Jovanda Taylor — a nurse born and raised in Louisiana — needed a change of scenery after her mother passed away, so she set out looking for work in Houston, Texas. 

But when her Certified Nurse Assistant (CNA) certification didn’t transfer across state lines, she was forced to move back to her home state — without a home to return to. 

As Taylor and her boyfriend Kevin Washington hunted and applied for jobs, they were forced to sleep out of their truck with their two dogs. 

“We were living in our truck, couldn’t find work, and went to food pantries—that was our excitement—but we couldn’t find any work,” Taylor told KATC, a Louisiana news outlet. 

Over the course of a month, as she continued living and sleeping out of her truck, Taylor began to lose hope. 

Then, in early December, she cleaned herself up at a rest stop and walked into Maison de Lafayette, a nursing and rehabilitation center in Lafayette, Louisiana. 

After she had filled out an application, the hiring manager, Wendy King, noticed that Taylor didn’t have a permanent address. 

So, Taylor put her “pride to the side” and asked for help. 

“I pulled her to the side and said I’m homeless, living in my truck, and I needed help,” Taylor said when recounting her story on Facebook. 

“Ms. Wendy sat me down and…called up Mr. Terrance St. Julian,” Taylor said, referring to the leader of Pay It Forward, Lending A Helping Hand, a local nonprofit and mutual aid organization. 

“I called him,” Taylor said, tearing up at the memory. “The [company] paid for us to be in a hotel for a month… and I also got the job.” 

Terry Gros, an administrator at Maison de Lafayette who worked with St. Julian to help the couple, said that they were happy to step up and give their newest employee free housing while she looked for something more permanent.

“She was in dire straits…obviously, she and her partner needed more than just a job; they needed a way to be safe,” Gros told KATC. “We asked what she needed, and we mobilized resources to support her.”

Taylor’s story is proof that anyone — regardless of college education, certification, or degree — can become unhoused. 

A national study by Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago found that 29% of unhoused young adults (between the ages of 18-25) were enrolled in college or another educational program at the time that they experienced homelessness.

Every day, outdated narratives surrounding homelessness are being challenged. 

Emerging studies have found that links between homelessness and substance use are much more complex than they may appear, and a growing number of nonprofits are employing “housing first” models for their clients that are actually working. 

Although systemic change awaits in addressing the growing affordable housing crisis, businesses like Maison de Lafayette are setting new standards for how companies can better serve their communities today.

“I can’t thank them enough for doing that for us,” Taylor said. “It’s a big blessing.” 

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