Why was faith allowed to live in a motel room?

[Poppy royal]

I'm guessing she's a minor so would that be illegal??

 

[Blaze]

Either she had a fake ID, or the motel was paid by the Council, or the motel didn't care. I've seen all 3 possibilities happen in real life, so it's not far fetched.

 

[Poppy royal]

I never got the impression that giles,wesley or the council paid for anything

 

[Lyri]

Though Faith's age is never actually stated, considering Buffy was 18 in S3, it's not that hard to believe that Faith was the same age. Meaning she would have been legally and adult and therefore, capable of living wherever she wanted. I also find it hard to believe that Faith would have accepted money or lodgings from any Watcher who wasn't her original Watcher. She's just not the kind of person to accept charity.

It's also a widely held belief among certain parts of the fandom that Faith is in fact older than Buffy, making her 18 in her first appearance. Given that we're never told if someone can be 'too old' to be the Slayer, apart from Kennedy's own musings, which are never backed-up, and we see Slayers as old as 19 being Called, it's not a wild theory.

 

[white avenger]

I never got the impression that Giles, Wesley or the Council paid for anything

Well, Faith had to have some sort of income from somewhere, even to be able to live in a fleabag hotel like that one. I've always thought that she harvested assorted valuables and/or weapons from some of the demons she took down, then sold them to someone likely to not be too squeamish about buying such things, like, maybe, Willie.

As for the original question, I always thought that Giles was so used to Buffy not needing any assistance with her housing that it completely slipped his mind to bother to check where Faith was living during the short time that he was her Watcher, then when Wes came along, he simply assumed that Giles had taken care of that detail. Basically, it was a double screw up.

 

[Fuffy Baith]

As for the original question, I always thought that Giles was so used to Buffy not needing any assistance with her housing that it completely slipped his mind to bother to check where Faith was living during the short time that he was her Watcher, then when Wes came along, he simply assumed that Giles had taken care of that detail. Basically, it was a double screw up.

Giles is so Mr. Responsible I would think one of his first questions when he talks to Faith about staying in Sunnydale would be where she is staying. I don't know if he would inform the council and that they would pay for it. We know Kendra lived with her watcher and that some of the potentials had watchers, don't know if they lived with them though. It is a good question of how and where Faith got her money. Maybe she 'obtained' stuff to sell, maybe she used her slayer strength to hustle money out of guys at arm wrestling or sports or something. We don't really know what Faith did with her days other than watch tv and go to the Bronze.

 

[white avenger]

The problem with Faith is that she is so much of a mystery. We never actually saw her do anything that she did unless she was with Buffy or the Scoobies, and later, Mayor Wilkins. What she did all day, where she went to eat, whether she had any sort of social life, nothing. She's like one of the red shirts on "Star Trek," just there in the shadows, ready to be called in when she's needed, then being pushed back off screen. Killing the Assistant Mayor and going rogue was the only way that she could get any attention.

 

[Poppy royal]

Maybe more backstory of her childhood before she came to sunnydale would have cleared up theses issues.what even happened in her childhood?

 

[thetopher]

Maybe more backstory of her childhood before she came to sunnydale would have cleared up theses issues.what even happened in her childhood?

We can only really infer a lot of stuff; childhood neglect, some sort of physical abuse at the hands of her (now deceased) mother, Dad was in jail since she was young, poverty, high school drop-out, not many friends.

'Go Ask Malice' is a very good account of fleshing out Faith's time before coming to Sunnydale- covering her relationships, family stuff, her Watcher and her first encounter with Kakistos.
It's not canon but it doesn't really contradict anything that was on the show, and CG said that he used some of it as inspiration for how to depict Faith's relationship with her Dad.