His mother, meanwhile, is trying to get them out of here. She loves the hospitality, but she and her kids share a single barracks-like room with two other families, which is too close for everyone's comfort. At the Union, Brown said, she has come to grips with her failures and rationalizations and vowed to rediscover her pride.
"My first night here I cried," Brown said. "My mother said she wouldn't be my crutch any more. I have to become a better adult on my own. A better mother. I have two beautiful children and myself to live for."
And so she's taking in-house courses on parenting, financial management and basic life skills. Brown, 27, is smart and well-spoken and figures she can go back to work in a customer relations or sales job, like she used to have.
But where will she live? And what about thousands of others just like her?
I watched as Brown ran through a morning ritual at the Union, where she waits her turn for a computer and checks apartment listings.
"I go to low-income housing in California, but the only ones that look promising are in the Jungle," she said, referring to a section of the Crenshaw district. "There's too much crime and shooting to raise my kids there."
She made her way onto the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development website and clicked on subsidized apartments in Southern California.
"Let's try Lakewood," she said, launching a search for two-bedroom apartments.
After a few seconds, the computer had her answer.
"No properties meet your criteria."
"You see? There's not much out there. I just have to keep my hopes up and do the things I have to do."
She tried Inglewood, and only one property popped up. The Manor Park Apartments on Market Street.
"I already applied there," Brown said. "They told me it was six months to a year waiting list."
Six months, one year, two years. She and other women I spoke to said that's always the case.
Next Brown tried non-assisted housing. She went to a site called Rentline.com and clicked on Glendale, where a two-bedroom was listed at $1,300. In Crenshaw, a one-bedroom was $785, a two-bedroom $995. In Inglewood, a one-bedroom would run her $750.
Her monthly government assistance check?
It's $342.
She's owed $225 a month in child support, Brown said, but she's not holding her breath for that. One father was in the slammer, last she heard, and the other hasn't been racking up any Dad of the Year awards.
