Things are ugly....Columbus Ohio

[RazBerryBeret]

This from Groveport Ohio (a suburb of Columbus).
This was a letter to the Editor in our local paper and it broke my heart:

Thieves descend upon foreclosed home
Sunday, March 15, 2009 3:51 AM

Last week our neighbors lost their house to foreclosure. The Franklin County Sheriff's Department had people there to move the family's belongings to the front yard and gave the family until the following Saturday (two days) to take their things. The family was moving their things until well past dark.

The family, including two young children, had to leave a lot of it in the yard and continue the next day. During the next day, people began showing up and stealing anything they could shove into and even onto the hoods of their cars. I tried to stop them but couldn't shame the shameless.

I called the Columbus police but was told it's not illegal if the items are in the yard. By the time the family returned the next day to continue moving, they found furniture and personal belongings gone.

The children found that their toys had been stolen. Taking these items should be illegal or, at least, something should be done to discourage these lowlifes with no morals or empathy for others.

Maybe the sheriff's department can put up "No Trespassing" signs and cover the belongings with tarps.

I want people to realize that with a job loss or an illness, this could have been them and their children.

[Liberal_in_LA]

1. Terrible.

[misanthrope]

2. Welcome to the fruits of capitalist culture**nm

**

[RazBerryBeret]

3. Yep....

every man for himself.
very sad; what we've become.

[Deja Q]

22. The media perpetuates it as well and people yum it up and think it's great.

Turn the shit off.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

34. Alas,

we have always been like this. I've seen evictions since I was a kid, and the stuff is always fair game and always picked over by strangers.

We are like this..............

[espiral]

51. re:

Agreed completely. This is the oppression of the worker in full poisonous blossom.

[Donnachaidh]

4. you'll see far more posts with people bitching about taxes or marijuana laws

Than you will see people acknowledging that on the REAL Main Street things are getting ugly. As long as it doesn't effect them personally, it isn't happening.

[Hello_Kitty]

68. Oddly enough, marijuana laws target the poor.

So it is appropriate to discuss them in the context of Main Street.

[Donnachaidh]

72. yeah, and we'll see lots more of that than actually doing anything about the poor

You knwo, those *other* things they need far more than a change in marijuana laws -- like housing, food, etc.

But Thank You for proving the point of my previous point. :eyes:

[msongs]

5. Legal if they are in yard? what kind of police do they have there?? is it legal to steal cars that

are are parked in your driveway?

too bad neighbors did nothing, evidently, besides you.

Msongs

[TahitiNut]

11. Patio furniture must be awfully cheap in Columbus.

:eyes:

[Tangerine LaBamba]

29. No, it's not legal to steal cars that are parked

in your driveway, if the driveway is still in your name, either as a legal tenant or an owner.

But, as I posted elsewhere, once an eviction is completed, the ownership of the property reverts back to the mortgage holder or the landlord, and they have no interest in what happens to the property of the evicted residents.

So it becomes legal looting.

This is America today......................

[barbtries]

42. yeah i wondered about that too

i think it's more a matter of lazy fucking cops.

[SoCalDem]

6. Vultures "clean up".. It's just what they do..

People passing by, after the family left, had no way of "knowing" they would be back..

When this happened to a neighbor of a friend, the other people in the cul-de-sac removed & held stuff for the family until they could get home from work/school..

Sounds like some families do not know their neighbors well enough for them to look out for them:(


It's too bad the people do not use the time the have between getting the notice, and the actual eviction, to move things to safe places:(..at the very least.. the kids stuff..

[The Wizard]

77. Vulture capitalism

as Republicans envisioned. They only believe in survival of the fittest when it fits into their narrow frame.

[AyanEva]

7. There was a children's book about this

A little girl's friend got evicted from her family's brownstone and the friend put a sheet over the belongings and sat out in the rain, refusing to come inside, to make sure no one stole anything. I didn't quite understand the full impact of the story when I read it as a child but now I find the book unbearably sad. :(

My family narrowly avoided eviction quite a number of times (by moving out before they could throw us out) but I didn't realize what was going on because I was just a kid and my parents didn't tell us. I just knew that we were moving yet again.

It's hard to believe people would be so heartless as to steal someone's belongings when that person has already lost their home. People stole some things belonging to my oldest sister, her roommate, and her roommate's kid when they were evicted from their apartment a few of years back.

[marions ghost]

8. Primitive

this is not OK in a so-called civilized society.

