HOMELESS WITH CANCER
Encinitas mother of three faces the battle of her life

Meet LeAnn. She's been living at Solutions for Change for only a few months, but already her life has started to drastically change.

"I couldn't have handled any of this without God, my higher power," admits LeAnn. LeAnn was recently diagnosed with Stage 1 Breast Cancer. Before breast cancer, though, LeAnn was battling addiction.

“Life was so unmanageable. Meth was my drug of choice, and I ended up in jail because of it. My ex-husband introduced me to it, and it was a constant struggle from there.

I found myself eventually evicted because I couldn’t pay rent, and there I was, homeless. I knew there was just no way to address my addiction and beat homelessness by myself. I knew I needed help.”

LeAnn turned to a local treatment program where she stayed for one year and graduated. That’s when LeAnn found the Solutions Family Center - a transitional housing complex developed by Solutions for Change for homeless families with children to live, work and obtain the skills and income necessary to end their homelessness, permanently. 

The project, consisting of 32 residential units, was built by Sun Country and opened in 2004.

“I was tired of any negativity in my life. I knew that if I didn’t at least try, I’d be cheating myself. Since coming to Solutions, I feel like my life is so much more manageable. This place is the doorway to being able to have my kids. Just my past birthday I received 50% joint custody.” LeAnn has two young children, Tyler, 10, and Heather, 12, and one adult child living on their own.

“Living here at Solutions is different then anything I’d ever done before. You are part of a team of committed people all working together to help each other win, to get to the real reasons why we became homeless, and to build a new life and solid foundation for our children.”

Solutions for Change cofounder and Executive Director Chris Megison says, “here at the Solutions Family Center, the construction of lives never stops. Sun Country Builders built us this amazing place that now serves as a rebuilding arena for hundreds of families like LeAnn and her children. 

A good set of drawings is where it started, but just as the SCB team took immense pride in their workmanship, our human capital builders work very hard to craft happy, healthy and productive lives. It is working. LeAnn is winning her battle against cancer and our community is winning a very tough fight against family homelessness.”

Having recently undergone a mastectomy, LeAnn already says, “My health is so much better already.” LeAnn still faces treatment of chemotherapy and/or radiation. At the time of this interview, LeAnn was still in discussion with her doctors.

“My goals are of course, to find affordable housing, but to also go to phlebotomist school, and work at that while I study criminal justice."