Low-income living in Ann Arbor takes resourcefulness

She got the idea after the old dinged-up toy cars her brother collected as a kid grew in value — and those weren't even in their original packaging, she said. Now hundreds of these toy cars sit waiting in their boxes, an investment Barker hopes could help pay college tuition for her son someday, or at the very least, get him a real car.

It’s the only way she figures she’ll be able to save any money for her son, who is now 12, since she can’t start a savings account for him.

Barker lives in a public housing unit on Green Road, where her rent goes up or down based solely on any income or financial assets she and her son get. The food benefits she receives from the government are also affected by their income.

The system might seem to make sense - until you consider what it means for the people who depend on it, Barker said.

“If I wanted to save up the money and put a down payment on a house, I can’t. It’s impossible to move out of here,” Barker said. “It’s the catch-22.”

Living in public housing

The public housing apartments run by the Ann Arbor Housing Commission look pretty similar to a typical apartment complex.

But instead of having a leasing office, the complexes have community centers run by local non-profit agencies. The offices provide programs for children, help navigating the public and private assistance system, and emergency assistance.

Children can get things like free piano lessons, books and tutoring. Adults can take occasional classes, like personal finance or parenting, and a women’s club meets regularly.

The apartments don’t tend to offer all the amenities - like a washer and dryer - that one might look for in a place to live. “You get a shell and you fill it,” Barker said.

Special Project: Ann Arbor's Hidden Poor - Part 2 NEW: Getting healthy food to residents who are hungry poses challenge NEW: Network of food resources sees increased demand Struggles grow as job losses pull more famlies into poverty Low-income living takes resourcefulness Area's resources for help stretched thin Past 18 months have hit county's residents hard Hikone community center lifts chances for success Patchwork of programs provides help with food Percentage of Ann Arbor students receiving free/reduced school lunches Resources: Where to go for help in the Ann Arbor area Why we did this series on local poverty

The first floor of her apartment has a kitchen with enough room for a small table and a China cabinet that holds a smorgasbord of items that mean something to Barker. Her living room is filled by a couch, an entertainment center, a table of plants and various family photos and toys.

Upstairs, she’s squeezed a queen-sized bed into her bedroom and keeps a book of inspirational scripture passages by her bed. Son Alex’s room has a twin-sized bunk bed and is crammed with toys and bedding he hasn’t put away. The apartment’s single bathroom is between the two rooms, and because it has no counter space, Barker’s dad added a shelf above the sink.

Her basement is the storage room for everything that won’t fit upstairs. That’s where Barker keeps winter boots, holiday decorations, boxed pasta meals and other pantry items - as well as nearly a dozen boxes of toy metal cars.

Barker and her family

Nearly 20 years ago, as Barker was changing a roll of plastic on a large lamination machine at work, she got her arm caught and was pulled into the machine.

By the time co-workers could pull her out, her nerves were so severely injured that it affected her ability to move her arm or even walk. She spent several years in a wheelchair. That injury and other life circumstances led to clinical depression, she said.

Barker has since improved, but she and her son live off disability checks. She receives help from Medicare and Medicaid and gets reduced rent based on her relatively fixed income.

While her son is at school during the day, Barker spends much of her time running errands, checking e-mail and playing computer games on the computer she bought hoping it would help her complete online college courses last spring.

She wanted to turn the training she’d received from Washtenaw Community College a few years ago into a nursing certification. The associate's degree she earned at the time still hangs on her living room wall.

But Barker ended up failing classes back then and couldn't complete the training, in part because so much of her time is consumed by caring for her son. He suffers from Asperger’s syndrome and other developmental disorders characterized by difficulties with social interactions, language, eccentric behavior and mood swings that include excessive arguing with adults.

She takes him to several doctor and therapy appointments almost every week, making it nearly impossible to finish classes or take on a regular day job.

“Until I can get him better on the straight and narrow, I don’t want to start anything I can’t finish,” she said.

Barker said she craves the feeling of being helpful and useful. So she spends much of her time doing research that might help her and her neighbors. A large binder she keeps in her living room is filled with lists and contact numbers of different resources, so when someone asks for advice, she can point the person in the right direction. She helped one resident figure out financing and helped another find a nonprofit that would help with her large family.

Barker helps out at the community center as much as she can, cooking meals, gathering paperwork when Community Action Network workers aren’t available and organizing projects. She drives to Food Gatherers to pick up weekly donations of food for the center, earning the extra benefit of scoping out the things she and her neighbors might want. She takes a group of neighborhood kids with her to church on Sundays.

"This is the community of which I live in," Barker said. "It is what you make it."

