She survived a hurricane, cancer and a heart attack. Now she's facing eviction.

When Hurricane Ida struck down in Sonya Ross's small Louisiana town in August of 2021, her family lost everything.

Ross, 42, said she and her two daughters bounced around hotels for a couple of months before they found a house to rent in November of that year, in Lafayette. A year later, Ross suffered a heart attack. She was hospitalized for two weeks and underwent open heart surgery.

Since then, Ross has battled uterine cancer, heart disease and complications from her type 1 diabetes, including sight loss in her right eye. She's worked sporadically at local hospitals as a patient access representative, but her vision loss has made it difficult to stare at a screen all day. She is looking for a new role that will accommodate her.

She's two months behind on her rent after losing her most recent job in October, and her landlord is threatening to evict her and her girls. She's behind on her utility bills, too, and her power went out on Jan. 6.

"I explained to (my landlord) that I literally don't have anywhere to go with my daughters," Ross said. "I don't even have money to take the furniture and things out of here. Like, I have nowhere to put it. It's gotten pretty bad, and it's gotten to that point where I just don't have anything and I don't have anywhere to turn to, and I don't know what to do."

Many Americans are like Ross, one crisis away from homelessness, according to the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. USA TODAY recently wrote about another mother, Johnika Jamison, a former school counselor who fell into homelessness in 2024 after two back-to-back difficult pregnancies. An overwhelming response from readers asking how to help Jamison and her family in North Carolina resulted in a GoFundMe that raised more than $60,000 in less than three weeks.

Similar to Jamison's story, Ross said she's already drained her retirement savings. She recently created a GoFundMe in the hopes of getting some help with her immediate needs. But ultimately, she wants to work.

"Anybody that I read about that's having financial issues because of health issues and not because they don't want to work, you know, I relate to that big time," Ross said.

Other readers like Ross reached out to USA TODAY about Jamison's journey and shared their own struggles experiencing homelessness or being on the brink of homelessness. Below are some of their stories.

He can't find an apartment for his family. But the cost of the hotel is more than what he'd pay in rent.

Joseph McNeil, 49, works at a drug rehab facility in Maryland, making $25 an hour.

His earnings are not enough to pay for the hotel where his family of five has been staying since July. He's spent more than $14,000 on the hotel room, he said − more than he'd have to spend on rent if only he could secure an apartment. But to do that, he needs enough cash upfront to pay for the first month's rent, plus a security deposit. He also needs to make an income that's more than double the rent.

"Unfortunately, we don't meet that threshold," he said. His wife has looked for remote jobs, but can't work in person anywhere because the cost of child care is prohibitive.

His family has been homeless since February, less than a month after his youngest son was born. He said he applied for rent assistance, but the process was drawn out. They were granted the assistance one day after they were evicted, when it was too late.

Over the holidays, his son wrote a letter to Santa. On his wish list, McNeil said, the boy wrote: "I want a house for my mommy and daddy, and I want my mommy and daddy to not have to work so hard."

"It caught my wife and I both off guard," McNeil said, through tears. "For him to have to process that at 8 years old really impacted me, as a father. And it made me feel as if I'm not doing enough to keep my family together and to keep them stable."

He's hopeful his tax refund will help pay for a security deposit on an apartment. In the meantime, McNeil said he often goes without food so that his family can eat.

"It's almost been a year now that we have been unhoused," McNeil said. "Neither one of us have ever been in this situation. You know, we're very highly educated people who just hit a rough spot."

Like others, McNeil has turned to GoFundMe, hoping others' generosity might help get his family to a better place.

She reported mold and leaks in her building. Instead of fixing it, her landlord took her to court.

Monica DeLancy, 51, works for the We Thrive in Riverside Renters Association nonprofit in a community just outside Atlanta.

But she's not a renter. DeLancy, who lives with her two adult children, has been homeless since August 2024.

In 2018, renters at a nearby apartment complex − a place where she used to live − asked for her assistance through the nonprofit to address maintenance issues, including mold and leaky ceilings. She helped develop a maintenance plan with management and moved into the complex again in 2020.

But the building came under new ownership in 2022. When DeLancy talked to the new owners about the maintenance plan, they responded by terminating her lease renewal offer.

DeLancy said she tried to continue paying rent, but they returned her rent to her and took her to court. A lengthy legal battle ensued, and she eventually vacated her home in 2024.

"The property, for three years, sent lawyers to fight me in court," DeLancy said. "But they never spent money to repair the property."

DeLancy had an asthma flare-up in early 2025 and was hospitalized. Shortly afterward, she lost her job at a local school.

"So we're stuck in a hotel, scraping up $100 a night," DeLancy said.

DeLancy's oldest daughter has a job, and DeLancy is still working with her nonprofit. But it's unpaid. She's advocating for funds so she can be paid in her role. In the meantime, she and her family started a GoFundMe to help them get back on their feet and into an apartment that's safe.

"Was I not supposed to say, 'Hey, we need a decent place to live?'" DeLancy said. "It's a challenge to get another apartment that's safe and decent. You might be able to get another apartment, but that apartment's going to have the same issues that you moved from."

Madeline Mitchell's role covering women and the caregiving economy at USA TODAY is supported by a partnership with Pivotal and Journalism Funding Partners. Funders do not provide editorial input.

Reach Madeline at [email protected] and @maddiemitch_ on X.