Due to her pregnancy, she lost her job and her family became homeless.
Jonica Jamison, her husband and children are homeless after losing their jobs after taking significant time off during a difficult pregnancy in Charlotte.
A year ago, Jonica Jamison said, “I didn’t even feel like a mother.”
She has three daughters, and her youngest was 7 months old on Mother’s Day last year. But at the time, Jamison’s family of five had been homeless for several months, and there was little hope that things would change.
They lived apart for weeks at a time, moving from hotel to hotel, and she and her husband sometimes spent the night in the car with their baby.
Jamison, 39, who earned a master’s degree and worked as a school counselor for 10 years before medical issues in her family led to unemployment and homelessness, said she was shocked to see her family’s life fall apart so quickly.
“I felt like a failure to my kids,” she told USA TODAY. “It was very difficult to find a way out of things. Things were very much on top of each other for me. It was really difficult to stay positive.”
USA TODAY spent time with Jamison and his family in Charlotte, North Carolina, last year and shared their story in December. The response to this article was overwhelming, with dozens of readers asking for help.
Jamison eventually started a GoFundMe — something she said she had never thought about before — and over Christmas and the weeks that followed, hundreds of donors raised more than $65,000 for her and her family.
“It’s not at all difficult to hope,” Jamison said.
With this funding, Jamison was able to secure housing for his family in Charlotte. She paid a 15-month lease up front to ensure her children had a place to call home next year. They moved into their home in January.
“I didn’t expect that to happen,” she said, adding that she keeps all the messages of encouragement people send her in a folder. “(It) really resonated with me.”
There are no easy solutions to overcoming homelessness
Jamison hopes to return to work in counseling and now has a passion for helping other families deal with homelessness. She has had several job interviews, but struggles to hold a position without childcare.
She remains the primary caregiver for her husband, who has multiple sclerosis, and her daughters, who have various medical needs.
“Not just because I need the money, but because I don’t want to be a stay-at-home mom. I don’t want to be just a caregiver,” Jamison said. “I love my family and I’m dedicated to seeing them all in a better place than they are now. But that’s not the only thing I want to do.”
Families at risk of homelessness need the right resources and support systems to achieve stability, said Pair Moraras, a senior research fellow in the Urban Institute’s Division of Housing and Communities.
“A lot of families are really falling between the cracks,” Moraras said, noting that some assistance programs have requirements that may prevent families from getting the help they need.
Jamison consistently reaches out to housing assistance and social services programs, but her family is often told they don’t qualify or don’t hear back at all. One of the only organizations she says has been helpful is the Queen City Pregnancy Resource Center, where she receives free diapers, gas cards, parenting classes and other support. But even with GoFundMe, Jamison said the family isn’t out of the woods yet.
“And it’s not because I’m not trying, it’s because I am trying,” she said. “It will cost a lot of money to recover.”
This Mother’s Day, Jamison is grateful for the simple joys of motherhood
More than the money, the response to her story in December gave Jamison hope.
Jamison previously said he was just trying to survive. “Right now I’m fighting to grow,” she added.
On the Tuesday before Mother’s Day, Jamison texted USA TODAY about the simple joys of motherhood that she felt grateful for that morning.
“I’m listening to my daughters get ready for school and having space to move around comfortably without being cramped in the same room with my baby sister and parents,” she wrote. “I feel so peaceful listening to the sound of the local train and not having to rush to think about paying for the next day’s hotel room. I enjoy some quiet time with my baby girl while feeding her breakfast.”
Madeline Mitchell’s role covering women and the care economy for USA TODAY is supported by a partnership with Pivotal and Journalism Funding Partners. Funders do not provide editorial input.
Contact Madeline at: memitchell@usatoday.com and @maddiemitch_ With X.
