On Track

A Single Mom Achieves Her Dream but Faces Homelessness

This family has been recommended by HomeStart.

A single mom living in Boston is gainfully employed and following her dreams. Yet she might have to move into a homeless shelter with her two kids next month. After graduating from cosmetology school in 2008, Ms. B began renting a chair at a local hair salon and making a name for herself in the neighborhood. But the cost of just having the space to work ate into almost all of her profits, and she usually came home with barely enough to cover rent.

With the simple goals of a career she loves and the ability to care for her two children in a stable environment, Ms. B is frustrated by the setbacks she’s faced since putting herself through school. Becoming homeless is a very real and very scary possibility. Her two children, a son who is 11 and a daughter, 16, are both very active in school and cannot imagine having to move out of the apartment that they have lived in for over ten years. For Ms. B’s son, this apartment is the only home he has ever known.

For her kids, Ms. B dreams they will be driven, independent and smart. Her daughter plans to go to college in just a couple of years, and then be off to law school. Her son hopes to make the baseball team this spring. $2,000 by March 15th keeps these dreams moving forward and puts a family on track financially.

HomeStart has been helping the homeless find homes and stay in their homes by connecting them to life-changing support like job training, education and health services since 1994.