Juanita
Juanita is twenty-six and she resides in a Queens family residence shelter. She is an intelligent woman who not only got her GED, but also attended college. At one time, she had dreams of finishing college and getting a great job, but those dreams have been put on hold for now.

While Juanita was residing in an apartment on her college campus, she was also raising her son. She and her son stayed in a special unit that allowed single mothers and their children to live together on campus. She worked long hours to pay her tuition bills and to cover daily living expenses.

During the spring semester of 2001, Juanita fell sick with a chronic illness. She found the illness, combined with being a single mother, employee and student, to be overwhelming. She had to quit her job and could no longer afford to pay her rent. She describes the situation with sadness in her eyes. “Since I couldn’t afford to stay in my own apartment, I went to stay with my older sister and her fiancé, but since we did not get along, she threw me out. Not only did I have to quit college, but I also didn’t have a place to stay.”

Juanita’s only hope to find a home was through the EAU [Emergency Assistance Unit]. “A friend of mine, who had also been to the EAU, told me about the services that they provide. I went to the EAU, filled out all the paper work and then they put me in an overnight shelter, which was filthy! The next day I went back to the EAU and they told me that I would be placed in East River shelter. I stayed there for a couple of weeks and then they moved me to Colonial shelter. They just keep moving you from place to place until you are found eligible for a [shelter]. After Colonial, I went to Skyway shelter and stayed there for three months. For each time they didn’t find me eligible, I had to start over and reapply. While I kept applying, they moved me to different overnight shelters every night. I went through the application process five times! When they finally found me eligible, I was put into this family residence shelter. I have been here for about four months.”

Juanita has attended college and held several jobs over the past few years. "During my summer vacations in college, I used to work as a counselor at a private clinic. I was also a medical assistant for eight months. I did administrative work for about a year. I also worked in the library in my college. I was a restaurant assistant for a year and am still actually employed by the same company. The reason I can’t work there while I am in this shelter is because they have strict curfew times. The hours they need me to work are not suitable for the regulations of this shelter. My last job was bartending. All of the jobs that I have held have slipped away from me because either I had to take care of my son without any support from his father, or I did not have enough time to work and study at the same time. I would work at any job I could, but after a while nothing seemed to work out. I had too many responsibilities to handle all by myself. If I got some support from my family or even my son’s father, I would not be homeless today.”

Juanita states how reluctant she was to receive any public assistance. “I want to work. People think that anyone in a shelter is lazy and doesn’t want to work. Lots of us would love to work if we just got the opportunity. Look at how many jobs I have held in the past, does that show that I am lazy? It’s just these circumstances that we encounter that put us at the bottom of the ladder. We are all human beings. These harsh situations that we have to deal with cause us to need more help that others. I wish I could work and provide for myself without getting any assistance. I will soon find my own job and apartment. Once I am able to provide for myself, I will feel stable again.”

See other stories at "Homeless Voices."