AUSTIN, Texas — An Austin teacher started a GoFundMe to help him afford somewhere to live after he has been sleeping in his car for over a month.
"This is as far as I can go, and I just kick my feet on the side of the pedals," Bill Atkinson explained as he showed KVUE how he sleeps in his car.
He said he's been sleeping in his car with laundry, no AC and all of his belongings.
"I do park at my school," Atkinson said. "I park in a position where I don't get a lot of parents parking around my car, so they're not as prevalent."
The fourth-grade teacher is sleeping in his car because of student loan debt and other bills that are making it impossible for him to find a place to live, even with odd jobs on the side.
"With apartment complexes now checking credit to get approved, I can't even get approved at places I can afford and I make, technically, too much for income-based housing," Atkinson said.
To qualify for Section 8 housing, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) says eligible households can not exceed an annual gross income of 50% of the median income. In Austin, the median income for a single person is $88,200 annually, and 50% of that is $44,100.
The HUD also requires 75% of all new households admitted to be at or below 30% of the area median income. In Austin, 30% of the median income for one person is $26,500.
Atkinson said his teacher salary is about $53,000 a year.
As of August, Zillow shows the average rent in Austin is $1,436.
"I can tell you that many of our educators are living paycheck to paycheck," Ovidia Molina, president of Texas State Teachers Association, said.
Molina said teachers are leaving the field due to low wages, and she believes the state needs to step up.
"We have teachers that leave the profession because they're going to make more money and be able to raise a family, to be able to purchase a home," Molina said.
Atkinson agrees the state needs to step up. He's also calling for the state to increase wage limits for affordable housing.
"Especially for those who are in that middle between – 'OK, you're a little bit above the poverty line but not really,'" he said. "And then also to teachers need to be unionized."
Atkinson said teaching is his calling and he wants to stick around, so he hopes to hit his GoFundMe goal of $13,600 to clear his debt and move out of his car and into an actual home.