"When he needed help most, so many turned their backs — the restaurant, the government, most of his friends."

This is just one example and shows the real reasons why homelessness is growing in America. COVID 19 and the wildfires have made it worse.



Replace Lello's name with someone from California; the basic facts and situation is the same.

"Still wearing his uniform, Lello left the restaurant where he’d worked for two years, unsure of what was next. He’d been waiting tables since he was a teenager. He often picked up extra shifts and could always scrimp by. He’d never had to rely on food stamps or unemployment."

"But now, as he waited for Florida’s backlogged unemployment system to send money, weeks turned into months. His meager savings dried up, and he could no longer afford rent or his car. Overnight, he went from having a roof over his head to living in a flimsy tent purchased with his last $75."

“I don’t understand what I did wrong. Why me?” Lello said of the safety nets that failed him. “I had just lost all hope in everything.”

"Most days, he was awake by 7 a.m. , searching for a convenience-store bathroom to freshen up and wash a shirt. He’d head to the food bank and haul away a big brown bag of pasta, sauce and other things that require pots, pans and electricity. He gave most of it away, keeping peanut butter and granola bars — enough to get by for a day."

"He made rookie mistakes. Once, raccoons tore through his supply of bars, bagels and crackers. He learned it’s best to be first in the food-bank line, and it’s usually too hot to be in a tent before nightfall."

"He spent much of the day begging for money, food or odd jobs on the roadside."

“6 weeks with no help. Please,” his sign read. Each week, as he waited for long-overdue unemployment checks, he scrawled a new number, until it’d been nearly 12 weeks. Most people didn’t stop: “I think the most I ever got was one dollar and a bag of oranges.”

Read the full article at:
https://apnews.com/ad48b0f475cbfc8429dffea9e1d46df0