“Anya” was fortunate to have grown up in a stable household with both parents, experiencing the security of renting and owning homes. Her housing instability didn’t begin until adulthood.
To support her family, Anya worked as the live-in caregiver for her father, who was battling cancer. But in 2016, her father passed away. With his death, Anya lost not only a beloved parent but also her job and her home. Unable to secure another caregiving client before rent was due, she was forced to leave their apartment. Separated from her partner, she bounced between motels, shelters, and rented rooms.
Anya vividly remembers the difficulty of navigating homelessness: “I was spending all day, every day, calling agencies just to get help staying in a hotel for one more night,” she said. At one point, she and her infant son were offered a tent. Finding a job was nearly impossible without childcare or a stable environment. “I wasn’t even in the right headspace to hold a job. Not having a support system meant I had to figure it out on my own.”
Anya’s situation became even more urgent when she began fleeing domestic violence. “The first shelter I went to, I was still being stalked and harassed.” For her protection, she was relocated to a domestic violence shelter in a neighboring city. There, Anya received a Tenant-Based Rental Assistance (TBRA) voucher—a lifeline that provided temporary, transitional housing support. This marked a turning point in her journey. After a year in the program, she was offered a Housing Choice Voucher.
Since then, Anya has enrolled in the Family Self-Sufficiency program at HOSWWA, where she continues to make progress toward her goals. With the support of stable housing and the FSS program, Anya now has a reliable car, is working on improving her credit, and is advancing in her career. She is currently employed and working toward her Home Care Aide certification—a steppingstone toward her ultimate goal of becoming a Certified Nursing Assistant.
For Anya, housing was the turning point. “This really does help people,” she reflects. Securing a safe, stable place to live became the foundation for everything that followed. Once she and her child were no longer in survival mode, she could finally focus on healing, rebuilding, and moving forward.
“I’m most thankful for my housing voucher, and getting a secure, permanent place to be. That was the root of all my progress,” she shares. With safety came clarity—and with clarity came pride. “I feel like I wouldn’t have gotten to where I am without housing. I feel excited. I’m able to do things that make me feel proud.”
Anya’s journey is a powerful reminder that with the right support, people can not only survive hardship—they can thrive beyond it.