When Michelle was pregnant with her youngest of four kids, she experienced the onset of serious autoimmune reactions that would only get worse from there. Little did she know at the time, that would be the start of a legal battle leading to both her job loss and her family’s homelessness in one fell swoop.
“I was a residential manager,” Michelle explained, so she was providing property management services, and lived where she worked. Being a single mom, and living where she worked, put her in danger of losing her housing when she had to take her boss to court. She told us the story about what led to this, “I received a change to my state funded medical and took it to a hearing. I had to provide proof of my income, and the lady there told me that the $6.25/hour I was making was under the minimum wage. I had not gotten a smartphone yet and did not have internet access. I got a smartphone and began looking things up and realized, oh, what do you know, there are laws to protect Residential Managers. So I took my boss to court.”
On top of the legal battle that had just begun, Michelle fell very ill, “black mold and asbestos were growing due to windows leaking from being poorly wrapped. I ended up just having to leave because of the mold…I was told by the deputy commissioner that I should settle, so we did and ended up with way less than what seven years of underpayment of wages, no overtime pay, and over-charging of rent would have gotten us,” she explained. This put her out of a job and her and her kids out of a home.
Living in a rural area, there were very few resources available for her, and on top of that, she found herself living out of her car during the height of wildfire season, “there was a terrible fire season in Mendocino County. It was so bad, so there was lots of help for people with fire problems, but no help for us at all. Everyone was getting help with clothes and food and places to stay and we were just stuck there because it wasn’t a fire, it was mold,” explained Michelle. She couldn’t find a place where law enforcement would allow her to park her car, “we’d try to stay on the side of the road somewhere and the police would come tell you to go away. So I was sick from mold and sick from breathing wildfire smoke because you can’t get away from it,” said Michelle.
Michelle decided it was time to seek support from the only family in her life, “I came up here (to Eugene) because my dad is the only grandparent to my kids,” she said, “then my dad and his wife said…well it’s been five nights, time to get out.” So Michelle found herself and her children living out of her car once again.
Michelle was still experiencing autoimmune reactions, her daughter struggles with sensory sensitivities. Her son was very young at that point, so they spent a lot of time at the park, “the police were called because my son would play at the park and I had my daughter with me who had a lot of sensory stuff, so I had to park far enough away that she wasn’t getting triggered, but also be able to see my son so he could play, but I can’t be over there because of all the smells,” she explained. This actually led to a positive outcome, because Michelle was then connected to an organization called Relief Nursery that gave her a front door assessment to get her onto Lane County’s Homeless by Name waitlist for housing. She quickly began viewing housing options, but finding a place to fit her needs wasn’t easy, “I was offered housing in older buildings, but there was no way. I would go in and just have to get out of there. You couldn’t see mold, but I could totally smell it, and my face would react. I’m not going to get in there and deal with the same situation of being sick. I just couldn’t. So I turned down some things,” she said.
Finally an option that met her needs, a brand new housing complex for families with kids called The Keystone, was opened by Homes for Good in 2021, “I was one of the first ones to move in here. It wasn’t perfect, but the building is pretty good because it’s new,” she explained, “we had to let it air out because we were very reactive to the new stuff, like glues and new wood smells. We would sometimes still go out and sleep in the car.” ShelterCare provided case management at The Keystone for the first two years it was open, which is how Michelle was connected to our services.
It’s been five years since Michelle and her youngest moved into The Keystone, and through that time, she has been a part of ShelterCare’s Behavioral Health program. ShelterCare Behavioral Health provides outpatient mental health services to individuals who are negatively affected by a mental health condition. While our team can support most mental health conditions, they have a specialty in supporting individuals who have experienced trauma or stress related to being unhoused. This program is open to anyone in the community who is 18 years or older and on OHP. Michelle works with one of our Skills Trainers, Lizzy, who has been supporting her through her journey to become healthy, stable, and keep her housing. Lizzy talked about the point at which Michelle started to make major progress, “there was a shift that happened, and I think part of it was that we were able to maintain a consistent meeting and connecting. I was riding shotgun with Michelle through all of this!”
Michelle’s oldest daughter lives in Mazatlan, Mexico, so it is a goal of hers to become more financially stable and eventually relocate there to support her, “I want to see about making sure my daughter in Mazatlan can get care whenever she gets older. I don’t know what kind of help Mexico has for someone with paranoia and psychosis. She has medication right now, but she doesn’t work. She’s seeing a psychiatrist, but thinking about what’s going on in her daily life stresses me out,” she explained.
Through brainstorming with Lizzy, Michelle decided she wanted to go through the TEFL program (Teaching English as a Foreign Language), so she could move closer to her daughter with a stable income, and do work that would accommodate her needs, “how, with all of my physical issues and sensitivities, with how hard it is for me to be out there in the working 9-5 world, how can I find my niche?” wondered Michelle. To pay for the TEFL courses, Lizzy found a scholarship program for Michelle to apply to, ”I found out about Soroptimist, and I thought this could be a resource for Michelle,” explained Lizzy, “we started working on it, she submitted it, and she got accepted! So in all of this trauma and chaos, she found a place of meaning-making, turning the yuck into something better.”
Michelle is excited to use her scholarship for something that will allow her to stabilize her life and achieve her goals. She explained how big of an impact it made on her to work with Lizzy, who has lived experience and was able to support her through many ups and downs, “She’s just such a wonderful person. It matters that somebody has been through experiences,” said Michelle. Your donation will help our compassionate Behavioral Health staff continue providing support to individuals like Michelle, so they can gain their wellness and independence. Will you change a life with us by donating today?