Our Stories: Jose

Hello everyone my name is Jose and even though English is my second language I want to make the effort to speak to you about something very important to me today.

I am single a father of a 21 month old little boy. For almost a year I was homeless with my son. I had been on waitlists for both public housing and section 8. It was very hard for me not to be able to provide a stable situation for my son because I had raised 5 other children with a lot of success, three who are in the military. This made it difficult for me to know that I was being judged because I homeless with my son.

If I had access to an MRVP voucher I would have been in a very different situation for the first year and a half of my son’s life. It is not easy to work while you live in shelter because of the difficult living situation and the restrictions from both the shelter and DTA.

Families should all have stable homes to raise their children. There should also be money invested in programs that will keep them out of shelter so that the children can go to school or day care with out having to jump back and forth and the parents can work. MRVP is one of the programs that would have helped me and the families that were sheltered with me.

I am so exited to have just moved into my new apartment but I will not forget what my son and I went through. I want help for the families I left behind. I want help for the families that will take my place in the shelter. I want help from you. Please support MRVP.