after years of searching, angela’s family finally Has a home

When Angela and her family walked into Mary’s Place’s Allen Family Center looking for help, they had been looking for a stable place to call home for a very long time.

Angela, her partner, and their five children had experienced housing instability and homelessness for several years, moving between temporary programs, hotels, tent communities, and their family vehicle.

Most recently, the family had left a temporary transitional housing program. They returned to hotels and their car before eventually finding space at a nearby tent community. But with five energetic children, it wasn’t an environment where the family could comfortably stay long-term. Before long, they were back in their car.

Through it all, Angela kept working. For the past three years, she has maintained steady employment as a store manager while caring for her children and continuing to search for housing. But finding an affordable home large enough for a family of seven proved incredibly difficult.

The family also faced barriers that made an already challenging housing search even harder. Previous housing debt, missing identification documents, and the complexity of apartment application processes repeatedly stood between them and a home.

After years of moving through different programs and working with multiple service providers without finding lasting stability, Angela was beginning to wonder if permanent housing would ever be possible for her family.

When the family arrived at the Allen Family Center in South Seattle, Mary’s Place outreach specialist Alana was there to help.

Alana first helped the family access a temporary place to stay at a tent city community across the street and enrolled them in Mary’s Place Mobile Outreach Program. From there, she began working alongside Angela to address the individual barriers that had made securing housing so difficult.

The first step was making sure the family had the documents they needed. Mary’s Place helped them obtain birth certificates, Social Security cards, and identification so they could qualify for housing opportunities.

Alana also updated the family’s Coordinated Entry assessment and began advocating for and nominating them for available housing resources.

Finding an affordable home for seven people wasn’t easy. Larger apartments are limited, but one day they found a three-bedroom apartment with a rent set at 30% of their income.

It felt like the opportunity they had been waiting for.

But there was still another hurdle ahead.

Even after the family was nominated for the apartment, the application process was complicated. At one point, the property denied the family permission to move forward with their application, but Alana advocated for them, ensuring they had the opportunity to complete the process.

Throughout the application, Mary’s Place outreach staff continued working closely with Angela to gather required documentation, troubleshoot issues as they arose, communicate with the property, and help the family navigate a process that can be overwhelming even under the best circumstances.

This time, Angela wasn’t alone.

After years of searching, the news finally came: the family had been approved for their new home.

Mary’s Place helped cover their initial move-in expenses and two months of rent, giving the family additional stability as they settled in. And when their move-in date arrived, our Make-a-Home Program made sure their apartment was ready with furniture and household essentials.

For a family that had spent years living without a permanent home, some of the simplest parts of everyday life suddenly felt extraordinarily special.

“Thank you so much. If it weren’t for you, we would still be homeless. We love having our own kitchen again and being able to cook real meals, and the kids are so happy here. They’ve already made a bunch of new friends,” shared Angela! “We especially love the big, cozy couch from the Make-a-Home program. Last weekend, we had our first family movie night in years; we watched Shrek all together on this big couch. It was such a simple thing, but after everything we’ve been through, being able to just relax and do normal family things together in our own home meant so much to us.”