Yes, all it would have taken was a little effort to cover the stuff and deflect the vultures. Sad.

[Liberal_in_LA]

9. Too bad a neighbor couldn't have put the stuff in their backyard or garage

[lazyriver]

59. I was thinking the same thing.

[MADem]

10. ....it's not illegal if the items are in the yard??????

It's still theft from private property. That forclosed house didn't suddenly become a fucking public park.

Shame on the Columbus police. They were derelict in their duty, and should be called to task for their failure.

[TahitiNut]

13. Maybe it's worth the drive to Columbus to pick up some free patio furniture, huh?

I can't even imagine the police saying this. No way.

[RazBerryBeret]

19. seems like you lose your rights

once you're evicted?
Like I said, it breaks my heart, and so much for that sense of community...

we need help....

[MADem]

20. I was appalled by that.

On edit--I realize that the OP was a letter to the editor, and they called the cops out. They need to be shamed.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

28. It's no longer the "owners'" property -

once the eviction takes place, title shifts to the mortgage holder, and those people couldn't care less if someone's personal property is stolen.

How's that for sucking?

[MADem]

31. It's still "private" property and those thieves are committing theft.

It's not a matter of the property owners "caring," there's sitll a crime happening. If I park my bike in your driveway, and someone steals it, it's still stolen, even though the property from which it was stolen isn't mine.

And yes, it does suck. Those cops ought to be shamed, publicly. How hard is it to go by the place and do a "woop woop" with the lights, and then ask the neighbors to call the owners of the stuff and see what can be done?

[Tangerine LaBamba]

33. You're right, but - and this is the really sucky part -

the owners of the property have no recourse, since their property is on the owners' lawn without permission, and so, they are, in the eyes of the law, trespassing - and taking their chances. That means that anyone can take their stuff and probably not face any punishment.

It was their duty to get their stuff off the property by a certain time and date. When they fail to do that, their property is there illegally, and it's up for grabs.

The cops aren't involved. It's a civil matter, under the jurisdiction - while the eviction is occurring - of the local Sheriff.

[blaze]

36. Man, this totally sucks

Thanks for helping me understand the legal angle of it...

But it still totally sucks. :(

[MADem]

37. If it were my neighbor, I'd have offered them my back yard and a tarp.

Put it behind the fence and come and get it in a week or two.

I think the Columbus Police are showing themselves to be heartless bastards at the worst, and "unresponsive" at best. If a bunch of strangers are swarming in a neighborhood, picking stuff off the lawn of a private home, I think they ought to be there shooing those folks off.

I hope karma bites those thieves right in the ass, too. No happiness can come from gains made as a consequence of such awful misery.

[Luciferous]

75. I would have done the same thing...

shame on the people who took their stuff.

[MADem]

38. Doubleclick!

[cabluedem]

32. Clue about the police: they make money on DUI's, speeders and other traffic citations, not

watching over peoples property. Its disgusting that they didn't respond but that's 21st century law enforcement for you in 2009. Its ALL about the money they can haul into the coffers.

[Gemini Cat]

55. Don't forget those criminal jay-walkers.

The Columbus police takes jay-walking seriously!
Especially around campus.
Taking things off people's lawns... not so much.

[MADem]

62. That's true. Revenue enhancement is a big part of their jobs, especially since

towns and cities are broke, and aren't about to "bargain" with them and kiss their asses like they once did. You wanna go on strike? We'll call Blackwater, ya baaastids. They've got to pull in the money to justify their continued employment.

Still doesn't make it right....it makes them like rampaging armies of yore, shaking down the citizens to pay the troops.

[Ikonoklast]

12. Ayn Rand would be proud.

Only the strong survive, and the Devil take the hindmost.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

14. Kick 'em when they're down.......

Things go from worse to worse, and then strangers steal your stuff.

That bites.

But, why is it that people who know they're facing eviction - they even know the date - don't start packing up their things and go find someplace to stash whatever they have?

It must be a kind of paralysis of fear. I can understand that, but, man, it's just heartbreaking. In every way...............

[Carni]

23. Moving Trucks are not cheap

Throw in the mental duress of the homeowner going through such an ordeal, the money issues (not to mention parents dealing with the emotions of the children impacted) and you have a recipe for not thinking straight.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

15. did you take their photos and reg plates?

that would have helped to trace the vultures

[chill_wind]

54. That's an excellent suggestion. n/t

[villager]

16. well that's just like the "law"...

