How a Family Experiences Homelessness
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 refuge at the Family Service Center
But in June 2023, Diana was connected with Catholic Charities’ Family Service Center shelter. “When I got to the Family Service Center, I felt so welcomed,” said Diana. “You could tell every morning that staff are happy and kind. They tell you that they care, and then prove it…you can always count on them being there to help.”
The Family Service Center shelters up to 21 families at a time in Ramsey County, but its main function is to help families experiencing homelessness obtain permanent housing. And at any given moment, there are up to 60 families on the waiting list, with an average wait time of 3 weeks. Staff do everything they can to get families connected with stable housing as quickly as possible.
With a strong team behind her, Diana worked tirelessly with case managers to find housing. It wasn’t an easy process — including chasing down leads that would fall through at the last minute, making calls and not hearing back, and jumping through hoops she didn’t even know existed. But after three months of persistence, and with help from the Family Service Center, Diana finally secured a new home for her family. After working toward this goal for so long, newfound hope took Diana by surprise.
“When I got to the Family Service Center, I felt so welcomed,” said Diana. “You could tell every morning that staff are happy and kind. They tell you that they care, and then prove it.”
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.
