Bay Area Residents Work Multiple Jobs in Order to Pay the Bills

To make it in the Bay, many people have to work two or three jobs and for one South Bay family, it's the only way to pay the bills.

By day, Angel Flores works at a packaging warehouse. By night, he's a janitor at a San Jose high school.

Flores moved to the Bay Area from Acapulco, Mexico, where he was a tour guide. Violence dried up the tourism industry there, so moved his family to San Jose.

Today, he's barely home, often working a third job as a roofer on weekends.

He says like all Mexicans, he gives his work 100% every day.

There are many people like Flores in Silicon Valley. According to Zillow, the median rate for rent in the region is more than $3,400 per month. That’s 64% higher than the national median.

Sacred Heart Community Services says their requests for help are increasing. The agency helps up to 600 families per day with food boxes and other services, but they're struggling to keep us as well.

The agency gave out $30 million in rental assistance last year. Now they're having to turn some working families away because the funds are drying up.

"There are a lot of misconceptions about poverty and I think a lot of people make it into an individual failing," Demone Carter with Sacred Heart said. "But our work with people experiencing poverty tells us a different story."

Flores is now preparing to file his federal income tax forms, part of what he describes as his appreciation to a country that he says allows him to provide for his family.

When he finally returns home from the nightshift, he'll try to get a few hours of sleep before heading off to his day job, a sacrifice he makes so his family can make it.