact it’s a member of his flock who has forsaken you because they’ve forgotten what the Bible says about helping those less fortunate then you.
Both Paul and Theresa would love to enjoy the privacy of their own home, but society won’t allow it, their credit report has been destroyed because of unforeseen circumstance. Neither of them have a bank account because any money they would deposit would be snatched by creditors. Money earned weekly is helping them survive day to day expenses for gas, food and shelter; basic necessities of life. By reducing rates to $35-$40 per night, both owners and those who have found themselves homeless and in need of safe shelter from life on the streets, they’re helping each other survive.
There is only problem with this perfect situation; local elected officials, developers, zoning enforcement agents and snobby neighbors are trying to force hotel owners to limit extended stay clients to only 40 days. To this writer this doesn’t make sense. Why would local officials want people living on the streets rather than helping a business owner continue to operate and be able to pay that tax revenue every business owner is required to pay for operating a business? The only thing that comes to mind is developers want the land.
The cost effectiveness for a community to help motels become temporary safe housing, for families who have fallen on hard times, is much cheaper than the alternative – life on the streets. First of all, these families are not drug dealers or hookers; they’re family units vulnerable to becoming victims of criminal activity on the streets. This in itself saves the community money in the long run –fire and police budgets won’t increase due to increase in crime or unnecessary expense in manpower and overtime for uniform officers. Secondly, real estate damage will not occur when these families seek shelter from the cold, whereby saving the banking industry and property values from plummeting even further into the abyss caused by the mortgage disaster. It’s also cheaper than building temporary housing to help keep these families off the streets. It keeps an existing business in operation too.
“At this motel, the lights are always on for those who live here,” said John as I began to walk away from the group. “We are a family and family takes care of family in my book.” He added with a smile.
Unfortunately, not all managers and owners are receptive to this concept to earn revenue to keep their doors open. Instead they would rather have an empty room and no y revenue in the cash box rather than open their doors to those in need. This will be the downfall of those hotels when no one is able to pay for those high priced hotel rooms they so carefully safeguarded throughout the year.
Until we as American’s take responsibility for our neighbors and offer a helping hand, the situation described above is going to get worse. If churches and community groups would understand a renovated motel with supportive services is the best option for these families instead of turning them away when they ask for help. Each parish would be able to raise more money to help those in need if only they’d offer help to those within their own community. Their flock is begging for their embrace. The hotel industry is begging for their help too.
No comments:
Post a Comment