RICHMOND, Va. — Justina Jackson headed to the bus stop Tuesday morning to catch a ride to an apartment she was touring.
Frankly, the rent on the unit, which is $1,000 not including utilities, is pushing her budget.
“Everything is raised— cost of living, housing, food, but our paychecks hasn’t been raised. So how can we pay the cost to live?” Jackson said.
Jackson, who works at the Richmond International Airport five days a week, is among the many working adults in Central Virginia facing housing instability.
Over the years, she said she’s been in and out of homelessness services while working with multiple different case workers and relying on help from friends and family to get by.
“I’ve been through crisis. I’ve been through different programs that put me up in the houses, and they have put me in hotels,” Jackson said. “I’ve been staying from place to place, house to house, asking somebody, ‘Can I stay at your house? Can I spend a night there or whatever?’ It’s been hard, it’s been rough, it’s been a journey.”