Fuckin' puppets...

[RazBerryBeret]

17. The letter above is from my local newspaper,

the neighbor who wrote actually included her name. I've been searching for more info on this story, I would think this would start a firestorm.

regarding the practice of eviction, this was eye opening for me:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/15/heartbreaking-footage-dat_n_175150.html

Dateline follows around cops who bust down doors, throw all your stuff in your front yard and give you 24 hours to take it somewhere. Guess it's not that uncommon, and some people think they've been given more time so it can come as a surprise.

[dixiegrrrrl]

40. I forsee an new TV reality series....

Eviction !

[Carni]

18. Disgusting isn't it?

I can only hope that there is karma for such vultures--who in the name of God would steal the children's toys? (bad enough taking ANYTHING but come on now!)

These types of stories truly make me sick.

[Name removed]

21. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[SammyWinstonJack]

24. This is a thoughtless country filled with thoughtless people never imagine that they could be

faced with a similar situation. Just disgusting!

[RazBerryBeret]

25. we've become a country

based on greed.
period.

personal greed. corporate greed. "How can I profit in the short term, screw everyone else and the country."
I really don't understand this. I hope we can turn it around.

[SammyWinstonJack]

27. Sadly that is true and I hope we have the will to turn it around. That is what we need.

[tangent90]

26. Yikes. Were they 'looting' or 'finding'?

sheesh

[babsbunny]

30. Please get ahold of the local news channels!

http://www.nbc4i.com/
There is a link where you can send a news tip. Columbus families would love to get involved and donate things to these folks!

[Dukkha]

35. what lowlife scum would steal from children

If isn't enough they lost their home?

had it been me evicted I probably would've slept by my stuff that night, with gun in hand.

[Imagevision]

39. Cops to serve and protect - lower life scum in this situation...

[barbtries]

41. vultures

people suck.

[wartrace]

43. Lazy cops. "It isn't illegal if it is in the yard"???????

I am going to start taking everyone's garden gnomes now that I have been told that taking things from a yard isn't illegal!

[Arugula Latte]

52. I know. WTF?

Take anything in someone's yard?

:wtf:

[Lorien]

58. Hey, and if someone has a yard sale you can just pull up and load up

the van without paying, right? I think the Columbus cops were just lazy and making excuses. :wtf:

[wartrace]

63. Lazy cops are everywhere.

I live in a rural county, we had one murder two years ago. An armed robbery makes the front page of the newspaper, the biggest crime around here usually are traffic violations.

People who litter piss me off. There is a 500 dollar fine for littering & I figured maybe the cops would enforce it or AT LEAST talk to people about it. One day I was on the way to our dump and I found two full bags of garbage that had fallen off the back of other peoples trucks. I stopped & picked them up before they were hit by another vehicle and spread all over the place. When I got to town I saw two sheriff's deputies looking at some dudes motorcycle (not writing a ticket, just admiring it). I had found the names & addresses of the people in the bags. All the cop had to do is call them and tell them not to be slobs or they were going to get a fine for littering. The older deputy told me to call the state police to which I responded "I guess I will call the sheriff on Monday Deputy (forgot his name) and ask him to call them seeing as deputy (****) is too busy to do it". He took the names but I doubt he did anything with them.

Lazy cops......

[ret5hd]

44. Instant solution:

Find the police chiefs address. Wait till trash day. Take the police chiefs trash and post pictures and descriptions of each item on the web.

My bet is that by the NEXT trash day, taking things from lawns will suddenly be illegal.

[LisaL]

45. Is this for real? I haven't realized I can go into people's yards

and take whatever the hell I please.
Maybe a new lawn mower will be nice.

[inwiththenew]

53. Not quite

The problem with that argument is the person whose lawn mower you are going to take owns the property, or pays rent or has some agreement to live there. If you were to take it from someone property you would get hit with larceny. Now I am not a lawyer but the way I understand it is once you are evicted the property reverts back to its original owner and your stuff is on their property. It would be like me going to an abandon house and putting my couch and furniture in the yard and then leaving. Not saying that it is right or even that I agree with that, but think that is how it works.

[lib2DaBone]

46. Law Enforcement will always take the easiest, quickest way to solve a problem...

..if that means letting the vultures steal your furniture..so be it. But don't YOU get caught stealing a loaf of bread from a store.. you will rot in jail for 20 years.

