Vanessa, a veteran, moved into her own apartment--without a subsidy--where she now lives with her children.
Saluting Vanessa, a Female Veteran By Brittnee Crawford, Development & Communications Manager
Vanessa overcame domestic abuse, military sexual trauma, Hurricane Katrina, and a mental illness to create a safe and stable life. This is her story.
At a young age, Vanessa joined the Army as a way to escape a traumatic home life and build a better future for herself. Originally from New Orleans, she met and married her husband, also a veteran, in the Bayou State. The couple had three children together—a son and a set of twins—but life was a struggle. After her military service, Vanessa attended nursing school and secured a degree with the ultimate goal of finding steady work to help bring some stability to her family. But her husband, perpetually unsettled and unsatisfied, decided the two of them were going to set out in search of a fresh start somewhere new. So leaving their children in the care of relatives, they headed to San Diego in search of work and a new life, with the hope of reunifying the family once they got settled.
San Diego didn’t prove any easier to make a living, and eventually, she and her husband entered a homeless shelter. Around that time, Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf and Vanessa’s family members living in New Orleans scattered to nearby states. She couldn’t locate her children for two weeks and was terrified. Finally, she discovered a family member had safely moved the children to Mississippi, out of harm’s way. With relief, she and her husband were more determined than ever to find a new home, and were adopted by a church in San Diego that helped them secure housing and eventually moved their children out so they could all be together.
During this period, Vanessa was grappling with another, more silent struggle. Throughout her marriage, she was subject to the temper and abuses of her husband—something she could no longer keep from her children, who were teenagers. Still, she felt she couldn’t talk to anyone, that it was her responsibility to keep her family together. They’d had too much instability already, so what could she do? But this experience served as the hallmark of her marriage—struggling, getting a new start—each time telling herself “it’s going to get better” in a new environment. She tried to run away with her children three times, but each time, her husband found them. Finally, ashamed with herself and how her children perceived her as a victim, Vanessa resolved that the next escape would be successful. Locking herself in the bathroom, she began to make quiet calls and inquiries to shelters and domestic violence hotlines in search of a way out for herself and her children, looking for somewhere her husband wouldn’t be able to find them. So one day, after dropping her husband off at work, Vanessa collected her children and a few items from their home, and told them to trust her “this one last time."
They drove all the way to New York City. Starting in a new place as the sole provider for her family was difficult. On her own, she didn’t know how to pay rent or bills—her husband had always been in charge of the money. It was hard to make ends meet even as a registered nurse, and soon, they moved into a shelter. It was during this stressful time that she began to have flashbacks to an incident of sexual trauma that happened during her military service. This triggered her mental illness, which until that point she had been able to manage with medication. But without any benefits, she went without her medication and began to spiral. Up to that point, her stay in the homeless shelter had been unpleasant. She sent her children back to Louisiana to live with family so they didn’t have to be homeless yet again. Her case worker at the shelter, after realizing she was a veteran, referred her to HousingPlus, who was able to find a unit for her in our expanded veterans housing almost immediately.
“I ran up four flights of stairs to my new apartment,’ says Vanessa. She was finally settled in her own place, had found a nursing job, and started to get back on track. Her ultimate goal was to find permanent housing in the community where she could reunite with her children. After working with HousingPlus’ on site Housing Specialist, Juliette, this past February her goal became a reality. “Working with Juliette made me feel like someone was finally there for me,” she said. “Like someone is in my corner.”
Juliette helped her find a four-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn, where she lives with her two sons. One of her sons just got back from a two-year study trip in Japan, and the other recently completed his tour of duty with the Air Force and enrolled in college. She attributes their success to the resilience they demonstrated in childhood—through all the moves, turmoil, and changes, they believed they could do anything because they had a mom in their corner telling them all along that they could. She says that without HousingPlus, “I wouldn’t be here, in my own house, with my children.”
We were so inspired by Vanessa’s story that we honored her at our Good Person Award Benefit this past June. We’re happy to report that she is doing just fine, enjoying her new home and her family—and recently let us know that she's currently working on her application to law school!
HousingPlus’ permanent housing for female veterans was made possible through funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, with additional support from Con Edison, Patrina Foundation, and TD Charitable Foundation.
Happy Veteran’s Day!
This past Saturday, we hosted a Veterans Day Brunch for approximately 15 veterans and their families at our housing sites in Brooklyn. This annual event is a celebration of and salute to the veterans who come to live at HousingPlus after experiencing homelessness.
We welcomed Hayley Hovatter Johnson, owner of The Baking Soldier, a company that specializes in delectable cupcakes and also has a mission to serve veterans living with PTSD. Ms. Johnson is a former HousingPlus tenant, who was one of the first women to live in our inaugural program for veterans, Ruby House. A portion of the sales from her business supports DE-CRUIT, a trauma-informed theater program that helps veterans "de-wire" from war. Her attendance at the brunch was inspiring. While sharing her story, she talked about the stability she gained from HousingPlus, which enabled her to eventually move out, start her own business, and begin giving back to her peers following their military service. "I started writing my own story and I saw the stage was a platform to advocate for veterans," she says. "It was a powerful tool . . . it made me realize I had the power to provoke my own miracle." Her story of success is not singular among the veterans we serve. So many others, like Vanessa, above, have gained the stability needed to pursue their dreams.
In 2011, HousingPlus opened the first program in New York City exclusively for female veterans experiencing homelessness. Since then, we have increased the number served--with approximately half of our total population identifying as a veteran. We proudly serve 70 veteran households across our scattered site housing programs in Brooklyn, making HousingPlus one of the largest providers of permanent supportive housing for female veterans in New York City. We provide permanent housing in which veterans can begin to rebuild their lives and the supportive services to help facilitate their success.
Join us in saluting the female veterans in our program whose resilience and determination saw them through housing loss and into a brighter future.
Thank you to the Irvin Stern Foundation for their generous renewed grant in support of the approximately 150 women and children we serve
Thank you to Trekatte Bedding for the generous donation of high-quality bed sheets for the women in our housing
Thanks to all of our friends at Marble Collegiate Church for their donations and partnership over the holiday season
Thank you to an anonymous donor whose generous gift, "Julia's Birds," ensures each of our tenant households has Thanksgiving turkey with all the trimmings
