8 GROUNDCOVER NEWS COMMUNITY People in the neighborhood: Moana This is Moana’s story. Jim: Moana, how would you describe yourself to people? Moana: I’m a good person with a bad need for a place to stay of my own. I’ve been homeless for four years. All the way from Detroit to Ann Arbor. Jim: Why are you homeless? Moana: Because most places want the first and last month's rent and a security deposit and they want you to make two times the rent in income. Some places want three. Jim: What are you doing to improve your situation? Her answer was unexpected. Moana: I struggle every day, sir. I cry every day. Every day! Because I don’t understand why I am in this situation. I don’t get it. I can’t help what I don’t make. I can’t squeeze juice out of a dry lemon. It’s hard and I don’t understand why they don’t make it affordable for people on disability. Moana is receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and social security adding up to $900 a month. It’s rare to find an apartment in Ypsilanti for under $1000 a month. She would have to save most of her government assistance money for the move-in cost of $2750. Even if she saved $450 a month, it would take her six months. Jim: Why are you getting SSI? Is it a medical disability? Moana: Well I had some things going on as a kid. I really don’t know what it’s for, I just get it. I had it at an early age. The last time I remember talking about it to a worker was when I was 26. Moana will be 50 in August. She has been on SSI since she was a teenager. Jim: What did you have going on as a kid? Moana: I had a baby girl in school. I then asked her what grade in high JIM CLARK Groundcover vendor No. 139 school she achieved before dropping out. Moana actually missed the last semester of 8th grade. Moana: I was pregnant when I was 13. It was too young. I was just a baby. I had to quit school for a minute. We went back to talking about finding housing. Jim: So can you save the money? Moana: I have the money saved. The problem is they want my income to be double the rent. But even if it weren’t for that, I can’t afford the rent for most places. I asked her about other things that are known barriers to housing. Jim: How is your financial credit? Moana: My score is 525. I had someone in my life that took advantage of me and it ended up ruining my credit. Jim: Do you have a criminal background? Moana: I have two felonies. Jim: Have you ever defaulted on a lease? Moana: Once, in Detroit in 2018. Three strikes in most places. Read that again — she has the money. The other barriers are why she continues to sleep on the streets. Then she exposed one more barrier. Jim: What about sharing a space or renting just a room in a house? Moana: I would like to have my own place. I’m tired of living with people and paying them, and then having to deal with their attitudes. I’m tired of having to walk on eggshells around people who want to start fake arguments to get you to leave. And if you stay with a guy, you have to make it clear that you aren’t going to be doing anything. It’s like “I’m paying you rent man, I’m not living here for free. So if you’re looking for that, I’m not coming by.” Just because I’m a woman doesn’t give you as a man the right to ask for anything other than rent when it comes to me living there. People with privilege tend to miss situations where privilege matters. I asked a female friend for her perspective. Friend: If the only roommate a woman can find is a man then she has to decide whether to trust him or continue to sleep on the streets. There can be an assumption of sexual favors as Moana stated, and sometimes a risk of violence. According to a study (Kushel et al., 2003) cited by the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, among homeless and marginally housed people, 32% of women, 27% of men, and 38% of transgender persons reported experiencing physical and/or sexual violence in the previous year. In the bigger picture, it can be financial privilege that drives the increasing cost of housing. The real estate belongs to the privileged, and they can do what they choose with it. Including leaving hundreds of thousands of human beings stranded. I asked her if she’s ever had to sleep in a car. Moana: A lady and her kids just died in Detroit in their car. Because it was cold. She had been asking for help since November. Nobody wants to help, nobody cares. Homeless people’s lives don't mean anything, but then when something like this happens, everybody wants to cry and say “oh that’s too bad,” and “oh oh oh,” but when she was asking for help, nobody did anything. So what did they think was going to happen? Even a dog can find somewhere to go. Somebody will help an animal before they will help a human being. I imagine myself leaving that way too. I can’t sleep in a car again. I got frostbite once before. If it happens again, they will amputate my foot. So I can’t get frostbitten any more, ever again in life. There was a long pause. Jim: If you could go to college for free, what would you study? Moana: Science — I like subjects that deal with the planet, water, marine animals; things like environmental science. I’m very intelligent. I went to an academy. I was supposed to go to Cass Tech, I know you’ve heard of that before. It’s for smart children. Jim: If you had a million dollars, what would you do? She didn’t hesitate: “I would bring my family together, get a house and not struggle.” People in the Neighborhood is a Groundcover News column that focuses on the unhoused neighbors of the street community of Washtenaw County. Moana MARCH 7, 2025 Moana's artwork.
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