PROVIDENCE – It took a week after a story highlighting her grim scenario , but the pregnant woman who spent months sleeping on the street in Pawtucket has landed in a shelter – with a lot of help along the way.
Shanelle Saraceno, who is six months pregnant and lacked housing for nearly a year after being evicted, received a shelter placement with her boyfriend at an undisclosed location on Wednesday.
“We have our own room, and we are on to this new journey,” Saraceno, 29, said in a text message. They hope one day to have a place of their own.
For months, she and her boyfriend, Dylan Ballou, had been sleeping in a tent near the Apex building in Pawtucket until their tent and blankets were stolen. Saraceno reached out to dozens of agencies for help and waited for months on the coordinated entry system list for a shelter bed.
She was evicted for nonpayment of rent last March and found apartments out of reach, as the couple relies on Social Security income because of their disabilities.