Robinson has nowhere else to go. Her mother lives in a senior-citizens residence that doesn't allow kids. Her siblings are dead. Staying with friends isn't an option, since no one she knows has room for a family of six.
Getting back into PHA housing isn't likely, either. PHA already has 32,000 families on its waiting list, so it could be years before Robinson gets another shot.
Shelters this time of year typically experience an influx of homeless families who have been bunking with friends and relatives, trying to find places to settle into before the start of school. Shelter workers say that they've noticed an even greater uptick this summer.
Robinson knows that her situation is her own fault. She recognizes that she should have paid her $176-a-month rent on time, but she was on the run from domestic abuse and dealing with personal problems dating back to before she became a teenage mom and dropped out of Overbrook High. Robinson, who eventually earned a GED and has worked as a nurse, claims that she never saw any notice from PHA warning her of an impending eviction and didn't realize how much trouble she was in until that fateful morning in July when she got a knock on her door and was told she had to leave. The Housing Authority says that she received a judgment by default in May. She owed the authority $783.50.
Beds, dressers and all the family's belongings are in storage. Robinson and her children are sequestered in a shelter for abused women in an undisclosed location far from their old neighborhood. Instead of their spacious apartment, they sleep in a single room. Robinson tries to keep her kids close to keep them out of fights with more aggressive kids who live in the shelter.
