Woman moves out of shelter and into furnished Wakefield apartment with FHEPS voucher
With almost all of the apartments rented, the building offers 64 affordable units, the first-of-its-kind to dedicate most of the apartments to women-led families.
Chanda James-Govan went from living in a homeless shelter to living in a furnished Wakefield apartment.
Being the sole caretaker for her autistic son, James-Govan says she was unable to work. She says rent piled up and she was evicted. James-Govan had to spend the next six months in a shelter.
"It was horrifying. It was a shock to your system to go from everything you need in one space to nothing that you need. And that space has shrunk tremendously. We were in a closet," she said.
She applied for a city FHEPS voucher, and after months of apartment searching, she got a furnished one-bedroom unit.
"We didn't have windows in that shelter. We can see it rain now. We can see the sky," she added.
She says being in the shelter made her appreciate the little things.
With almost all of the apartments rented, the building offers 64 affordable units, the first-of-its-kind to dedicate most of the apartments to women-led families.
On Thursday, people in the building received house-warming gifts to help them settle into their new homes.
"Four hundred and sixty-one units that are open and another 568 units in the pipeline, We are going to make sure that the families and individuals that are in DHS shelter have a pathway out," said Department of Social Services Commissioner Molly Wasow Park in a press conference.
More information on NYC FHEPS voucher, click here.
