The Catskill Chronicle

Gloria Sanabria is defined as ‘homeless’ because she is living in temporary housing. She is paying for her own room after being cut off from local social services for “not following the rules”.

Story and photos by Ted Waddell

SULLIVAN COUNTY – “The job market was pretty good until about six months ago,” said 48-year old Gloria Sanabria while sitting in her one-room temporary housing she shares with her 15-year old son at the Catskill Motel just outside Liberty, NY.

Sanabria was born and raised in Sullivan County, and in 1980 graduated from Fallsburg High School, attended East Stroudsburg University and then worked at Community General Hospital (now Catskill Regional Medical Center) for several years before moving to warmer weather in South Carolina after being injured in a car accident.

The graduate of the Sullivan County BOCES LPN program lost her job, and then her house due to foreclosure when the private medical company cut her loose, “they can fire you without any explanation,”  so Sanabria packed up their belongings and returned to the county.

Home is where the heart is, and Gloria Sanabria decorated the room she shares with her teenage son.

“I’ve been living in motels for about six months,” she said, adding that after she tried to get help from the county’s social services department, she and her son wound up in a small room at the Lakeside Motel (formerly Hillsdale Dorms).

After about three weeks, Sanabria called it quits at the Lakeside, due to living conditions she called less than adequate.

“It was terrible, the door wouldn’t close and cold air was seeping in, and there were cockroaches,” she said. “You had to provide everything for yourself living there…if you didn’t have a car, and thank God I do, you’re stranded, you’re stuck. It seems like social services expected you to stay there…it was like their main hotel.”

According to Sanabria, she told social services about the situation, “There a lot of people there [at the Lakeside] with felonies, they all talk about it, and nobody sleeps at night, there’s a lot of noise, a lot of ruckus and rambunctiousness going on…after midnight everything goes on there.”

“They try their best, but their clientele is sent here,” she added.

Sanabria said she couldn’t take it anymore at the social services-funded motel, so they moved first to her mother’s house and then to the Catskill Motel where she pays $273.00 per week out her own pocket.

“Social services told me at the time they were paying two hundred something dollars as week for me and my son,” she recalled of living at the Lakeside.

“After I decided to leave I got a letter from (from Sullivan County social services) saying that I was responsible for paying [the Lakeside] over a thousand dollars a month, because they felt I was entitled to unemployment in South Carolina.”

Then came another notice telling her she was cut off from any more assistance including food stamps just in time for the holidays, because Sanabria was allegedly in “noncompliance for not following their rules…and I abandoned my area of living” by not filling out job search forms.

“I’m coming to you begging for money while I find a job,” Sanabria said she told workers at the local social services department. “How can I job search with no money and no gas?”

Her take on the landlords at their new temporary living arrangements?

“They’re wonderful people, very humble and respectful and they take care of their place.”

To keep a roof over their heads, Sanabria worked as a substitute at Fallsburg, and just landed a job as an LPN at the Center for Discovery, where she said they will help her fulfill her dream of becoming an RN.

Her take on the county’s social services system?

Jamie Latimer, a student support specialist with Sullivan County BOCES A.S.K. (Academic Support for Kids), stops in to talk to Gloria Sanabria about how her 15-year old son is doing at Fallsburg High School.

“I think Sullivan County really needs to revamp their whole system,” replied Sanabria.

“They need to break it down and start over from scratch…figure out who’s at risk first, and help those who really need help…it’s like triage we use in hospitals….what is the quickest way to help people that are truly in need.”

“Sullivan County really needs to wake up, [and] provide the best help possible for people who want to do something with their lives,” she added.

Her take on the ‘rules’?

“For the most part, the job searches are realistic…but in this county there are no jobs…there’s a stigma about Sullivan County, and I’ve felt it,” said Sanabria, who added that she missed out on a job interview because she didn’t have any gas money.

Asked what it’s like to lose a job and your home, thus joining the ever growing ranks of the homeless in the land of plenty, Sanabria replied, “It’s scary, nerve wracking and stressful, you could really lose your mind.”

“But I have a piece of God’s grace in my life, I’m going to make it no matter what. I’ve worked all my life, and I’m always going to work.”

“I’m not ashamed that I’m asking for help,” said Sanabria.

To view more photos from Homeless in the Land of Plenty – Part III visit the Chronicle on Zenfolio.