From homeless
to housing the
least of these
By Yvette Jones
She once had to sleep in her car. Now she works to
make sure that others—especially those who have
served our country—have a home.
I
once was a homeless veteran. In 1993, I was
homeless. I had left an abusive relationship. At five
months, I had a miscarriage and had to deliver a
stillborn baby.
At the time, I had no one to help me. I went to the city of
Chicago for help. The social worker sent me to literally one of
the best homeless shelters—the YWCA in Evanston. If it weren’t for her and the people who worked at the shelter I don’t
know what would have happened to me. Honestly.
Now I am a full-time real estate broker and real estate instructor. I started working with homeless veterans a little over nine
years ago. It was just fitting for me to step into someone’s situation that was very similar to mine to assist them out of their
current condition.
Now housing homeless people is my ministry. I’ve worked in
corporate America and each time I was downsized I came back
to housing the poor, disenfranchised, battered and abused. God
was guiding my footsteps. Every move was purposeful.
16
The Well Magazine Fall/Winter 2015
I was in the Army. Battered and abused, living in a shelter,
sleeping in my car. Then, I was in charge of licensing SROs
(Single Room Occupancy) for the city of Chicago, renting to
high-income earners and then to low-income earners, meeting
various not-for-profit agency case managers. I got deeper and
deeper into this population and never looked back. I have
housed a little over 2,5000 veterans in nine years.
It’s fulfilling, overwhelming, exhilarating and spiritually fulfilling.
Because of the pain that I had to go through, I can now speak
to my clients truthfully. When they open up to tell me that they
are recently abused or homeless and had to sleep in a vehicle, I
can say I had to do that too. I can relate to almost every client
that I service. I walked in the shoes they are currently walking in
or just stepped out of so the pain has turned into a benefit for
those who I service.
My Father God says to treat each other with dignity and respect and to do for “the least of these” is doing for me. I feel