LeeAnn, Housing for Homeless Pregnant Women

In 2017, Every Dream Has A Price (EDHAP) board members first met LeeAnne during an event where they were feeding homeless people who lived in the woods behind Sonny’s BBQ on Route 60 in Vero Beach, FL. While eating together with the homeless, EDHAP board members happened to sit next to her and learned she was pregnant. LeeAnne told us she was working two jobs and had just worked a twelve hour shift at a packing house. She had two other children that were living out of county with her sister because she could not provide basic needs for them. Months before we met her, LeeAnne had a car and a place to live; however, her car became inoperable and she missed work, then got let go because she had no transportation. With no job, she could not feed her children or afford housing. Her first priority was her children and she recognized they needed stability and deserved better so she sent them to live with her sister in St. Lucie County.

Not long after the BBQ feeding event, we saw LeeAnne and learned she went to the hospital because after working another twelve hour day she started to hemorrhage (related to her pregnancy). At the emergency room, she and the baby were evaluated and treated.

At this point, our board members encountered two other pregnant homeless women on the streets and decided we needed to build housing for this vulnerable population a priority. We talked to providers like IRC Healthy Start and learned there were many more homeless pregnant women in Indian River County. Grants were written, land secured and a three bedroom, two bathroom home was built in early 2018 to house homeless pregnant women. EDHAP was able to get the Hope for Family Center to house Leanne and her children temporarily while the 32nd Ave. home was being built. Leanne moved into the new home with her children in early 2018 and she and her children are thriving and their lives are stabilized!