Alice

Philadelphia, PA
Economic Human Rights Violations of UDHR Articles 23, 25 and 26

Alice and her four children fled an abusive relationship and were thrust into the realities of homelessness in Philadelphia. Alice was lucky that she had managed to hold on to the family car because there was no space in any of the safe houses for abused women in the city. Alice and the kids spent several weeks sleeping in the car underneath a bridge. Once they were finally admitted into a shelter Alice and the children had to deal with total disruption of their lives, including the fact that the children had to miss several weeks of school because of the instability of their housing situation. It took several months before Alice received a temporary housing voucher from the Philadelphia Community Development Corporation (PCDC). She was also awarded a Section 8 certificate. PCDC told Alice that she could use her Section 8 certificate to stay in the same house permanently. It looked like clear sailing.

Unfortunately it was soon apparent that the house needed several repairs. Alice was able to fix the few things she could, and PCDC told her that a work order was sent in for the rest of the repairs. PCDC didn't do the work, and the house failed the Section 8 inspection. For over a year, neither the Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA) nor PCDC told Alice that her house didn't pass the inspection or that her Section 8 wasn't being used. Alice didn't learn about the situation until she received an eviction notice from PCDC. Once again the family began to live with the fear of being thrown back into homelessness. When Alice tried to get answers from PCDC and PHA she was given the run-around and told that she had to vacate the property. With the help of the Kensington Welfare Rights Union, Alice discovered that she had only one day left to use her Section 8 certificate. KWRU was able to stop the clock on her Section 8 until the situation was resolved. Alice went back to PCDC, but was told that they were no longer taking Section 8 certificates on the property. For the next six months Alice received eviction notices from her property on a monthly basis. She had to begin the application process for Section 8 all over again and endure months of insecurity that she and her family could end up sleeping under a bridge again. This situation caused emotional stress on the whole family, especially Alice's oldest son. Alice reapplied and got her Section 8 but only after protest and intervention by the Kensington Welfare Rights Union.

Alice is a survivor. She had some good jobs, government jobs, and worked under the table to make ends meet. She's been out of the job market for several years to raise her children. Ever since she left her husband Alice has been receiving welfare benefits. Every month she and her neighbors would work together to make their benefits stretch to get what they needed, a survival network of sorts: passing along clothes to each other, sharing a kerosene heater and hot plate when the gas was cut off, and sharing food stamps to get through the days when food ran out.

These past couple months she had it all planned out. Her youngest was about to start kindergarten, and Alice felt ready to go back to school herself. After taking a test, Alice was accepted to a computer programming school through the welfare office. It was a full time course for nine months, giving her the skills she needed to get a good paying job. A day before her class was set to begin, Alice was told by her welfare caseworker that she couldn't get any money for computer class. Due to the new welfare laws, Alice was told that she immediately had to go through an eight-week job training program. Her caseworker didn't inform her of the option of an independent job search.

Alice started the training, knowing that she would have to wait an entire year to reapply for the computer class. Four weeks into the training, she still had not received money for child care. Every day she would come home to a baby-sitter that needed to be paid, so Alice had to pay him out of her cash assistance. During the eight-week job training, Alice listened to motivational speakers and was told over and over again that with hard work there's a "career waiting for you." Alice believed them, with a grain of salt. As she conducted her search, low-wage jobs seem to be the only thing available. No benefits, no child care, and not enough money to support her family. If she had been able to enroll in the computer program she would have been able to apply for better paying jobs at the end of this year. Now, she has wasted a year of her time-clock and will soon be told that she has to work 25 hours a week in order to receive her benefits. She will be forced to take one of those low paying jobs and struggle to raise her children on a tiny income.