A Texas teacher is sharing his story of being homeless to show that other educators who are struggling aren’t alone.
In a GoFundMe post, Austin educator and TikToker Bill Atkinson said that he began living out of his car after a combination of “mistakes and bad luck.”
The teacher said having bad credit meant that he could not get approval for subsidized housing in the expensive metro area where he lives, where the average rent is just under $1,500 per month, according to Austin apartment data.
“Though I know my debts are my own, I am asking for assistance in paying them off,” Atkinson, who said he makes $54,000 a year as a fourth-grade teacher at NYOS Charter School, wrote in his online fundraiser.
In an interview with Good Morning America, Atkinson detailed how he ended up without a place to call home.
“No matter how much I borrowed or scraped, there was no catching up, because I just did not make enough to cover rent — because I was so used to living paycheck to paycheck, I didn’t have anything in savings to try to cover rent for a couple months,” he told the outlet. “So I tried to get a place, [but I] was having a hard time finding a place I could afford on my own.”
After his story went public, colleagues at NYOS reached out with a helping hand.
According to GMA, Administrators with the charter school helped Atkinson obtain a stipend that helped with gas money. He has also raised more than $17,000 on GoFundMe, which has allowed him to find housing thanks to a rental agency.
As for his decision to be so open about what happened, during his interview with GMA, the teacher said, “I’m telling my story because I’m not the only one with it, I’m just the one willing to be out there.”
Atkinson added, “I don’t know a single teacher that wants a mansion. We want to be able to pay our bills, have a decent place to live, you know, and if we’re in our 30s and single, a place to live without a roommate [and be able to] buy food. We are asking to be treated like professionals, because that’s what we are.”
