Family Stories

Three years ago, Emilia and her husband moved from California to Weld County, two young children in tow. He had found high-paying energy industry employment. She stayed at home to care for the children. Life was a dream. Emilia’s nightmare began when her husband died suddenly. Alienated from her family, themselves struggling in California’s costly housing market, Emilia soon found herself out of money, without support and facing eviction. A minimum wage grocery store job kept homelessness at bay for a time, but eventually living in their SUV was the only option. Emilia struggled to maintain some sense of normalcy for her children, but with no room in the local homeless shelters, Emilia had nowhere to turn to for help.

Many families in Weld County struggle with increasing costs of living. When families overspend on housing costs, they cut back on other necessities like healthcare, child care and clothing. If parents have minimum wage jobs, they often have to work two or three just to make ends meet. Check out these Statistics and Solutions for family homelessness in Weld County.