How a Veteran’s Path Out of Homelessness Became Another Source of Uncertainty
On a humid May afternoon, Yvonne LeMon signed a one-year lease on an apartment in Philadelphia, believing a federally funded program would cover her rent and support her transition from homelessness. By June, she was already confronting a new threat: her housing, she learned, might vanish months before her lease ended — not because she had failed, but because no one had told her how the program really worked.
LeMon had arrived at the apartment after months of living in her minivan and cycling through temporary shelters. She was not new to instability, but she believed this moment marked a turn.
The program she entered — Supportive Services for Veteran Families, or SSVF — was designed to do more than place someone indoors. It was supposed to stabilize people long enough for them to rebuild: help with rent, utilities, transportation, employment, and legal support. For LeMon, the lease represented a fragile but deliberate bet that the system would hold up its end…