Preventing Homelessness, Empowering Dreams: Sommer’s Story

In 2010, Sommer Myers was expecting her second child… and on the brink of eviction. Desperate to keep her family in their home and keep an eviction from her record, she reached out to Community Housing Network (CHN). 

“I always grew up with stable housing, so this was new to me,” she says. “I knew I had to be proactive.”   

CHN helped Sommer with her past due rent, as well as the remainder of her lease, while also getting on a waitlist for a more affordable home.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and CHN’s Homeless Prevention services are still helping individuals and families at risk of losing their homes. In 2023, 268 people – almost half children – were able to avoid eviction through CHN’s Homeless Prevention program.

Support like this can be life changing. With a stable place to call home, Sommer was able to focus on building a life for herself and her two sons. She found work as an automotive technician, and with it, a steady income and independence.  

In 2018, she made the decision to return to school after a nine-year hiatus, enrolling at Ferris State University. She graduated in 2020 with Bachelor of Science in Integrative Studies, and in 2022 – with her now teenage sons excelling in school and sports – she returned to Ferris State to pursue a master’s degree in social work.

Sommer’s ultimate goal is to become a therapist and have her own private practice, a dream rooted in a desire to help others navigate life’s challenges. She’s proud of how far she and her sons have come, yet she still remembers the fear and uncertainty she felt in her younger years. 

While Community Housing Network has helped thousands of people who’ve experienced homelessness over the years, they’ve also helped thousands avoid becoming homeless in the first place. With the right intervention at the right time, a person’s life can profoundly be changed for the better.

No one understands this more than Sommer. “It was a learning lesson,” she says. “Without Community Housing Network, I’m not sure where I’d be right now.”

To learn more about Community Housing Network and the programs and services we offer, click here.