eastvalley

It didn’t matter that she had four daughters or that the family’s only breadwinner, her husband, couldn’t make enough to pay the bills. Rent was due and they didn’t have it. It was the third time in 18 months Biviana Cervantes and her family were evicted from an apartment. She blamed her husband and left him, taking the girls, ages 3 to 11. "It changed my whole life in one decision," said Cervantes, 37, of Phoenix. Cervantes emigrated from Mexico and previously only was responsible for raising her children. Now she had to wait for a green card to legally work. That was two and a half years ago.

Across the country, families are the fastest growing population of homeless, and most find themselves this way because of unemployment and the inability to pay rent. Locally, a person must earn $15 an hour to afford rent on a two-bedroom home and wages are rising slower than housing costs, said Mitra Khazai, president of Family Promise — Greater Phoenix, one of several Valley programs helping families.

Nancy Marion, the executive director of House of Refuge East in Mesa, said most of the public has no clue there are so many homeless families. "You’re not going to see a family on the exit ramp of a freeway," Marion said. "Because somebody who sees that would say, ‘Oh she’s just using her kids to get money.’ "

Khazai said 40 percent of the homeless in the Valley are families, making up more than 1,000 families, 78 percent of which are headed by single moms. Many are taken into homes by other families or are in support programs and emergency housing. According to the Maricopa County Association of Governments, there were 13,000 homeless people in the county in 2004; 1,800 on the streets.

Cervantes’ pastor pointed her to Family Promise. Her family spent two and a half months staying overnight at volunteer churches, her daughters bused to and from school. Today, Cervantes and her daughters, now ages 5, 8, 10 and 13, live in a two-bedroom apartment in Phoenix. She attends Phoenix College part-time and works for both Family Promise and the Tempe Community Action Agency, another social program, as a part-time office assistant. She said she hopes her struggle will show her young daughters they can’t just wait for the easy road. "I’m trying to get them to believe in themselves and every day is another day," she said. "I know they’re dreaming a lot and I want to be a part of their dreams."

Contact Nick Martin by email, or phone (480) 898-6514