Photo by Emilio Cortez

Meet the Residents: Rhonda’s Journey from Survival to Stability 

Rhonda’s journey from homelessness to home has been marked by unimaginable loss — and extraordinary resilience. 

In her 20s, Rhonda felt like she had made it.  After overcoming addiction, she opened her own substance abuse treatment facility and built a successful business helping others reclaim their lives. Then everything changed. When her then-husband relapsed, Rhonda returned home one day to find the house emptied — her savings, identification, and financial security gone. 

“It was very paralyzing for me,” she says. “I lost it all.” 

The trauma left her struggling to function, and for the first time in her life, Rhonda found herself homeless. 

She describes life on the streets as a horror movie. When she was living in a park, numerous people were murdered nearby and her partner was shot. Pregnant with twins, Rhonda gave birth only to have her babies taken away from her because she had no safe place to raise them. 

That was when she first met LA Family Housing. 

LAFH’s outreach team brought Rhonda and her partner a tent, blankets, and food. After building trust, the outreach team secured temporary housing for them. This was followed by a permanent home and the support they needed to obtain documentation, return to school, and find employment. 

Determined to reunite with her children, Rhonda completed every requirement asked of her — often going above and beyond. She earned certifications, secured a job helping others experiencing homelessness, and rebuilt her life piece by piece. Her persistence paid off when her twins finally came home. 

But when that relationship unraveled, Rhonda again lost her children, her home, and her direction. 

“For a while, I just quit fighting,” she says. “I worked so hard, and I was right back where I started... I was like, okay, I was going to be homeless because I wasn’t going to get into another relationship just to figure out how to get by. That did not serve me at all.” 

For more than a year, Rhonda lived unsheltered. Eventually, outreach workers connected her to interim housing, and last December everything changed again. Rhonda finally came home—moving into The Cielo, LAFH’s new permanent supportive housing community. 

“It’s immaculate. It’s actually perfect,” she says of her bright studio apartment. More than that, she adds, “nobody can take this away from me or make me miserable. It’s mine.” 

Today, Rhonda pays rent she can afford and receives intensive case management support from LAFH. “They gave me a life worth living,” she says. “It’s authentic support — not judgment, not lip service.” 

For the first time in years, she feels peace of mind. 

With stable housing beneath her, Rhonda is rebuilding once again — this time from a foundation that cannot be pulled out from under her.