The justice system in this country is tailored to the wealthy, and is beyond repair.

[RazBerryBeret]

47. "beyond repair"....

is what scares me.

[Imagevision]

48. Heartbreaking Footage: Police Evicting Families From Their Homes caution, not easy to look at

got to admit this doesn't look like the USA but it's today

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/15/heartbreaking-footage-dat_n_175150.html

[RazBerryBeret]

50. I watched that this morning,

and have to admit, it made me cry.

that poor man was AT WORK, and had to leave because all his belongings were being thrown out into his lawn, with his wife and 2 kids....
the police officers said they average TWENTY evictions a DAY!!!!!! freakin crazy....

[undergroundpanther]

49. Evictions are an industry...

Like Smith and the members of the Slumlords, Oney is convinced the vast majority about 85 percent of mortgage foreclosures in Baltimore are caused by human degeneracy, usually in the form of drug addiction. He says he routinely finds hundreds of crack vials in houses like this one.

snip

Inside the house, crew members rummage through the first floor, still choked with stuff. The kitchen cabinets are full of china and glassware

One of the O Team men drops a pair of candlesticks into his jumpsuit pocket. The wife likes this kind of shit, he says. Does he feel sorry for the woman in the family photos, still smiling down at them from the fireplace mantle? He shrugs: I pay my bills.

Smith stands in what was once the real estate agent's home office. Like his own study at home, the walls here are lined with framed certificates of merit and achievement.

Banks pokes his head in. You should buy this house, too, Scott.
http://www.citypaper.com/printStory.asp?id=9755

Exploitation at it's most vile.And this eviction profiteering fucker moved in the same county I live in YUCK!!

[backscatter712]

56. And people here wonder why I have such a venomous hatred for the police...

They're nothing but enforcers for a corrupt system that has thrown normal people under the bus for decades.

They don't give a shit about regular human beings. I guess that's what they screen for at the academy. If you have a conscience or show an ounce of empathy for other human beings, you get washed out. They only want the sociopaths who enjoy hurting people.

Protect and serve my ass...

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

57. Hell is other people.

Not quite what Sartre meant, but apropos nonetheless.

[aikoaiko]

60. sad, but nothing new.

[PVnRT]

61. I guess we know, once again, who the police really protect

The property interests of the rich are all that matter - steal the belongings of someone evicted out of a house? Eh, it's not a priority.

[indepat]

64. Symptomatic of a very sick society?

:shrug:

[BlancheSplanchnik]

65. unconscionable

the authorities forcing them out impose impossible requirements, refuse protection and then of course the inevitable happens.

Disgusting catch-22

:cry:

[SheilaT]

66. So I take it these people only found out

a couple of hours ahead of time that they were being evicted, right?

Wait. Evictions take weeks, maybe months to put in place. And yes, moving trucks are very expensive, but everyone has friends who will help out in these circumstances. Yes, it would be shameful and painful to admit one is being evicted, except you don't even have to say that. Just find a new place to live and get friends to help you move. If you're facing actual homelessness, sell off everything you can so you at least get some cash out of the deal.

I honestly think that those who are blaming the cops are looking at the wrong ones to blame. Would you rather police spend their time guarding the belongings of those being evicted rather than chasing down real criminals? I feel enormously sorry for this family, but it's not as though they didn't really have enough time to figure out an alternative.

Oh, and my sister was once evicted from an apartment and lost most of her belongings that same way. I've never talked about it with her, since it was a very bleak time in her life, but surely she could have planned a little farther ahead herself.

[GOTV]

71. I was wondering the same thing. Where ever they were moving their stuff ...

... could they not have done it a few days before the police showed up? We're they so unlucky that the new place was not available until the very day of the eviction?

[haele]

