Our Stories: Tina

Good morning every one my name is Tina, and I am a single mother to two wonderful boys. I became homeless in 2002 and remained that way until February of 2007 for a total of 5 years. Initially I was placed in an emergency shelter, then I was lucky enough to get into a therapeutic community program. The countless number of people on the waitlists and lack of access to subsidized or truly affordable housing was the reason I remained homeless for so long.

I made the best of my time at the community program and was granted a spot in their transitional housing program. This is a more independent environment for families who are trying to obtain housing while living their everyday busy lives. In my time there I went back to school, joined community groups, and became employed but still not making enough to pay market rent. I was doing all I could to move forward but it was still hard with out a real home for my children, we needed real stability.

After several years of searching for permanent housing I learned that I would have to reapply for shelter because I had exceeded the time limit in the transitional unit. After re applying my boys and I were moved from Boston to New Bedford two The change was difficult. We went from a more independent environment to two adolescent boys sharing a single room with their mom.

I began to advocate like never before for my housing. After many years, a lot of hard work and advocating for my self, I finally got my apartment. In February of 2007 my boys and I moved in to our new home. I have never forgotten the feeling of being homeless and am now committed to working to make a difference for others sharing similar experiences. Now that I have housing my life is organized and stable. My children don’t need to keep changing schools and I can work with out worrying about where I’m going to live.

As I continue to work on making change I meet new homeless families daily, I find myself wondering when it will end. The MRVP could prevent thousands of families from spending months or even years in shelter at a cost of 3000 a month. This would save the state millions of dollars and families from a very traumatic experience. You have the power to help make this change by funding M R V P, thank you.