Homeless: The Motel Kids of Orange County

In Homeless: Children Of the Working Poor, Alexandra Pelosi follows children living in motels as their families struggle to survive in one of the richest zip codes in America.

JOURNEYS WITH GEORGE director Alexandra Pelosi turns her attentions from politics to homeless children in this thought-provoking documentary. Despite its close proximity to Disneyland, life can be tough in Orange County, and nobody knows that better than the children who are forced to live in cramped hotel rooms while their parents struggle to earn an honest living. Despite being employed as a mechanic, six year old Rudee's father can't afford to rent an apartment for his family. In the past Rudee has slept in the bushes, but these days she sleeps with her mom and dad in a hotel room that costs nearly $900 a month to rent. Meanwhile, 11 year old friends Brenda and Meygan repeatedly find themselves battling bedbugs despite the fact that hotel management claims to have the problem under control, and a widowed mother of four works long shifts as a parking lot attendant at Disneyland just to keep her children well fed. Everyone who lives in the hotel dreams of better days, but with the economy in the gutter and no end in sight, most have relegated themselves to a difficult life on the margins of society. As Pelosi allows them the opportunity to tell their stories, we come to understand that the only thing that separates these desperate, hungry people from their comfortable, middle-class counterparts is a single stroke of bad luck.