In March 2023, Kayla and her 4-year-old son became unhoused. They couched surfed for a bit before moving into her sister’s home in Waterboro. Kayla took a job at Starbuck’s in Windham – the 5 a.m. shift, the only one available – and spent most of her free time commuting, with little left for her child.

“Some days I was sleeping in my car in the Walmart parking lot in Windham so that I could get to work on time a few days a week,” she said. “My son was going to school at Head Start in Bridgton, so the other days of the week I was driving back and forth from Waterboro to Bridgton twice a day. It was really rough on both of us.”

Kayla heard about Avesta Housing through a friend who is a social worker. She applied for several properties and landed a two-bedroom home at Unity Village at Bayside.

“It felt like an angel came to visit me,” she said. “I was running out of options; we were looking at living in a shelter or out of my car. I got approved a couple of days before my son’s fifth birthday, so that was a great birthday present for him too. It was a really great day.”

Kayla recently received her certification in real estate and started working with Avesta as a leasing specialist, and her son is attending kindergarten at East End Community School. Last Christmas, they got to spend time together in their new home – just the two of them. It’s one of Kayla’s favorite memories.

“It was the first Christmas where it was just me and my son in our own space,” she said. “We were able to put up our own tree and put up the decorations ourselves. And that was really special.”