Picture the Homeless

Dawn Quinones

My boyfriend Mike and I entered the EAU on September 13, 2002. It took 5 days for us to get a 10-day placement, after which we were determined to be ineligible. We then had to go through the whole process again from the beginning. It took another 7 days for us to get a 10-day placement, and again we were found to be ineligible. We went back to the EAU again and started from the beginning. It took 4 days for us to get a 10-day placement, and this time they found us to be eligible for emergency shelter.

We were placed in a hotel on 110th street in October. In November, I was arrested because of an old warrant. Mike was told he had to leave the shelter because it was for families only. Mike was on the street again until February 2003 when I was released from jail. At that time we once again went to the EAU. At this time I was 8 months pregnant.

It took 5 days for us to get a 10-day placement. They found us eligible and placed us in another hotel. I gave birth on March 15th. I was in the hospital until March 17th. Since we were in a shelter that did not allow children, we were required to go back to the EAU with our 2-day old son to get placed in a proper facility. In May of 2003 we finally filed an application for section 8 housing. In July, ACS removed our son. An ACS worker was allowed in our room while we were not home, and she determined that our room was in a neglected condition and therefore was dangerous to our son. We were moved to a different shelter. By this time I was pregnant again. This new shelter, The Gracie Inn, had no cooking facilities, the electricity would turn off a few times per day, and there was no air conditioning, which made our room unbearably hot. We were in this shelter until October. We were logged out of this shelter and returned to the EAU. We were immediately found to still be eligible, and given a 28-day placement. After the 28-day placement, we were placed in another hotel.

I gave birth on January 7th, 2004. The baby was immediately placed on an ACS hold after which she was removed from the hospital by ACS. We are in the process of trying to get our kids back.

We finally received an appointment for a housing interview on April 7, 2004.