Project Dignity

Project Dignity
serving with dignity, humility, compassion & love

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Q. Why are people who live in motels considered to be homeless? They have a roof over their heads, don't they?
A. People living in motels meet the Federal definition of homelessness, which states that anyone living in "inadequate nighttime housing" is considered to be homeless. Families, often with 4 or more members, must all conduct their daily lives in one room, with a dismaying lack or privacy, dignity or safety. The motels are anything but adequate for housing needs.

Q. Why should I want to help someone who is probably sitting around enjoying welfare?
A. Contrary to popular belief, the majority of individuals and families living in motels are quite simply the working poor. They are not accepting aid and do have jobs--minimum wage jobs which do not generate the income necessary to pay current Southern California apartment rents.

Q. Why don't they move somewhere less expensive?
A. First of all, it is nearly impossible for anyone making minimum wage to find affordable housing anywhere in the country. More importantly, Orange County's economy is driven by minimum wage jobs and would collapse without these workers. We need them in this county.

Q. How to people end up in the motels?
A. As the gap between housing costs and living wages grows further apart, more & more people are finding themselves unable either to maintain or even find affordable housing. In January 2008 for the first time ever, housing foreclosures exceeded housing sales.

Q. Why don't people go to shelters instead?
A. On any given night in Orange County, there are between 25,000 to 30,000 homeless individuals. The county has only 3300 shelter beds. Without the motels, the homeless would have nowhere at all to go.

Q. How does someone become homeless?
A. The slippery slope to homelessness gets steeper for all of us every day. Contrary to popular belief not everyone becomes homeless by bad or immoral decisions. Job shutdowns, layoffs, "right sizing", medical and natural disasters are all significant contributing factors. All it takes is a company the size of Enron shutting down or a hurricane the size of Katrina to alter peoples lives in the blink of an eye.