10/12/2026
Their “why”? Evictions, loss of employment, and health challenges.
Because of your support, this family had the time and stability they needed to work through the barriers facing them and now they’re in a home of their own!
Behind every family we serve is a story and no one can tell the their story better than THEY can. Here, they share the challenges they faced, what your support meant to them, and the joy of finally having a home of their own. ❤️
"My wife and I spent about ten or eleven years in South Carolina, working hard to build a life for our
family. Our oldest daughter, who is autistic, was born in 2016. Our youngest daughter was born on
July 4, 2023.
During those years, we faced housing problems that people don’t always understand unless they’ve
experienced them. We received eviction notices because landlords wanted to remodel, and we dealt
with unpredictable treatment from another landlord. That uncertainty eventually took a toll on my job
and our family’s life.
After working all those years, it was difficult to find ourselves facing homelessness. It was also
eye-opening to see how many people rallied around us and how many looked down on us as
though hardship meant we were incompetent.
If there is one thing I want landlords reading this to understand, it is this: please look at why an eviction happened before judging someone by it. We weren’t in that situation because we refused to pay rent, partied, or left a place a mess. Yet it felt like an eviction on our record could make us an immediate rejection, without anyone hearing the circumstances. Whether you’re filing an eviction or reviewing one on an application, please remember that there is a family and a story behind it.
We came to Michigan hoping for a fresh start with family, but the home was too crowded, and the
arrangement didn’t work out. On April 3, 2025, we arrived at Homeless Angels.
We thought we could get back to work, catch up on the children’s doctor appointments, save money,
and find a place. But health problems and stress made that much harder than we expected.
Living together in a small room with a small refrigerator and microwave made meals and routines
difficult. You don’t realize how precious cooking for your family is until you can’t easily do it. Work
became unpredictable, and my wife spent four or five months sick with liver inflammation before
doctors figured out the problem and she received help. Thankfully, she is doing much better now.
Assistance was another challenge. Having a job didn’t mean we could suddenly afford everything. In
our experience, reporting higher earnings could bring benefit changes with little time to adjust our
budget. During our years in South Carolina, we barely received SNAP assistance. Help mattered, but
accessing it and planning around it weren’t simple or quick.
Through all of this, Homeless Angels was a blessing.
We still had bills: fuel, car insurance, phones, Wi-Fi, and a large storage unit in South Carolina where
much of our life still sits. But not having a rent payment gave us breathing room. There were
cameras, monitoring, and rules, which we understood were part of the shelter. We knew we had
somewhere to return to where we felt mostly safe, without the same constant worry about rent or
another eviction.
Most importantly, the program gave us time. Time to address health problems, work toward better
support for our autistic daughter, and plan for work and careers for both my wife and me. When
you’re overwhelmed and unsure how you’ll manage each day, those things take time to untangle.
Receiving a housing voucher gave us hope, but securing a home took another five or six months.
There were still obstacles before we could move in. We kept working through them, and eventually,
we made it into a home of our own.
There is still a long road ahead. A home doesn’t instantly fix our health or finances, but it gives us a
place to cook, build routines, care for our children, and make plans we can follow through on. Hard work matters, but so does having an environment where that work can lead somewhere.
We’re grateful to Homeless Angels and the people who stood beside us while we fought to reach this point. Now we have a home—not the end of our journey, but a place where we can move forward with more stability."
Thank you for helping Homeless Angels give families the opportunity for a fresh start. ❤️
Welcome Home!!!
