No home yet, but things are looking up for family of 6 evicted from SLO County motel
Editor’s note: This story is one in a series on the struggles people face finding housing in San Luis Obispo County.
Things are looking up somewhat for a Cambria family of six that was evicted from the motel they’d been living in, but they’ve still got a long way to go before they’re financially and residentially secure.
The parents, both in their 40s, are still searching for a more permanent place to live, but on Aug. 6, they relocated to large suite in an Atascadero residence hotel from two much smaller rooms at the Motel 6 in San Simeon.
A reader had alerted them to the most recent rental possibility.
It’s been a downward spiral for the Suhovich-Oxley family since January, when the Cambria home the couple had lived in for a dozen years, but were not majority owners of it, was sold and they had to move out. Thomas Oxley’s share of the proceeds didn’t last long when you need housing for six in a county where all lodgings are expensive. After trying unsuccessfully to find something they could afford to rent or buy anywhere in the county, the working couple had to eventually settle into two rooms at the Courtesy Inn (renamed the Pacific Coast Roadhouse after it was purchased earlier this year).
They had to move out of that motel in July, but a representative declined to say why, and the couple say they were never given a solid explanation. They lived in two rooms of the San Simeon Motel 6 motel for a while until they found the Home2 Suites by Hilton. the family’s rent there is down a bit. At about $2,680 every two weeks, it’s still dauntingly high and unmanageable on Suhovich’s wages at her three jobs.
What’s kept the family off the streets so far is the flood of donations — as high as $500 each — to their Gofundme account.
By Aug. 16, the fund had accumulated nearly $7,000 of a $10,000 goal to help the family buy food, relocate and pay other expenses while they comb their sources hoping to find suitable, more affordable housing.
The donations have been a “godsend from angels,” according to mom Diana Suhovich, but she’s not sure what they’ll do when that fund is depleted.
Even Suhovich’s eldest daughter Kirsten Pacheco, who lives in the Sacramento area and works at Target, has chipped in to help buy school clothes and other things for her siblings, purchases the family simply couldn’t afford this year.
In the meantime, the family’s new place sleeps six and has a kitchenette, with a dishwasher, big microwave oven, borrowed induction burner and a full-sized refrigerator, Suhovich said by phone on Aug. 16.
She was on a lunch break from her new full-time position as front desk receptionist at the Core Care chiropractic and physical therapy office in Cambria.
Her employment plays into her certification in medical administration and degree in medical billing and codes, studies she’d not been able to use professionally before.
“I love it,” she said happily of the job, which she considers to be one of most positive things that has happened to the family since after their rental home was sold.
Suhovich continues to work at Target in Paso Robles, but has reduced those hours to part time.
Even so, her workdays average 12 hours long, and her wages still don’t fully cover the family’s expenses.
She’s up at 5 a.m. on weekdays to get ready for work and get the kids ready for their school days at Coast Unified School District campuses.
Suhovich delivers the youngsters to school by 8:10 a.m., works, then picks them up after she gets off at 5:30 p.m. Most days, she heads to Target, where she works until at least 10:30 pm, and she also works there on most weekend days.
Fiancee Thomas Oxley continues looking for a job, tempered by the family’s need for him to care for the kids and their residence, plus his own need for knee-replacement surgery that can’t happen until they can afford it and are in a more permanent home where he can recover.
Suhovich is working to raise her credit rating, which has taken a beating since their eviction in January.
Inflation has been a further burden on the family’s financial outlook, with rents skyrocketing to astronomical heights.
“Just like everybody else, we’ve seen a huge hike in the cost of everything, gas, food,” she said. “We’re just trying to catch a break” that will help them keep a roof over their heads and establish a secure future for the family.
People with suggestions about possible rentals for the couple and their children can email Suhovich at diana.suhovich@gmail.com. You can donate to their Gofundme at bit.ly/3A22SDA.
This story was originally published August 20, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