74. Renters aren't told when the house they are renting is foreclosed on -

If the owner of our house lost it, we would hope that the property management company would give us a heads up, but I might come home one day to a 3 day notice to quit the premises, through no fault of my own. And we certainly couldn't come up with a place to live even in a week or two, because we have pets and our credit sucks.
Which is another problem with your lack of pity for on a foreclosed family. People in foreclosure, whether it's through their "fault" (or naivety) or not, generally have poor credit and can't just quickly find a place to move to when they finally get the notice that they are going to be evicted and the house is going up on the block. If they have kids and pets - heck, even if they don't have pets - it's even harder.
Adults can put up with taking chances living in a slum, but a responsible parent would be "wasting time" doing anything they can to insure that the family will end up in a safe location.
As for "paying your bills" - when you are faced with a potential foreclosure, you have three choices:
1- either try to work with the bank or the courts to stay in the house, continuing to pay whatever you can to keep your credit from tanking even worse - and if you're lucky and the bank doesn't want to deal with foreclosure and the courts are willing to broker a deal, you stay and hopefully your financial situation will either stay the same or improve and you can slowly work your way back into a healthy financial status over a couple years...
-or-
2-short sell and negotiate with the buyer to let you stay for a month or two while you clean up and try to find a place to live, all while selling off what you can and try to save for the down-payment and moving expenses to wherever you're going to end up.
-or-
3-just stop paying anything, stop trying to "be a good citizen and pay your debts", and let them go through with the foreclosure. Use that time to look for a place to move to, and save the money for a down-payment and moving expenses ahead of the notice, 'cause there's no way in hell the bank is going to work with you, and there's no way you can stay in your house.

Good, honest people generally try to go with #1 and #2 - and those are usually the former homeowners who get thrown out on the street by the sheriff before the court auctions off the house, because either they couldn't sell in time or the banks just wouldn't negotiate, because, according to the cynics, "the bank is a business and these people were just too stupid - or fraudulent - and bought too much house for their income."

The realists who go with #3 are usually out of the house and in a decent apartment by the time the sheriff comes by. But because moralists frown on people who don't pay their debts, these people, even if they have ensured that their families are living in safety and comfort within their new means, are still lazy scum and should be punished for walking away from their responsibilities, just like those poor people being punished for trying to be "honest" and made choices #1 or #2.

For whatever reason you don't have enough income to pay for your mortgage, you need to be punished, right?

Also, just because it's classified as "petty theft", taking someone's personal possessions just because they're on a lawn that's no longer their legal property doesn't mean it's not stealing. If someone - (a girlfriend or boyfriend, or angry spouse, even?) throws your personal property out on your lawn while you're not there, does that mean you've abandoned that property and anyone can just walk up and take it?

Haele
(can you tell I'm pissed when I hear about things like this? Where were the neighbors or family friends?)

[SheilaT]

85. The OP said the people lost their

house to foreclosure. They weren't renters.

If you have a lease, and the owner defaults on the mortgage, is there no obligation on the part of whoever is foreclosing to honor the lease? If you're on month-to-month because the lease expired and you didn't sign a new one, that's obviously different, but I still was under the impression that tenants had some kind of rights.

And no, I don't think that you should be punished just because "for whatever reason you don't have enough income to pay your mortgage".

It's not as though this looming crisis wasn't incredibly obvious at least three years ago. I saw some sort of little news report recently about a woman who'd gotten a mortgage for a house and the payment was going to be something like three times her actual income. What could she possibly have been thinking?

About twenty years ago my husband and I decided to back out of a home purchase because we were "stretching" financially to buy it, and got approved for an ARM that would reset in three years. We came to the conclusion that even though he had a good job and was getting regular raises, who knew what might happen in three years? Instead, a few months later we bought a less expensive house and got a fixed rate with a payment would could afford. I'm thinking that not enough people made a similar decision in recent years.

[RedCloud]

67. What about lawn ornaments? Aren't they in the yard?

And hoses? And nice trees? Where will it end? With zero lot line front yards?

Sorry to hear of one's misfortunes.

[GOTV]

69. When evicted, don't you know when the police are coming ....

.... it's horrible that people would steal like this and that the police wouldn't help but, didn't this family know when the police would be there?

[wroberts189]

70. "I called the Columbus police but was told it's not illegal if the items are in the yard" WTF?

Its legal to steal stuff from private property in Ohio?


I find it hard to believe. Cops must have lied.

[PatSeg]

73. I used to live in a suburb of Chicago

and it was illegal to take property on the curb from an eviction. I knew several people who got arrested for it. It was also illegal to "garbage pick". I chastised a neighbor who took some of the stuff for taking advantage of someone elses misfortune. Later she was arrested. Some lessons are learned the hard way.

[Mr. Hyde]

76. I think they should have anticipated this and moved their stuff out before the law intervened

They had to have realized that this would happen. I feel sorry as hell for them of course but, at the same time, I think they really have to share some of the blame for the way things unfolded. They made a choice to do nothing and this was the consequence.

