It was getting harder for Andrew and his wife – with a blended family of 12 – to find a landlord who was willing to rent to them. They had been kicked out of their latest home in Georgia when the owner discovered the family’s size. Homes with room enough for a dozen people at once were not only difficult to come by, they were too expensive on the family’s income.

Diane and her husband, Deshawn, had a good life with their blended family of five kids and one on the way. Then, COVID-19 hit and one after another, the dominoes started falling.

It’s getting increasingly difficult for families in Jena’s situation to find an affordable place to live and virtually impossible to do so on minimum wage.

Statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau find more fathers than ever are raising children on their own, making up nearly one in five of all single-parent households. There are two million single fathers in the United States as of 2017, a significant rise from the 1990s.

Like many of UMOM’s single moms experiencing homelessness, Carrie was afraid to leave the abusive relationship because she had nothing of her own.

Sabrina was proud of what she had accomplished after battling alcoholism. In the six years she had been sober, she had managed, as a single mom, to keep a good, stable job at a nursing home that enabled her to support her four children still at home. Then COVID changed everything.

The pandemic transformed Pleasant from an independent woman who had bravely walked away from a toxic relationship to raise her babies on her own – to an unemployed, homeless, single mother desperate to keep her children safe.

It began with shattered glass, the remains of a fatal car accident that resulted in 30-year-old Jarvis spending two weeks hospitalized in a coma. He woke up facing the emotional anguish of the accident, new financial pressures, and the inability to work while recovering.

Once they arrived at UMOM, Chaz, his partner, and her son were able to focus on creating a budget and housing plan. Already employed, Chaz worked on money management and getting back on his feet.

After living in an unsafe household where she was the victim of domestic violence, Penny thought she would be better off on her own. She knew that she needed to leave, but unfortunately didn’t have anywhere to go.

What would you do when you found our that the place you were expecting to move into fell through? With no other options, imagine your family of four spending two months sleeping in your car.

Emergency shelter helped Consuelo stop a downward spiral and get back to a life of stability.

Maria felt lucky to move to America, but things unraveled quickly when her husband became violent, was arrested and there was no longer had enough income to afford rent.

Her landlord increased rent and her income wasn’t enough to pay the new price of rent. Without having the safety of savings or the support of family to fall back on, Tricia no longer had a place to live.

Dominque feared for her life when her husband threatened her verbally and fractured her eye socket. She instantly fled their new home and went back to Chicago to file for a divorce. When she returned to Arizona to claim her home and possessions, her husband had tenants living in the home they had purchased together, and she had nowhere to go.