Losing Housing and Seeking Shelter

Patrice is a mother and grandmother who has always taken care of her family, regardless of the many hardships that have come her way. As of last September, she and her two teenaged granddaughters were happily living together, and Patrice had a good job as a caregiver at an assisted living facility. But suddenly their lives were completely uprooted.

It was the time of year when her grandkids were getting back into their school routine, and the morning had been busy. Patrice was at work when she got a bad feeling about something. “I usually got done with work at 4:30 p.m. but something told me to go home, so I left at 2:30 p.m. that day,” Patrice remembered. “When I got back to my apartment, there was a crowd of first responders and neighbors standing around my door – it had burned completely and was still smoking.”

Patrice received a candle as a gift from a coworker earlier that week, and she was horrified to realize that she must have accidentally left it burning. In complete shock, Patrice frantically tried wiping soot off the blackened walls and couch. It took a while before reality set in; she wouldn’t be able to save their home. At that moment, Patrice remembered that her granddaughters were returning from their basketball game soon. She needed to come up with a plan, fast.

Working Hard and Making Progress

Patrice was also glad to discover that the Family Service Center already contacted the school district about transportation so her granddaughters could easily travel to their high school. And while the girls were at school each day, Patrice took advantage of the resources available at the shelter.

Patrice continued to work and save money and spent her free time studying in the computer lab to get a Community First Services and Supports (CFSS) certificate – a key certification for professional caregivers. Now, Patrice has her eyes on an apartment in St. Paul and wants to turn her past traumatic experiences into a skillset that she can use to help other people.

“This place has been like a safety net for me, and the people here have your back,” explained Patrice. “I’m getting back on my feet – and I’m doing it for my granddaughters.”

Experiencing Homelessness as an Elder in Minnesota

Lee is a classic Minnesotan — he has lived his whole life in White Bear Lake and his ideal vacation includes fishing and sleeping under the stars in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

But Lee’s life has been challenging for as long as he can remember. Lee lost his father unexpectedly in high school and had to drop out to help pay rent. Lee spent most of his adult life supporting his mother, and making ends meet was never easy.

When Lee started a new career as a trailer mechanic, he was hopeful that it would improve their situation. But one day, Lee slipped at work and severely damaged his knee. Lee needed knee surgery and couldn’t return to work for a while. During Lee’s recovery, he was rear ended on the way to one of his medical appointments. The accident nearly killed him. “I got hit at about fifty miles per hour,” Lee stated, “and it permanently messed up my neck and back.”

Nowhere to Turn

Without anywhere to go or family to turn to, Lee began sleeping in the woods near his neighborhood.

“I couldn’t move around very well and sleeping on the ground with chronic pain is like torture,” Lee explained. “But I wanted to stay in the community I’d been in my whole life.”

Lee had a daily routine of going to the public library in White Bear to charge his phone and rest before returning to the woods to sleep. But one night a nasty storm blew through town and destroyed Lee’s camping setup. He was forced to abandon his belongings and call an ambulance for himself that night.

Resetting at Dorothy Day Place

Upon his release from the hospital, Lee was brought to the Dorothy Day Place campus. “I don’t know if someone was smiling down on me or what, but I was fortunate to get a shelter bed right away,” Lee remembered.

After six weeks in the overnight shelter, Lee moved into Focus Forward, a Catholic Charities program that offers intensive case management to help connect people with housing as quickly as possible. The programs serve people of many different circumstances, including elders experiencing homelessness in Minnesota. Lee described how the resource coordinator at Dorothy Day place made a difference for him: “She was like a godsend. She was kind to me right away, got me started with my paperwork, and even advocated for me when my eligibility for benefits was unclear.”

Now, Lee is in better health and is doing everything in his power to secure housing and work.

“I’ve got my eye on an apartment that’s only a block away from where my mom is buried in White Bear Lake,” Lee said. “It would be a perfect fit for me — I can’t wait to get back home.”

