WASHINGTON -- When DC General homeless shelter shut down in early November, 160 families were placed in housing through vouchers or the rapid rehousing program.
Ten families had to move directly to city hotels because their homes weren’t quite ready for them. Four families were placed shortly afterwards, but six remained including 21-year-old Stephanie Hill and her family.
Hill, her fiancé Eric and their twins 2-year-old Mason and Marley plus their 3-month-old baby boy Eric were sharing a cramped hotel room.
Most free walking space was filled up with the couple’s belonging, suitcases, pack and plays and boxes upon boxes of clothes. The busy toddlers were bouncing around one double bed with dad while mom sat on another with the baby.
After three weeks living in that one room, the family is about to move into their first apartment.
“I can finally go to sleep without worrying,” she cried.
Her tears tell the story of struggle. Hill left home at 16, managed to graduate high school and go to college. She met her fiancé Eric at University of Maryland Eastern Shore, but without family support she couldn’t afford to stay so dropped out after two years. She found out she was pregnant. The couple moved in with Eric’s mother.
After the boys were born, they family got evicted and then Eric lost his job.
“She didn’t give him an explanation as to why she terminated him,” she cried. “It was hard for him to get unemployment or anything.”
Desperate and homeless, they family finally landed at DC General after being turned down by another city shelter.
“Honestly, we were scared," she said.
They stayed one year at the mega shelter known for its deplorable living conditions. The former hospital became infamous after 8-year-old Relisha Rudd disappeared in 2014.
“I feel like God puts you in places where He wants you regardless,” she said.
Now, they’re about to move into their first apartment through the city’s rapid rehousing program that offers temporary rental assistance.
Hill knows it doesn’t work for everyone. Some return to the streets after the program’s 18 months are up. Still, she sees this second chance is just what her family needs.
“All I’ve been trying to do is give them the life I never had and the life I longed for,” she said.
