Picture the Homeless

Mike Slater

My name is Mike Slater. My pregnant girlfriend, Dawn, 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 eligible for emergency shelter.

We were placed in a hotel on 110th street in October. In November, Dawn was arrested because of an old warrant. I was told that I would have to leave because the shelter was for couples, or pregnant women, only. I was on the street again until February 2003 when Dawn was released from jail.

At that time we once again went to the EAU. At this time, Dawn 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. Dawn gave birth on March 15th. She was in the hospital until March 17th. A few days before she gave birth, we were given a notice telling us that we would be moved on March 19th. After she was released from the hospital with the baby we were told we had to go back to the EAU, with a two-day-old child, to get transferred to an appropriate shelter for families. We were placed in a shelter on 101st street. In May of 2003 we finally filed an application for Section 8 housing. In July, our son was removed by ACS. An ACS worker was allowed in our 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, Dawn was pregnant again. This new shelter, The Gracy Inn, had no cooking facilities, the electricity would turn off a few times per day, and there was no air conditioning (or adequate airflow) which made our room unbearably hot. We were in this shelter until October. We were logged out of this shelter and had to return 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.

Dawn gave birth on January 7, 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 7th, 2004.