After an eviction notice, Kat faced a difficult reality: employment doesn’t always guarantee stable housing. But thanks to support from the Bridge program at The Crossing, her family has hope for a more stable future.

Just a year ago, Kat came home to find an eviction notice on her apartment door.

Immediately, anxious thoughts flooded her mind:

Where will my kids and I go? How will I afford a place to live? What do we take—and what do we leave behind?

As a single mother for 20 years, Kat has carried the responsibility of providing for her family.

But with her son, Jamie (20), and daughter, Ari (17), still living at home, the challenge ahead felt overwhelming.

“I just lost my home with everything in it,” Kat remembered. “I could only take what was in the suitcases I was able to pack. I lost a lot of sentimental things. We were forced to leave our cats behind.”

Friends’ houses only lasted so long before Kat needed to find another solution. They found a temporary housing program, moving from church to church. While she was grateful for a roof over their heads, life still felt uncertain.

“It’s a very humbling experience, not one I want to go through again,” she said.

That’s when Kat found the Bridge program at The Crossing.

They moved in the day before Thanksgiving, just in time to celebrate the holidays in a safer and more stable environment.

For the first time in months, Kat could focus on more than just making it through the next day. She could begin rebuilding.

While she has never stopped working, Kat found a new job around this time as a preschool teacher through Catholic Charities. The full-time job helped her catch up on some overdue bills, but finding affordable housing remained an uphill battle.

Like many families across Colorado, Kat’s story highlights a difficult reality: having a full time job doesn’t automatically mean being able to afford a home.

“It’s expensive out here,” she said. “I technically need a three-bedroom, but I have to take a two because I can’t afford it.”

Every weekday, Kat spends nearly three hours commuting by bus to and from work. She balances long days of learning things like budgeting in classes at The Crossing, with apartment searches and the responsibilities of caring for her two children.

“There are days when I just want to pull the covers over my head and not get out of bed, but I need to make money in order to live, and so I have to get up and go,” she shared. “There are days when I’m just tired, I’m exhausted. Mentally, emotionally and physically exhausted. It’s almost an everyday thing.”

Through it all, their family keeps moving forward.

Ari found friends and support through The Crossing’s Youth Center, which also helped encourage her to take her SATs. She has even recently earned honor roll recognition at school. Jamie continues pursuing employment opportunities while working through challenges of his own.

And while life is still far from easy, their family now has something they didn’t have a year ago: more stability, more support and more hope for the future.

“I’m grateful for the roof over my head,” Kat said. “I just want my own space.”

And as of July, Kat found that space.

The Hidden Reality of Working Families

Record-High Evictions

Two years in a row Denver saw record-high number of evictions

240+

Households waiting for family shelter services in Denver

Our Response

5X

Increase in Family Shelter rooms at The Crossing in two years

106

Families helped by our Prevention program

“I’m grateful for the roof over my head. I just want my own space” -Kat

Simple comforts—a couch to relax on after a long day at work, a kitchen of her own to cook in and a place where her family can spread out and simply be together—are all things she is excited to have again.

When asked what she would say to another parent facing a similar situation, Kat offered the encouragement she reminds herself of:

“Realize it’s not going to last forever. You will come out on the other side; it just might take a little while. You still have your family. You’re still here. You’re still standing. Just keep moving.”