TAVARES, Fla. — Being homeless isn’t how Tavares senior Susan Marshall expected her life to go.
"I’ve done everything from cocktail waitressing, to bartending, to being a receptionist," she said.
What You Need To Know
- Tavares senior Susan Marshall says she never expected to become homeless in her later years
- She says an illness cause her to miss some rent payments, which ultimately left her without a place to stay
- Marshall says she would like to see more help available for the homeless on the local and state levels
But Marshall says she had a career as a paralegal. She moved to Florida back in 2020 after her mom passed away, but a year later she was hospitalized for cellulitis, which caused her to miss some rent payments.
The mobile home park where she lived eventually started the eviction process, ultimately leaving Marshall homeless.
"Never in my life had this happen to me," she said.
She said she's now bouncing between place to place, even sleeping in her car on occasion.
Living that kind of life, she says it’s the simple things she misses the most.
"There’s stuff that I lost in the storage room — I mean all my Christmas stuff, a lot of collectible dishes, and photos," she said. "Everything is gone now."
Marshall said she's tried asking for help, but the journey has come with its road blocks.
"They’ll send you a whole list, but you’re either hung up on, it’s a computer, nobody is available," she said. "Everything is excuses."
Marshall isn’t alone with this issue: According to Senior Living, in 2019 the senior poverty rate was at nearly 9%, and in Central Florida, seniors make up 10% of the homeless population.
Now Marshall says she wants local and statewide change.
"They’re (Florida laws) very landlord oriented," she said, adding that she believes, "there’s nothing that helps the tenants, that gives the tenants any rights, especially for the elderly."