Welfare Rolls See First Climb in Years

In this environment, few have fallen as far as a couple named Roberto and Camille, who seven years ago looked online for lists of the 10 best places in the country to live. They were drawn to Fort Myers's weather and water, its housing costs, the schools for their three children, and the thriving employment picture -- for him, a commodities investor and mortgage broker, and for her, a postal worker who was eager to use her real estate license again.

Roberto, who asked that the couple's last name not be disclosed because only one of his 10 siblings knows of their circumstances, made his first million in the commodities market when he was 25. By the time the family arrived in Cape Coral, he had $4.5 million in about 50 commodities accounts. The assets kept swelling, to $7.2 million.

They chose a $647,000 lakeside house in a gated community, with four bedrooms and bathrooms, a media room and a pool. They bought nine more houses as investments. And in 2005, they incorporated a business, blending his mortgage brokerage with her real estate work.

But her last house sale was in December 2006, and they've had no salary for more than 1 1/2 years. Their commodities accounts collapsed. "Every single bit of my savings is gone," Roberto said.

They've lost five of their rental houses, and four are vacant and in foreclosure. They owe $80,000 in income taxes, Camille said, "and real estate taxes, forget it, that's more." Their Cadillac was repossessed, and the water in their home was turned off until they worked out a cash-only payment plan. She held a garage sale this month but made just $45.

Camille is waiting on a license to run a day-care center. "I am usually the hopeful one," she said, ". . . but sometimes hope doesn't pay the bills." Roberto is in New Jersey, where the couple met in high school, getting computer training and contemplating a move back.

When he talked about applying for welfare, she didn't want to hear it. "I don't want the benefits," she said, "even though I need it."

So when he came home a few days before Thanksgiving, she stayed away from the kitchen when he got out his computer. He filled out the welfare application online, his laptop perched on their gleaming granite counter.