Charlotte Emergency Housing

For 13 years, it’s been just Tonya and her daughter. They’ve had each other, but not much more. Tonya managed to make ends meet until this past summer, when they had no place to go and no one to turn to. That brought them to the doorstep of Charlotte Emergency Housing.

 “I try to teach my daughter that nothing in life is free,” says Tonya, who is 28. “You have to work hard for what you want.” That’s what Tonya has always done, although her modest dreams always seemed just out of reach. But being at CEH has renewed Tonya’s hopes. “It’s like getting a second chance at life.”

Tonya’s childhood was difficult. She never got along with her stepfather, who put her in a group home when she was 10. When she got pregnant at 14, he put her out. With the help of a boyfriend, she found day care for her daughter, got her driver’s license and finished school.

By then her stepfather had left, so she moved back in her mother’s house. But soon her mother departed for New York, leaving Tonya to care for her three half-siblings as well as her daughter. Her job at a fast-food restaurant didn’t begin to cover the mortgage and other bills, and their utilities were about to be turned off.

Tonya pleaded for help from family members, with little response. When her mother eventually came back, Tonya found her own apartment. After several years working in fast food, she found a good job at a culinary arts school. She washes dishes, but is also learning cooking techniques.

Work was going well, but things at home weren’t. Her landlord refused to make repairs, leaving her bathroom unusable for four months. She stopped paying rent and began looking for a new place for her and her daughter to go.

She applied to six apartment complexes and got six rejections. She has good credit, no debt, a full-time job. “They all said, if you didn’t have this on your record, we could move you in tomorrow.”

What she has on her record is a marijuana charge. It’s painful for her to talk about it. She says her daughter found the marijuana at the bus stop and took it to school. The police charged Tonya, and that stain on her record from three years ago prevented her from renting an apartment.

She called a social worker to ask what you do when you are about to be homeless. That call led her to CEH, where she quickly got her bearings. The staff pointed her to several programs, including one that is helping her get approval for an apartment. She also likes the activities and support CEH offers to teens like her daughter. CEH, she says, “is a good place if you use it to your advantage.” She adds, “I guess I’ve always been one of those people willing to try. I don’t believe in the word ‘no.’ ”

After just three months at CEH, Tonya and her daughter moved into their own apartment. “In five years, I see myself having my own house and car,” she says. “I see myself a little farther up the ladder.” She dreams of one day managing or owning a cafe. Tonya is determined to take advantage of her second chance. “I tell myself as long as I believe I can do it, I can do it.”