A theme we’ve become familiar with during this journey, is the role of motels  as temporary housing for the homeless & unemployed.

We visit Joy Junction, a homeless shelter on the outskirts of Albuquerque, & listen to Kevin’s story of job loss & homelessness, of moving into a motel room when his unemployment benefit is eventually paid, of moving back onto the streets as it expires. As we chatted to Kevin in the dining hall, we recognise a neighbour from our motel; the previous evening when we’d booked in, the manager had explained that the motel was very large & needed income, so it operated different levels of occupancy & that our room was one of those kept for ‘people like you who don’t destroy property’, other parts rented to ‘street people’.

Kathy, Joy Junction’s outreach worker, has a list of motels she regularly visits & describes how some of the owners are charging up to $600 per month in rent for a room shared by one family, others trade a room in exchange for work, a new form of serfdom.

17th September
Needles
California