Suddenly homeless with nowhere to turn

Diana is the kind of person who puts others first. She is an experienced nursing assistant and a passionate mother who says that her children “mean everything” to her.

Diana moved to Minnesota at the end of 2021 in search of better opportunities for her family. Over the next six months, Diana did everything she could to establish a quality life for her kids. She found a good job, and her children were settling into their new home in Saint Paul. Diana was proud that she had kept her family safe and healthy through the coronavirus pandemic and was looking forward to the future.

That’s when disaster struck. A fire destroyed the duplex that Diana and her children called home — along with most of their belongings. “Just like that, we lost everything,” Diana said.

Suddenly, Diana found herself with no home and nobody to turn to for support. Her landlord wasn’t answering her calls, and she didn’t have any family who could help her. So, with no other options, Diana took her children to the nearest emergency shelter.

For the next year, Diana and her children lived in a few different shelters that serve families experiencing homelessness. Diana explained that some places were better than others, but it’s just hard to be in a shelter with young children — especially during the holidays. She couldn’t make them home-cooked meals, and they were constantly packing and unpacking their belongings. To Diana, it felt like no matter how much paperwork she filled out or how many calls she made, she would never find a place for her family.

Finding her way home

“I haven’t cried in a long time,” said Diana through tears. “These are happy tears, breakthrough tears. It’s a testimony to accomplishing something that I wasn’t sure I could … especially as a mom who’s only 28 years old and has little ones.”

Diana walked into Catholic Charities’ Family Service Center carrying the burden of the past year’s traumatic experiences. When she left, she carried some new paintings and the keys to a place that her family could call home. “I’ve been through a lot,” Diana said. “But this place really helped me … now I just want to sit back and watch my kids grow.”

For the first time since moving to Minnesota, Diana’s family will be home for the holidays. From marking her children’s heights on the wall, to hanging ornaments on a Christmas tree, having a place to live means stability for Diana’s family. More than anything, Diana is looking forward to building a foundation and creating core memories together with her family.

A life changing phone call

Carol describes herself as “one tough cookie.”

Having grown up in an abusive home and later navigating her own journey to sobriety as a young adult, Carol learned that she could rely on herself to figure things out. But in January 2020, Carol received a life-changing phone call—her son, Erik, was in the hospital after experiencing a massive left-brain stroke. At only 49 years old, Erik had been busy working as a professional photographer in St. Paul when this tragic event derailed his life. The stroke left Erik with severe mobility issues and unable to speak.

Light at the end of the tunnel

Carol was required to stay in a COVID isolation room with other who were very sick. She describes this time as, “insane and scary. You’re so displaced and you just lose touch. There was no place to go for peace and quiet—to get away from everybody else’s problems so you could focus on your own.”

While Carol recovered from COVID, she was connected to Catholic Charities’ Homeless Elders program, which provides intensive case management and advocacy on behalf of vulnerable older adults. It was then that Carol met Case Manager Melea Blanchard. “If it were not for her, I don’t think I would’ve made it,” says Carol. “After I met Melea, I could see a little light at the end of the tunnel. It was like somebody actually cared.”

Homeless elders program helps Carol start fresh

Melea worked to find housing for Carol that could also accommodate Erik. The two of them now live together in an apartment in St. Paul. “Since I have been out of the shelter, and Erik could come home, I think he has improved significantly,” Carol shares.

With stable housing, Carol has been able to manage her own health and secure resources for Erik as he works through speech and physical therapy. They still face challenges, but with a place to call their own—Carol says, “We are doing the best we can with what we’ve got.”

Carol lent her lived expertise at the Minnesota Capitol this year, testifying in support of Catholic Charities’ Homeless Elders program. “I’m an activist at heart”, Carol says, “seniors are not disposable. We are not stupid. We deserve dignity and respect.” With Carol’s help, legislation was passed that will make a difference for other older adults facing homelessness or in need of other support in our community!