Although she gets assistance and many of her neighbors live off low fixed incomes, she bristles at describing them as “poor” or living in “poverty.” Those words connote many negative characteristics, among them laziness and desolation, that just don't apply to her and her neighbors, she said.

Some residents do side jobs for money. Others say they and other residents sometimes barter or offer to help each other when they can. People learn quickly to be resourceful.

“Everybody’s trying here,” Barker said.

Shopping down to the dollar

Barker never wastes her money on foods like peanut butter or tuna fish.

She knows those items are generally available from the non-profit Food Gatherers, as are items like canned soups and vegetables.

Occasionally, items like snack bars or a recent shipment of fruit juice boxes come to the community center through Food Gatherers. When they were given to residents, the juice boxes had no straws, which is likely why they were donated in the first place.

Barker has a shopping system. She gets a check once a month and has to budget it to last until the next month. She’s gotten good at finding deals and heads to the store to pick them up after reading the circulars.

On a recent trip to the grocery store, Barker drove to nearby Kroger. She often avoids driving by taking the bus, but said she takes a car when she knows she’ll have more than a backpack full of food.

At the store, Barker made a beeline to the end of the meat freezer where the “Manager’s Specials” are displayed. She usually avoids buying meat because of the cost, but found success when she spotted a pound of ground beef set to expire the next day on sale for about $3. She can freeze it and make Hamburger Helper at some point, she said.

She already knew milk was on sale, so she picked up a gallon. Then it was on to the weekly sale items on special for $1 each.

She grabbed some sour cream: $1. Some cottage cheese: $1. A few packs of cinnamon rolls, Lunchables, off-brand toaster pastries and powdered doughnuts: $1 each.

“It’s all junk fast food,” she said as she checked out. But it’s all stuff she knows her son will eat and will last a while. The bill came to $16.97, plus $6.50 for her prescriptions. She swiped her state-issued Bridge Card for the groceries and paid cash for the rest.

Back in the car, she talked about the other ways people learn to save money. It’s $1 to rent movies at the local library, she said as she drove by.

Sheets, blankets, appliances and clothes can be found at places like the Ann Arbor PTO Thrift Shop on South Industrial Highway and the Salvation Army on State Street. She and a friend once found a brand new suit on sale for $4.

“Especially if you’re entering the workforce, you can get some good deals there," Barker said. "You can do it reasonably priced.”

She’s found furniture and appliances at the Ann Arbor ReUse Center on South Industrial. To buy the electronic games her son and the neighbor children love, the best place to go is GameStop, she said. She can find refurbished games for as low as $1.99 there, she said.

Driving down Washtenaw Avenue, Barker pointed out a gas station that almost always has good deals. Gas was $2.59 a gallon that day, less than the $2.62 down the street and $2.72 a little ways back.

At the Ypsilanti Kmart, Barker searched for multivitamins her doctor suggested and looked for new Hot Wheels, which sell for $1 apiece. She peeked at some of the toys on sale while she walked past.

It reminded her the holidays are fast approaching, a time that can induce stress as residents try to find ways to afford gifts for their kids. Some agencies provide gifts - under varying rules.

“I think it’s a huge deal. A lot of residents might not say it is. For me, it’s a big deal. I put ‘From Santa Claus’ on it,” Barker said. “When he was younger, it would’ve been easier because you can get dollar store wrapping paper and dollar store toys. When they’re older, they start wanting more expensive things.”

Her and her "job"

When her son arrived home on a recent afternoon from school, he headed for the living room and fell to a heap on the floor in front of his mother.

They have a system, and she rattled off the subjects.

“Math?” she said.

“Yes,” he replied.

“Science?”

“No.”

“Social studies?”

“No.”

“OK,” she said. “Can you go into the other room and start working on your math now?”

The nightly battle began.

It starts with joking threats of tickling, followed by coaxing and cajoling reminders - then threats of taking away cable TV or the chance to go to Boy Scouts.

But her son was distracted, and the moment his mom stopped pestering him, he began playing with a balloon before pulling out a gun with foam darts.

When told again to start his homework, he shouted in frustration that he would do it later. "Do it now," Barker told him.

“It’s like this every single night,” Barker said.

It’s a challenge that at times becomes overwhelming. She alternates between frustration and worry about her son.

Barker wants to teach her son more independence but also wants to be more supportive than a lot of parents often are, especially considering his special needs. She said she wants to set him up for success in the future, if only she can get him through high school and can find a way to afford college tuition. A girl who used to live by them got a scholarship to play basketball at Ohio State University. It’s been a big boost of confidence to residents about the kind of success their kids can achieve.

It makes her hopeful for her own son, though she admits she knows the toy cars may never amount to much.

“At least it’s something,” she said.