Valerie’s story

At 25 years old, Valerie Roy lived in a school bus, relocating to places all around the country in the transportable home she had converted it into. She lived in many states including Florida, Arizona, California and Vermont. “I kept moving and moving and moving,” said Roy. 

Without any family or community, she was also very alone. “It was very isolating. I was very by myself. I was in my car. I [took] the seats out and I put a bed in. So it’s kind of really uncomfortable. It’s really hard on your body,” said Roy. 

In 2018, Minnesota held a homeless population of 7,243 people, including 1,066 cases of chronic homelessness. Chronic homelessness describes individuals who have continuously faced homelessness for over a year while struggling with a disability, such as physical or mental disabilities or substance abuse disorders. In contrast, temporary homelessness describes people facing homelessness for short periods, usually less than a month. The number of individuals suffering from chronic homelessness in the U.S. has been increasing since 2018, especially since the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, which caused an increase of about 30% in America’s chronically homeless population.

At 42 years old, Roy attended Arizona State University, earning a degree in sustainability and nonprofit management. However, this degree did not help her find career opportunities. “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know. I never got connected. I never got employment other than the same things I was doing before,” said Roy. 

When searching for resources for the homeless, many results appear, but very few results show resources specifically for chronically homeless individuals. Even when explicitly searching for resources for chronic homelessness, the results typically only provide temporary solutions that would best support people dealing with temporary homelessness. “They’ll take care of families first. They’ll take care of children first. They’ll take care of single mothers first. Drug addicts have their own programs. Everybody’s got a special program — not the chronically homeless,” said Roy. 

Roy suffered from chronic homelessness for 11-and-a-half years until she found a connection to Settled, an organization that aims to aid chronically homeless individuals by supporting them with community and resources, such as affordable rent.

Beginning in  July 2022, Roy lived in a school bus parked on church property at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, a Settled partner, until she eventually moved into a tiny home in December 2023. “First I was in the bus, now I’ve sold the bus, and then I was going to go back into my car, but they wouldn’t have it. They said no, and they put me in the tiny house instead,” said Roy. This home provides Roy with permanent housing that she did not have before.

Moving into the tiny home completely changed Roy’s life, giving her hope she had long gone without. Now, she plans to go back to school to get a degree in drug and alcohol counseling. “I’m getting ready probably to go get my master’s degree through vocational rehab,” said Roy. She hopes that going into this specific niche will help her get work that she was unable to find before.