Case Histories

Examples of Homeless Families
Served by Beyond Shelter

• A 33-year-old Caucasian female became homeless when she and her six children fled an abusive relationship and moved into a domestic violence shelter. During her shelter stay, her son tried to commit suicide and her sister sold off all of her belongings.

• A young, homeless African-American couple with a 5-week-old son came to Beyond Shelter’s Homeless Access Center with no place to stay for the night, looking for housing after spending all of their savings on hotel rooms.
  
  

• A homeless, 35 year-old African-American divorced mother of four young children came to Beyond Shelter for emergency help with housing. She left an abusive relationship three years prior and had been unable to sustain any kind of permanent housing since that time. Although she had been working consistently, she had recently depleted all of her funds living in motel rooms.
  
  

• A  27-year-old single Latina mother of seven children, ages 3 months to 8 years, including two sets of twins (one set with developmental disabilities), was living in a rodent-infested garage when they were referred to Beyond Shelter for housing. This mother became homeless after she was evicted from her apartment for being two weeks behind in her rent.
  
  

•  A 41-year-old African-American male, recovering from alcoholism, was living in a downtown Los Angeles shelter with his 9-year-old son when he was referred to Beyond Shelter’s Homeless Access Center. The father had court-ordered custody of his son due to substance abuse and domestic violence findings against the mother. After leaving the household with his son, he stayed with various friends, but was eventually forced to move into a homeless shelter.
  
  

• A single 37-year-old Latina mother of three children became homeless due to a severe substance abuse problem. With a 20-year history of prostitution to support her habit, she was forced to give up custody of two of her children. She came to Beyond Shelter with one year of sobriety, ready to put her life back together, but was living in a downtown homeless shelter with her infant daughter.
  
  

•  A single 55-year-old African-American father of three teenage kids became homeless because he couldn’t pay his rent and was evicted from his housing. While he was making arrangements to move his family in with his mother, she died suddenly. With no other place to go, he and his children stayed in motel rooms until he ran out of money. By the time they came to Beyond Shelter, they were living out of their car.

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