Meet Carla

Now She Has a Floor to Scrub

For 35 years, Carla lived in a small house on a lake in Washington, a state she fell in love with after a childhood moving all over the country. She retired from a career as a fashion buyer, never thinking that she would ever experience homelessness.

When her landlord had to sell the property after the pandemic, Carla was understanding and got to work looking for a new place to live. But the housing landscape had changed significantly, and she couldn’t afford even a modest apartment in the area where she’d lived most of her life.

Carla’s world shrank to the size of her car, where she slept in the front seat parked under the lights in a Fred Meyer’s parking lot. Through it all, a fierce resilience, and deep faith, kept Carla from despair. After 18 months, she found an apartment at Imagine Housing. There, with the help of her Imagine Housing Case Manager, Carla began to rebuild her life.

The experience has left her with profound gratitude for the things most people take for granted.