11:39 p.m. - Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2003
Manette.
Today I met Manette.
She is staying at the Shiva Motel on South 9th Street with her husband and two teenage boys. Their rent for a tiny, filthy hole of a room is approximately $1100 a month. They've been there for a couple of weeks now.
They could have gone to the Mission, but "Me and my husband have been together 20 years, and we are not about to separate our family." The Mission would require them to stay seperately.
Before a couple of months ago, she had never had an eviction on her record. Her husband works, her kids are clean-cut boys. But when your landlord wants you out because she's increasing your rent from $500 a month to $1800 a month, there's not much you can do.
So now she's at the Shiva. She is surrounded by drug users and drug dealers, prostitution and violence. She also takes care of many of the people around her by cooking meals and sharing bread. Even while we were talking to her, a sick young lady asked for some medicine. She didn't even know the girl, but lovingly gave her what she had.
I can't tell you how horrible I felt for not having a place for her to go. It's so hard to feel so powerless to help someone like this. How can anyone look down on her? She's not a drunk or a drug user. Her husband is a hard working man. Her sons are well-mannered and kind. She's in the situation she's in because she lives in a city with few options for anyone who isn't wealthy. Now almost all their money goes to keeping a dirty room in a dirty motel, money that could be going towards rent and deposit on a real home.
This is the world we have made for her. God help us. God help Manette.
