"I never thought that I would be homeless, until I was. It’s not that I had a perfect childhood, because I didn’t. It was riddled with abuse, neglect and growing up too fast. My mental health got pretty bad in my teenage years. I guess with a childhood full of so many traumatic experiences it’s only normal. My last year of HS I was kicked out of the house. It is here where my journey of chronic homelessness begins. I don’t think anything could prepare me for such a drastic change. Finally, I enrolled in Year Up before I aged out. I got some technology training and went on to teach myself how to code. With the help of my mentor, I secured a job as a developer at a top financial firm. But, my mental health progressively got worse. I ended up being hospitalized after an intentional overdose and bye bye went my job. I allowed myself to become evicted. And now I may have to very well return to the shelter system."