Ninety-Seven and Homeless: The Story of Bessie Mae Berger
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God, this L.A. Times story is awful. And I don’t mean the usual, “Ughh, the Times really sucks these days,” awful. Just heartbreaking.
Bessie Mae Berger and sons Larry Wilkerson, 60, and Charlie Wilkerson, 62, live in a 1973 Chevrolet Suburban they park each night on a busy Venice street.
For the most part, it’s a lonely life — days spent passing the time away in public parks, parking lots and shopping centers around the Westside.
Occasionally, when they need cash, Bessie sits by the side of the road and seeks handouts. She holds a cardboard sign in her lap: “I am 97 years old. Homeless. Broke. Need help please.” [Break]
“It makes me feel like I’m a bum,” Bessie said. “I don’t mind living at the mercy of the public because some of the public is good — they’re nice to me. But there are some that are nasty. Some of them laugh at me and my sign. They say they don’t think I’m 97 years old.”
Reaching slowly into a pocket, she pulls out a laminated California state identification card that shows her date of birth: March 2, 1912.
Los Angeles police have warned her not to beg. And some passersby have turned to her sons, questioning why they cannot properly care for her.
“They ask why we aren’t able to get her off the street. But we can’t. I have no income whatsoever,” Larry Wilkerson said.
They live mostly on Bessie’s $375 monthly Social Security check, Charlie’s $637 disability payments, Larry’s $300 food stamp allocation and cash from bottles and cans they collect and recycle.
I could riff for hours on the thousands of misplaced budgetary concerns in Los Angeles that apparently take precedence over finding a home for a 97-year-old woman and her two elderly sons — locking up graffiti artists, shutting down medical marijuana clinics, overpaying city and county officials, golf.
I just wish instead of sending things crashing into the moon, American scientists would do something useful for the country — like reanimating Hieronymus Bosch. I can’t think of any other artist who could paint this country and do it justice. Who could shame us the way we need to be shamed. No cheap irony, or sugary sarcasm from Bosch — just hellfire, brutal and pure.
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This story has nothing to do with a lack of housing or the policies of the County of Los Angles. This is a story about elder abuse. Two grown men are keeping their mother hostage on the streets rather than allow her to go into housing she is instantly qualited for (because of her age, her income and her disability) because they will not let her get off the streets unless they get housing too – and in the same house.
The irony is – each of the brothers also easily qualifies for housing due to their income levels and their disabilities – and could have also gotten off the streets years ago.
And then – once they were in the system – and qualify for farmore money than they are getting they can get – they could work on getting Section 8 money for a place they could all live together.
Lastly, as someone who – as a private citizen – has helped over 50 people living on the streets get into housing – finding the housing was never once the problem.
The only real barrier was, in each of the cases I worked on – mental problems (mainly) or pride or drug and other problems; and those obstacles are what keeps the long term, hard core homeless on the streets – not the lack of housing. It was not uncommon for it to take me up to five years of work to get one person to accept housing.
This is also what LAT columnist Steve Lopez discovered when he started working with a talented but homeless violinist.
But, these days, it’s always easier – and way more fun – to feel superior by taking cheap shots at ‘the system’ than to ever bother to actjually try to learn… anything… about… anything – much the real causes of our social problems, much less to bother to try to solve them.
Interesting and important points all. I admit, my first reaction to this story was emotional, rather than logical. One wishes some of these issues had been addressed in the original Times story. Although the process you detail about how this family could eventually get housing together seems a tad convoluted, it doesn’t appear unreasonable.
In response to another comment. See in context »And I admit my response to your response was also somewhat emotional as well. But it’s just so frustrating to have the real issues and real problems we face on this issue constantly ignored.
But the reporter – who could only report what they told him – was able to say – if indirectly, since she was going to be reading the article, I suspect – that the mother was ONLY homeless because her two grown sons would only allow her to accept housing if they got to come along too.
Also their using her to beg for money was clearly pointed out in the story as forcing her to do something she did not want to do.
The good news, though, is that this will – finally – get her off the streets – and that’s what’s most important.
But any discussion of what it takes to get the long term homeless housed the or how to disperse services so that people can be given aid in their own communities before they end up like this or how more flexible financing models need to be developed to fund subsidized housing projects – will… as usual… have to wait for another time.
In response to another comment. See in context »