A Salinas family, once homeless, will move into their own home for the first time in years

Two years ago Sarah Turner and her family’s life took a wrong turn as her daughter’s drug addiction ended up costing them a place to live.

This also meant Sarah Turner’s three grandchildren didn’t have a place to live as well.

“We couldn’t get ahead. It was like we couldn’t breathe,” says Turner.

Turner and her family were living from couch to couch and hotel to hotel when one day Sarah decided enough was enough.

“It was too stressful so I chose to go into the homeless shelter,” she explains. “If it was just me I could still be out there on the street. But I couldn’t do that to the kids and I didn’t want them to be taken from me and be put into the system and be split up.”

Turner has been receiving help from Community Homeless Solutions in Marina.

She has a job and a car, now. Her daughter has been sober for two years and there are plans to reunify the daughter with the three children soon.

August 2018 will see Turner and her grandchildren, once battling homelessness, finally able to live in their own home.

“In one aspect the kids don’t wanna leave because they’re used to being here,” Turner says. “On the other hand they’re ready. To be in our own place, to meet new friends and have a stable school.”

The lessons from this experience are not lost on the adults. They’re also not lost on the children who had to live through the ordeal.

“One of the kids wrote a report on it at school saying she wouldn’t know what it would be if it was for grandma. She didn’t figure she’d be living with her sisters. It made me tear up when I read it because she doesn’t really speak on her feelings.”

Community Homeless Solutions has spent about 40 years providing shelter, housing and services to victims of domestic abuse and individuals who are homeless.

For details on the organization you can click here