Housing Alexandria Stories: Jonnel’s Story

“It’s All Connected” 

This blog post is the sixth blog post of the Housing Alexandria Stories campaign, the purpose of which is to celebrate our residents and share their stories in order to create more recognition and appreciation in our community as well as to strengthen Housing Alexandria’s ability to raise money to provide life-changing services to our residents through our resident services programs. This blog post was based on an interview with Jonnel (she/her), a Housing Alexandria resident. 

Jonnel is a Housing Alexandria resident whose life has improved immensely since finding housing with Housing Alexandria, and who has been empowered to reach out and connect with her community and form relationships that she otherwise may not have formed. 

Jonnel has lived in Alexandria for nine years. She lived in Washington DC before moving to Alexandria, but housing was extremely expensive there, and she relocated to Alexandria because she found affordable housing through Housing Alexandria. She is a single mother with three kids, ages 19, 15, and 2. She jokes that she “started all the way over” with her youngest, but that her oldest “is a big help” with taking care of her two-year-old. She was one of the first residents who moved into her new building. 

When Jonnel was 19, she served in an Americorps public service role in which she worked with little children. She says that because that job was difficult for her, she decided to never work with children again. Now she loves children, and she currently works as a teacher’s assistant at the First Baptist Preschool. She also loves spending time with the children in her building, and she says that they “love her now.” She says that when she was 19, she didn’t have the patience, but that she developed patience as she matured. She also notes that having children of her own changed her perspective.  

Jonnel has benefited from services like clothing drives and backpack drives through Housing Alexandria and other organizations, and she wants to help provide those things to other people as well, especially because she sees that people often are not aware of the resources available to them. Jonnel also used the clothing-and-backpacks drive as a networking event to help her find customers for her business. She ran a cleaning business when she first moved to Alexandria, and she hopes to grow her cleaning business again. Since moving here, she has also taken advantage of educational opportunities. She has earned certificates at NOVA in human resource management and phlebotomy, a home health aide certification, and a nurse certification. She is proud of herself for these things and says that she has “come a long way.” 

“If you are stressed and depressed from not knowing where your next meal will come from or where your shelter is going to be, you are not going to meet too many people” 

Jonnel experienced homelessness as a child and as a young mother living in DC. She notes that it was a very difficult experience. However, she also notes that her parents inspired her, because they also experienced homelessness, but they were able to overcome it by participating in a first-time home-buyers program and eventually purchasing their first home. She saw that it was possible to overcome her state of homelessness and even become a homeowner. While she was experiencing homelessness, she reached out for government support. Regarding services for those experiencing homelessness, she says, “I believe that these programs are beneficial because, if you are facing homelessness, it affects your mental and physical state as well,” referencing her own experience of feeling unstable in lots of way while experiencing homelessness. “It’s all connected,” she says. 

Jonnel was able to move to Virginia to live in a Housing Alexandria property. Having a new home opened doors for her. Securing affordable housing empowered her to find opportunities to get more education, increase her income, improve her mental state, and find opportunities to meet new people and make new connections. Reflecting on her previous situation, she says that “If you are stressed and depressed from not knowing where your next meal will come from or where your shelter is going to be you are not going to meet too many people.” Securing a home has also helped her to provide stability for her family, which is the most important thing for Jonnel. She says that her children are “a part of [her]” and that “Everything [she does] is surrounded by them.” Being empowered to provide a home for them has brought her much happiness in her life. 

She feels that having secure, affordable housing and a new community has changed who she is as a person. She feels like a more passionate and sympathetic person because she has more stability for herself. She feels that she is in a much better mental place living in Alexandria because she is safer and more at peace, which she says comes from “being able to have shelter, having a place to live, being able to make ends meet, and having resources.”  

In Jonnel’s view, people should support Housing Alexandria and its mission because it is important to her to prevent homelessness and developmental instability that leads to things like kids dropping out of school. She also believes that it is important to support resident services that help those in need make ends meet. “When you are at home,” she says, “you shouldn’t have any worries.”