A homeless encampment that was threatened by rising waters in Sacramento last month.Credit...Max Whittaker for The New York Times
By Soumya Karlamangla, The New York Times, February 21, 2023
Yvonne Soy had to move out of her apartment in Contra Costa County because she couldn’t pay her rent. She began living in her car, with her two cats, and tried to get work as a secretary or a legal administrator.
But the showers at the local homeless shelter didn’t open until 8:30 a.m., too late for her to get to work on time. So she began collecting recyclables to afford cat food and litter. Soy, who is now 66, said she was homeless for seven years in total.
“It was pretty much, one, very boring and, two, very boring,” she told The New York Times. “That’s the reason why homeless people go to the library: not just to sleep but to read or use the computer. If you don’t have that, what are you going to do? You’re just going to sit and do nothing. And who can do that for hours at a time?”
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