By: Viola

Word on the Street Issue 47, September 2024

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I moved into my trailer 2 years ago this month. I was previously homeless for 5 years. Bouncing around from friends, family, motels and shelters. I was housed in Seattle but left my apartment because my ex was stalking my apartment and the cops didn’t uphold my ‘no contact order’. My daughter was scared and not going to school, so something had to change. I moved in with my sister but she had to give up her apartment and off on our journey we went. I ended up at Interfaith Sanctuary because my oldest daughter had stayed on the family side a couple of years before. Out of all the shelters and encampments I had stayed at, this was the first one to treat me with respect and dignity. The first time I stayed there, I was with my ex because I tried to make it work but after he got kicked out, we ended up at motels and then back in Ontario. After I sent him back to Seattle, I ended up back at Interfaith. After a couple of months I joined Project Well Being and that changed my life. At first I bucked up against the program director and her advice but then one day it clicked and my life began to change as I listened to her and worked the program. After being in the program for about a year and a half my name came up on the permanent supportive housing voucher. I had 3 months to use it or lose it. 1 week shy of losing it, I applied for my trailer. I finally signed the lease on the last day of my voucher. It was close. That was 2 years ago. It’s still been a struggle because our economy is shit. Everything is so expensive. But I fight the good fight every day and so far I’m still winning no matter how hard it is.