[southernyankeebelle]

78. WELL WHY DIDN'T YOU AT LEAST TAKE THE CHILDRENS

TOYS IN AND OTHER ITEMS IF YOU KNEW THEY WERE COMING BACK THE NEXT DAY? IF I KNEW THAT WAS HAPPENING TO MY NEIBOR I'D BEEN OUT THERE HELPING THEM AS MUCH AS I COULD ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY HAVE CHILDREN. WE ALL SHOULD BE HELPING EACH OTHER. YOU REALLY FIND OUT WHO YOUR FRIENDS ARE WHEN SOMETHING LIKE THIS HAPPENS. COME ON PEOPLE GET INVOVLED. WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE?

[ret5hd]

79. WHAT? I COULDN"T HEAR YOU!!!

[RazBerryBeret]

84. hopefully you realize

the the "YOU" that you are referring to is not going to read this. This was a letter that was published in the editorial section of MY local newspaper, as I have now said THREE times. maybe if you'd stop yelling and pay more attention to what your reading....JK....

[AngryOldDem]

80. Sad to say, this is how it works.

You have to get your stuff out of the foreclosed house. If it's on the street or in the yard, the authorities don't care.

There have been times when we have been called at the homeless shelter from people needing us, who say they'll be there as soon as they find a place for their belongings -- because everything they have is out on the street.

[jmowreader]

81. I have great sympathy if they'd been evicted from a home they were renting

There needs to be a law requiring homeowners facing foreclosure to notify tenants if the home to be foreclosed is being rented out.

However, if the person whose name was on the mortgage was residing in the home, they DO give you a couple months at least between the time they announce their intention to foreclose and the time they evict you from the property. This to give you time to get out before the sheriff pulls up.

[haele]

87. Problem comes into play when you have someone who is trying to figure out a way to stay -

Just because the bank says it's going to foreclose, there's still a period of time when you can go through the legal and financial options to try and work things out so you can stop the foreclosure. Including bankruptcy, which is harder and harder to get through quickly. I know of one guy who finally lost his job after his hours were cut for a couple months, and was trying to save his house while on unemployment and others in his house bringing in money from three minimum wage jobs - he was in the middle of filing bankruptcy to try to keep his house and restructure his bills - and the lender went ahead and foreclosed, tossing him and his family out on the street, before his lawyer made it through the backlog of applications and filed for a court date.
He was trying to do everything he could to make good on an below-average mortgage ( that he had been paying regularly on for 7 years...)in this area, but when you've got a family of six and your mortgage is around $1500 a month - a good $500 a month less than the average for a 4/3 house at 1500sq ft and a small yard in a safe neighborhood, even if you cut your budget to bare bones, $2K a month after taxes is not going to save your house.

There are a lot of companies out there that are advertising to "stop your foreclosure, save your house" - promising quick refinances and bankruptcy assistance, that lie, take the money until after the mark is kicked out to the street, and leave.

I'm not too concerned about the flippers, that's a risk they take when they buy to sell - and the more greedy flippers helped drive the housing prices up to a level that the average person couldn't afford a house, let alone keep one when a financial or health problem arose.
What I see happening is a lot of people who worked their ass off and wanted to believe so much that they could have what their parents had or wanted them to have, that they listened to snake-oil scammers who were more interested in no-effort money-harvesting schemes than running a business.
In most of the most cases, it wasn't greed for these families who made poor choices jumping at a chance to own a home, it was a desire for a stable, comfortable place to come home to in the middle of a whirl-wind life of jobs and other social responsibilities.

To be honest, I can see my situation reflected in many of these now-homeless families. Working class in an area where there's a high cost of living and housing is still averaging around $400K for a 1200sq ft 3 bedroom, 2 bath on city lot. In fact, the only reason we don't "own" now is because - I had gone through the working-class home-owner financial wringer before and could sell before I got foreclosed on (so I am familiar with the various mortgage traps out there), - and that there are high medical bills in the family - and, ultimately, our credit sucks and will for the next couple years.
As for the story the OP relates in the editorial, there for the grace of (FITB), could be me and my family - hopes for rescue from either a bankruptcy court or short sell dashed, no where to go, sitting on a curb, with all our possessions around us.

Haele

[leftofthedial]

82. God damn this country and the assholes who defend its capitalist thieves

[RagAss]

83. Somewhere Dick Cheney is smiling !!!!!!!

[chrisa]

86. It's not illegal to steal?

How does that make sense?