How an overloaded homelessness system left this family living in their car

Wayne hands over a toy car to his son, A, at a park in Mid-City. The 4-year-old rolls it across a bench near the playground and watches it fall onto the pavement below.

“He'll find fun in most things,” Wayne said. “He’s pretty happy all the time. Nothing really bothers him very much — just going to bed.”

Bedtime, recently, has been a lot harder for A, who’s on the autism spectrum. Since mid-October, Wayne, alongside his partner and their son, have been staying in their car. (We’re using A’s first initial and Wayne’s first name only to protect their family’s privacy.)

“He does not like it, he hates it,” Wayne said. “The only way he'll sleep in the car is if he's literally on, usually my lap.”

They’re one of the many Los Angeles families who have struggled to find housing over the past several months as options dry up. And now it’s likely to get even harder for families like theirs, in the face of more funding cuts.

Wayne and his family lost their apartment in June after falling behind on their rent. They stayed in motels across L.A. county with about 40 days worth of vouchers — 32 days from the CalWorks program and 8 days through 211.

Despite touting progress on helping unhoused individuals over the last year, the city and county Los Angeles has not made progress on helping unhoused families.

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Elly Yu

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LAist

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But they haven’t been able to get any more since, and the family shelters they turned to have been full. They pawned off some items, like a guitar, to help stay indoors, but that only helped in the short-term. He says it’s been a struggle to find a safe place to sleep with a young child.

“The first time we slept in the car it was really, really hot, and he ended up with heat rashes all over his back,” he said.

They had money saved up

In April of last year, Wayne was laid off from his job in A/V tech support. His partner has a chronic illness so he’s the sole earner. Up until then, he had saved up for a rainy day situation. He’d invested in retirement, and even had some stock.

“I’m a dad now — obviously it’s such a different way of thinking about the short term, future term, long term,” he said.

He had $30,000 saved up, enough to stay afloat for about six months to eight months… but then, he couldn’t find a job. By November of last year, they had run out of money.

“It's been awful. Most of the jobs now are like part-time or temporary positions,” Wayne said. The jobs didn’t offer enough to sustain a one-bedroom apartment in L.A.

Wayne's family got a stack of papers to resources from a recent visit to PATH, a homeless services provider. Providers say they haven't been able to offer housing assistance to new families seeking help because of recent cuts.

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Elly Yu

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LAist

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In order to reasonably afford a one-bedroom in the L.A. area, workers need to earn at least $40.02 per hour, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

Aside from the job searching process, Wayne has spent most of his days trying to find a meal or two for his family — and on the phone trying to find any other resources. He’ll also take his son to the park or the library.

“The most important thing is trying to make sure he basically is comfortable as much as possible, that he's [having] fun, that he's not really understanding what's going on — which I think we're doing a good job [at] so far,” Wayne said.

Trying to find housing

Recently, they went to a family solutions center at PATH, a homeless services provider in LA. There was no housing assistance available, so they gave Wayne a list of other places to try. He and his family had already tried those resources.

Wayne’s car has a stack of papers like these ones, pointing to laundry services and food banks and Medi-Cal resources.

Sasha Morozov, regional director of services at PATH, says that’s what her agency has had to do in recent months, as they’ve been unable to take on new families due to recent funding cuts. She said they’ve had to change their strategy from trying to get people housed imminently to connecting them to other resources — such as childcare or school-based help.

“ That really has shifted, not because people don't want to help, but the resources aren't there. It’s heartbreaking.”

Recent funding cuts include a 71% reduction in state dollars that have helped families experiencing homelessness. Morozov said she’s worried the situation will get even worse with new federal cuts as well as a proposed cut of $300 million to county funding for homeless services next fiscal year. LAist reported in August that homelessness among families with children has been rising.

Data from 211 LA show that calls for emergency shelter from January this year to early September were up by more than 20,000 calls, compared to the same time period last year.

For Wayne and his family, they’re now looking to move out of state. After a year and a half of job searching, he recently got a job offer from a company out in the Midwest. Though he’s grown up in California, he says he has to leave.

He said he was disheartened to see the mayor and other officials tout recent homelessness count numbers.

“It felt like a slap in the face,” he said. “Most people can't afford a one-bedroom on a full-time job here. There's nothing to celebrate. Everyone is closer to homelessness than they are to stability. Most people who are working class, especially young people, probably 40 and under, cannot afford a one bedroom by themselves.”

His new job is supposed to start in January. He said as soon as he can save up enough money for a security deposit and rent a new place out of the state, they’ll be driving out there.

Wayne says his son doesn't understand what's going to happen next, but says he'll adjust quickly.

“As long as he has, like, ice cream and the snacks that he wants, he's happy to go anywhere,” he said. “He loves when we drive around. I already know on the road he would absolutely love to see all the change in the scenery and he's gonna be excited.”