Natalie doesn’t get much sleep. Her head is too busy trying to manage the endless questions that won’t go away.

“Where will we sleep tomorrow?”

“When will my daughter be able to get a new shirt?”

“How will I get to the hospital to deliver my baby?”

These are just a few questions that Natalie must be able to answer in order to help her family, her husband and three children, survive.

“I never imagined that we would ever be homeless. I haven’t even told my friends because I’m too embarrassed,” said Natalie.

Natalie and her family have been homeless for a month and three weeks. They arrived at PHC looking for a place to sleep.

Prior to being homeless the family lived with a roommate. They gave the roommate their share of the rent, assuming that he was giving it to the landlord. They didn’t know he wasn’t paying the rent.

“The police came and threw all of our stuff out on the street. We had no way of carting it with us, so we left it behind,” said Natalie.

Ever since that day, Natalie must answer a question that she never thought she would ask, “Where will we sleep tonight?”

Finding a place to sleep is an all day chore. Her husband goes to work and it’s Natalie’s responsibility to fend for her family. And she does this with a 6-year-old daughter, a 2-year-old son, a 1-year-old daughter and another child in her womb. The stroller that she pushes is the only thing that they own.

Natalie and her family take the bus to different shelters and housing options, trying to find a place to stay. This takes all day because most housing shelters don’t allow families.

“Our situation is hard, but I can’t cry about it, I have to stay strong for my kids. I don’t want my daughter to ask anymore questions than she already does,” said Natalie.

The family’s dilemma was solved at PHC. After a month and three weeks of living in different shelters, Natalie and her family will be moving into their own place this week. Besides, PHC workers gave the family hotel vouchers that will cover the nights leading up to their move-in day.

“For my daughter to have her own room, to have a kitchen, a place to watch TV. I will look back and think about our experience and I will never take anything for granted,” said Natalie.