Seth

There is a new arrival at the Pine Street Inn Women's Shelter.

There was a fire in her building.  She went from door to door, looking for her son, who was not yet 5 years old.  The firemen took her out of the building to save her life and held her by the shoulders to prevent her from returning.  She watched the building burn down, knowing that her child was being burned alive.

Now she's at the Pine Street Inn.  She paces and calls out his name.

I guarantee that the prognosis for her homelessness is that she will be at that shelter and other shelters for 6 months, a year, 2 years, 10 years, the rest of her life.  No plan is being developed for her.  There will be no sustained attempt to address her trauma.  She will spiral into irretrievable helplessness, vulnerable to every predator.