The hidden homeless

NYT looks into the increasing numbers of families who have been evicted from their apartments and are being forced to live in motel rooms. Piece focuses on the Anaheim area, where the rents are high, public housing is scarce, and older motels near Disnleyland are in abundance. For many motel occupants, such as the Hayworth family, this is their last chance before hitting the streets or a shelter.

The Hayworths tried staying with relatives but ended up last September at the Costa Mesa Motor Inn, one of more than 1,000 families estimated to be living in motels in Orange County alone. They are among a lucky few: a charity pays part of the $800-a-month charge while he tries to recreate a career. The family, including their 15-year-old daughter, share a single room and sleep on two beds. With most possessions in storage, they eat in two shifts, on three borrowed plates. His wife has health problems and, like many others, they cannot muster the security deposit and other upfront costs of renting a new place.

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With names like the Covered Wagon Motel and the El Dorado Inn, they look like any other modestly priced stopover inland from the ritzy beach towns. But walk inside and the perception immediately changes. In the evening, the smell of pasta sauce cooked on hotplates drifts through half-open doors; in the morning, children leave to catch school buses. Families of three, six or more are squeezed into a room, one child doing homework on a bed, jostled by another watching television. Children rotate at bedtime, taking their turns on the floor. Some, like the Malpicas, in a motel in Anaheim, commandeer a closet for baby cribs.