19-11-2008
Housing Crisis: Walking the streets of San Jose to keep the family home
Special report by Kerry DeVille
On any night of the week if you look hard enough on The Alameda, Santa Clara and Monterey Road, main streets of commerce in San Jose you might find Cindy*. Cindy, aged 40, is a prostitute: selling sexual services for as low as $30 depending on the demand.One would imagine that Cindy would not have too much trouble finding eager clientele. At 5 foot 8 with long bleached blonde hair, an all year round tan and a pretty if not somewhat time worn face Cindy cuts an attractive figure. ‘You have got to be careful here, can’t look to flash or you will end up getting arrested, better stay off the streets and in the bars’ comments Cindy. And that is what she does, she trawls the local bars from sunset until closing time: and then if she isn’t busy heads to nearby bus-stops and waits for passing cars to pick her up while being discreet enough to avoid police detection.
Cindy wasn’t always a prostitute. She was once a kindergarten supervisor, she had a stable relationship with a sales executive, a relationship that has bequeathed her with the apple of her eye, her five year old daughter, Monika Louise.
When times were good and at the height of the property boom Cindy and her partner were convinced to take up a mortgage on a newly built home by a friend who had a mortgage broking business. He promised the payments would always be low. ‘I never had much of a business mind’ confesses Cindy. For a while life seemed perfect for this little family. However Cindy’s partner started changing after he lost his job as a sales manager for a utility company. ‘He started drinking and becoming violent: he became unfaithful and blamed me for not supporting him’.
He eventually left Cindy and Monica Louise altogether. Cindy had made a mistake she now regrets: she bought the property solely in her name as her partner had a blemished credit history. The mortgage broker she used had inflated her income to qualify her for a ‘Ninja’ (no income job or assets) style mortgage. She then came off introductory rates and reality hit home.Cindy was now paying off a mortgage eight times her annual salary. ‘I became terrified of homelessness: meanwhile properties in my neighbourhood were being repossessed everyday’. Cindy who had never lived in a home for more than a year as a child could not bear the thought of losing the only place she ever called home. ‘I took to the streets: kindergarten would never pay the bills and I had no other way of earning an income: my family isn’t close either’. ‘I am not proud of what I do but I do it so my girl might never have to do anything like it: I live for her and I won’t put her through the renting nightmare and homelessness’.
Cindy is barely making mortgage payments now. She knows of two other women that have taken to prostitution for similar reasons. ‘I hate the sex’ but I block it out: what choice do I have?' And of the dangers Cindy is philosophical ‘Although I take precautions I realise I might be killed or raped doing this: I have no choice, if Monica is orphaned I hope she discovers how much mommy loved her, however I remain hopeful and believe that in the near future I won’t have to do this at all. As the Housing crisis worsens we expect to see more ‘Cindy’s’. One more tragic human consequence of the fallout from history’s biggest ever credit fuelled spending spree.
*Names have been changed to protect the subjects privacy.
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