Please join us in congratulating Bonnie for ending her homeless situation today by getting into her very own rental. Bonnie has been homeless for the last 7-8 months living in her car, motels, and most recently a women’s shelter. We were happy to help her get into permanent housing by paying her security deposit. Read her story below.

Dear OTS,

I am a homeless single senior woman living in a shelter in Santa Ana trying to get back on my feet again and rebuild my life. In the time i’ve been homeless I have gotten a job to increase my income and have found a beautiful apartment that accepts my section 8 voucher that was on its last extension and going to expire for good.

I was living in an apartment that had a lot of crime surrounded by it, I was threatened and taken advantage of and assaulted. People in the neighborhood broke into my home and stole things from me all the time. When I would complain they suggested I keep calling 911 or move. I didn’t feel safe in my own home. I was supposed to move in a friend but she didn’t let me move in.

I first became homeless in March first 2018 and I have been homeless for a total of seven months going on eight months. At first i lived in my personal car for a very long time, sometimes in motels to shower or for a nice warm bed or if my car was getting fixed and then I found out about the shelter in Santa Ana so I’ve been staying in there ever since.

I need security deposit assistance, I have been saving all my money and using it on searching for apartments and application fees and holding fees. The place I got approved is requesting a higher deposit because of my low credit scores, I can pay for my prorated rent just need help with the large deposit I wasn’t anticipating.

Right now I am living in a shelter for women in Santa Ana called wise place or safe place. I am living in there with several other women in cots, in an open area. It’s only for 90 days but they have extended me because they know I found a place.

Thank you,
Bonnie

Bonnie is the 139nth person we’ve helped escape homelessness this year and the 649th since we started OTS in 2014. Read more about our work at OTSHB.COM.