(Thanks Stella for sharing this story with us through our page).
I was the pregnant homeless for the moment…separated from my husband last year. My pregnancy was spent on the singles floor of a homeless shelter surrounded by strangers while my husband was in a separate males only shelter. People treated me like sh*t. Some people think being in a bad spot and having a child makes you scum of the earth. People asked to adopt my baby. Reamed me out for “being selfish” by keeping her because of our situation, even tho it was TEMPORARY. Got told I should’ve aborted. My own (horrible person MIL) coldly told me just throw her in foster care or the system while we got it together. I refused. I wanted my daughter so bad.
For your information – we had it all and within two months of finding out I was pregnant, we both lose our jobs and went through thousands of savings trying to stay afloat. Ended up homeless. We WERE frugal. We were responsible. All it takes is a bad few months. For ANYONE thinking only homelessness happens due to errors or irresponsibility or gambling or sh*t you are so mistaken. Trust me financial irresponsibility rarely plays a factor. It can happen to anyone unless you have millions laying around and family all-around to help.
My hub worked his butt off to get a new job and get us into a transitional housing program – a studio connected to the shelter through an emergency program.
I got an amazing job a month ago. High paying, 45 hours a week with overtime, one I truly love doing and am heading towards promotion in.
Today….we applied for a beautiful 2 bedroom apt we can afford. First three months of rent covered from savings. My mom is moving here to cover daycare costs. Three of us will be bringing in income. Once we get approved (edit – APPROVED!) which we will our move-in will be March 1st.
Y’all. It’s over. I cried myself to sleep every night last summer pregnant in the shelter swearing I would do ANYTHING to give us a good life and get on our feet again. I kept asking God why we lost everything and I kept swearing I didn’t care how hard it would be, I was gonna give my little girl stability no matter what. I worked most of my pregnancy but could never earn enough to get a place on my own.
I see so many people say “all the homeless have to do is WORK and they’ll be okay” but that is dead wrong in most cases. I’m honestly lucky I WAS able to work to get to this point. I was LUCKY I had everything I did to get up again. So much went into rebuilding my life – resources, work, eligibility, lack of disabilities and lack of addictions, education, etc. We worked just to keep a bed in the shelters – shelter for the homeless is NOT guaranteed and most people aren’t aware of this. “Just” work is almost never enough for the truly homeless.
It’s finally happening. Been homeless since last April and we just applied today and sign our lease Wednesday. It’s over.
My mom will be here. I miss her so much. I’m crying I’m so happy – we can afford rent & bills on my income alone but with my hub and mom we will be very stable and comfortable.
I’m just so happy. It’s OVER. No more shelters no more transitional housing – a home of our own.
