11/06/2021
Jennifer came to the Rebele Family Shelter (RFS) after many years of experiencing homelessness. Read her powerful story of struggle and transformation here, and on our website at: https://housingmatterssc.org/jennifer/
āI grew up in Santa Cruz. My mom had me when she was 18 and raised me all on her own. She didnāt have many positive role models or good influences in her life and we used to fight often. I started experimenting with drugs at a young age, which continued until I was 26 years old. I was homeless on and off beginning at the age of 16 and I got into a lot of trouble. I was so young and naĆÆve.
I had my first daughter when I was 27. At that time I was living with her father. We had two more kids together but we eventually split up. He took everything from me. My credit went from good to extremely poor, and finding housing became very hard.
I hit dead end after dead end in my housing search and couldnāt find any property manager who would rent to me because of my credit. Eventually, I had to leave the house and I ended up homeless.
I had friends who let me stay at their place during this time so I didnāt have to be out on the street. I've maintained my storage too, so I haven't lost everything I have. But Iāve missed so many moments with my children.
While I was homeless, Iād go over to their dadās house and watch my girls throughout the day while he was at work. Weād all have dinner together and then Iād leave. It was like that for two years. I felt like their babysitter, like they werenāt even my kids.
And being away from them at night was really hard for them. They would call me and say, āmommy, do you have somewhere to stay tonight?ā. It's horrible to hear your children so worried about you so I made sure I always had a place to sleep, so they knew I was safe.
I often felt like giving up during this time, like I couldnāt do it, like I couldnāt make it happen... (cont'd)
