The Brief
- Kahnai Jackson, a single mother and nursing student, lost her rented room in the Eaton Fire but lacks the paperwork to qualify for government assistance.
- Without support, Jackson and her children are living out of her car and motels while she juggles school and side jobs.
- Determined to provide a stable future for her children, Jackson started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for housing.
LOS ANGELES – While many families are celebrating this Mother’s Day, 27-year-old Kahnai Jackson is just trying to hold her life together. The single mother of two is among a growing number of renters who fall through the cracks during disasters — not because they weren’t impacted, but because they don’t have the paperwork to prove they lived where they did.
Jackson was renting a room in an Altadena home when the Eaton Fire swept through the neighborhood and destroyed everything. She didn’t have a lease or utility bills in her name, and because of that, she doesn’t qualify for any government assistance.
“Being a renter, you don’t get anything like the owners do,” Jackson said. “I just didn’t have the documents to get the help they were giving.”…