There used to be a holiday tradition in Precious Sarver’s home. Two Christmas trees. One for her, one for the kids.

This year, there’s only one tree.

It cost $5 at the dollar store. And it’s sitting on a table in the family’s eastside hotel room, where they’ve been living for more than a month.

“I do everything right,” Sarver said through tears, “and I end up here.”

Sarver, 46, said she and her three children had no choice after a landlord forced them out in hopes of charging more in rent to the next tenant.

Sarver spent some time looking for another place to live, but even the search is expensive. She estimated spending a couple hundred dollars just on application fees. The housing search became even more difficult after the death of her mother.

Now, Sarver is paying $343 each week for the hotel room. There are two full beds, an air mattress, TV, fridge and microwave.

“Look where I’m at,” she said. “I never would’ve thought in a million years that I’d be homeless.”

Sarver has already told her kids that Christmas will have to wait this year. That was after not being able to make them a Thanksgiving meal.

But the tree wasn’t optional. It’s an all-white miniature version, sharing table space with boxes of cereal and paper plates. The family loves the holiday season. Her oldest son counts down the days until B105.7 FM starts playing Christmas music.

“We do the Christmas thing,” Sarver said.

The only thing missing from the tree is ornaments. Those are sitting in one of the two storage units that Sarver is paying $180 for each month.

‘I can’t be the only one’

Sarver said she’s not the only one struggling at the hotel. There’s a mother with five or six kids, and another woman who just gave birth.

“I can’t be the only one,” she said. “I gotta imagine older people going through this is insane.”

They’re part of what homelessness advocates sometimes call the “hidden homeless.” They live out of their cars or double up with friends and family. Or, in Sarver’s case, they end up in an extended-stay hotel.

“Most of the people that clean this place live here with their kids,” she said.

Even outside of the hotel, Sarver can see the extent of the homelessness crisis in Indianapolis. There’s a woman who sits in the cold with a blanket, Sarver said, and no socks.

“So I stopped and gave her a McChicken,” she said. “I don’t have anything else.”

‘I know God’s got a plan’

Sarver said she takes pride in doing the right thing: paying bills on time, helping others, volunteering at a local school.

Things only got worse for Sarver’s family when she accidentally dropped $520 in the hotel hallway.

Security footage shows a man picking it up and walking away.

“That was my phone bill, food money, gas,” she said.

That money also could have helped Sarver cover a security deposit, which she said is one of the biggest obstacles between her family and a home. Plus, Sarver has a nerve condition in both legs that requires her to use a cane, so finding a home isn’t only about money. She also needs something accessible.

Sarver collects about $1,900 a month in disability payments between her and her youngest son, who has special needs. And she gets help paying rent through the Indianapolis Housing Agency’s Section 8 program.

But the program doesn’t help with a security deposit.

For that, Sarver said she’d need to come up with about $1,700.

It’s hard to see where that money will come from.

“But I know God’s got a plan,” she said. “It’s gotta be something else for us.”

Mirror Indy, a nonprofit newsroom, is funded through grants and donations from individuals, foundations and organizations.

Mirror Indy reporter Tyler Fenwick covers housing and labor. Contact him at 317-766-1406 or tyler.fenwick@mirrorindy.org. Follow him on X @ty_fenwick and Bluesky @tyfenwick.bsky.social.

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