Buffy Strawbridge

Foreclosed 

The recession in the USA has been building over the last three years.  Banks are foreclosing on homes daily even though they have been ‘bailed out’ by the Government with billions of Tax Payers Dollars.  They refuse to lend money to prospective purchasers or to help struggling home owners.  As a consequence people disappear in the night to avoid the bailiffs.  Some completely destroy the house ripping out the wiring, taking doors and  handles, sinks, toilets, air conditioner units and anything else that can be removed. Others simply smash everything thing they can to vent their anger.  Many just walk away from their homes taking whatever possessions they can and secret them away in the darkness, never to be seen again. 

All that hint of the families, their character, life style, and aspirations are the remains. The bits and pieces they were unable to carry, the footprints left by furniture, their choice of color scheme, lighting, stained carpets, kitchen styles and window dressings.  They are ghosts in the emptiness.  

These are the homes of professional people, who expected to be continuously employed with high salaries, good bonuses, health insurance and pensions. They did not expect to be homeless and on the street, living out of their cars or lining up at soup kitchens. Turning to food banks and community clothing charities for help, essentially begging to survive.  Their expectation was of the good life.  The American dream of home ownership has become the American nightmare.