‘RHORI’: What Is Hidden Homelessness? Alicia’s Experience Explained
On RHORI, Alicia Carmody and Liz McGraw have sparred over the former’s claim that she was homeless during her childhood. During a dinner, Carmody tells the other Housewives that she was homeless after her father left and sold their family home. This forced Carmody and her family to move into her grandmother’s basement. McGraw said she does not believe Carmody was ever homeless.
Liz has battled Alicia on ‘RHORI’ over her claim she was homeless during childhood
On this season of The Real Housewives of Rhode Island, Carmody and McGraw’s battle over whether or not Carmody was homeless during her childhood has been a major plot point. Carmody explained that her father walked out on their family during her childhood and sold their family home out from under them. This forced Carmody and her mother to move into her grandparents’ house.
“I kind of feel like he took my home,” Carmody said on an episode of the show. “That’s considered homeless. I had to go back with my grandparents in a f***ing basement.”
Despite this, McGraw has repeatedly pushed back against Carmody’s claim. She has known Carmody for much of her life, and said that because she had a family to fall back on, she can’t describe herself as homeless.
‘RHORI’ star Alicia is describing hidden homelessness
While Carmody never lived on the street, her childhood experience fits the description of “hidden homelessness.” This type of homelessness typically goes unreported, but it’s the most common way of experiencing homelessness in the United States.
According to the Chicago Coalition to End Homelessness, “temporarily staying with others due to economic hardship or housing loss is the way that most people — particularly families with children — experience homelessness in the United States. Also known as ‘doubling up,’ this form of homelessness is a precarious means of survival, associated with the same risk factors and negative outcomes as those staying in shelters or outdoor locations.”
She told Liz to stop bringing up her family
On a recent episode of Watch What Happens Live!, McGraw defended her reaction to Carmody.
“For everything I’ve ever known about Alicia, she was always, you know, had love around her, she was always clad in the best designers,” she said. “So for me to hear the word homeless … it was a knee-jerk reaction.”
She said that she wanted to protect McGraw from any “local backlash” to her description of her childhood. She added that she wasn’t trying to be malicious in her reaction.
“I didn’t know where she was going, I didn’t know how far she was going with it, and I never meant to downplay her feelings,” she said. “I always only wanted to protect Alicia.”
After this conversation, Carmody took to Instagram to tell McGraw to stop talking about her.
“I’m joining the conversation of my life story funny. I got to tell it,” she wrote, adding, “I think Liz needs to worry about her story and leave me and my family’s name out of her mouth now, it’s getting obsessive.”
McGraw responded to accuse Carmody of being the one to drag the storyline on.
