How one woman moved from a domestic violence shelter to a home of her own

VPM | By Scott Simon, Matthew Schuerman and Fernando Narro

Published July 13, 2024 at 12:08 PM EDT

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

About 30 million Americans move each year, and nearly half do so in the summer, according to surveys. Katie Laura of Milwaukee is one. She and her children already moved twice this year, once into a domestic violence shelter and then into a permanent apartment. She tells her story as part of our summer series on moving.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

KATIE LAURA: I’m 37. I’m a secretary at an elementary school, and I’m a full-time student at UWM, getting a Bachelor’s in accounting. I have four children. They’re 15, 14, 8 and 6, and my oldest son is blind. I had a domestic violence incident with my husband of 18 years on May 31. That is what prompted going to a shelter – not feeling safe.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

LAURA: The one I was at – it was a room, and it had five beds. It had a full-size bunk bed and three twin beds. But this particular one, you shared the bathroom with the person in the room next to you. Being in a place like that kind of makes you feel like you’re living on the streets.

So yeah, you – with four kids, I had to move highly effectively and as fast as I could. I also was working, so I was able to house hunt and things like that.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

LAURA: The group that I’m actually renting from has a bunch of these type of lofts around the city of Milwaukee. Most of these places are already full, and they have long waiting lists. But the one that I found – the day that I called, the lady was like, just bring $15 money order, come in and fill out your application, and that’s what I did. I knew I wanted a location that was secured. So I was very blessed to be able to obtain a location that has underground parking, and it’s a secure facility.

These apartments can be subsidized, or they can be market rate. I personally was able to obtain a voucher when I was at the shelter from the Hope House. The voucher allows me to pay 30% of my income for one year.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

LAURA: It’s three bedrooms and two baths. I think it’s about 1,200 square feet. It’s pretty spacious.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

LAURA: I already had some of my belongings in the storage ’cause when my husband went to jail, I put all my belongings – I didn’t take furniture, but I took belongings – and I put that in the storage. So I rented a truck, and I – just me and my daughter moved, but we did it ourselves.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

LAURA: I was able to get my furnishings from the shelter I was in, the Milwaukee Women’s Center. And then they were able to have the furniture delivered, so that wasn’t bad. And then they had furniture men put the furniture together, so that helped.

It’s a lot better. It’s a fresh start. I go back to work in about a week and a half, so I’m looking forward to that. And I’m just taking my summer classes at UWM.

I feel thankful, grateful and peaceful and free. And God is my secret. I wouldn’t have been able to do anything without him. That’s the journey that I’m on right now, just me and him.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

SIMON: Katie Laura of Milwaukee – and if you or someone you know is experiencing partner abuse, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-SAFE. And if you have a story about moving this summer, please, send an e mail to [email protected] and put the word moving on the subject line. We may contact you for more information.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Tags

NPR News NPR News

Scott Simon

Scott Simon is one of America's most admired writers and broadcasters. He is the host of Weekend Edition Saturday and is one of the hosts of NPR's morning news podcast Up First. He has reported from all fifty states, five continents, and ten wars, from El Salvador to Sarajevo to Afghanistan and Iraq. His books have chronicled character and characters, in war and peace, sports and art, tragedy and comedy.

Weekend Edition Saturday has been called by the Washington Post, "the most literate, witty, moving, and just plain interesting news show on any dial," and by Brett Martin of Time Out New York, "the most eclectic, intelligent two hours of broadcasting on the airwaves." Simon has won every major award in broadcasting, including the Peabody, the Emmy, the Columbia-DuPont, the Ohio State Award, the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, and the Sidney Hillman Award. He received the Presidential End Hunger Award for his coverage of the Ethiopian civil war and famine, and a special citation from the Peabody Awards for his weekly essays, which were cited as "consistently thoughtful, graceful, and challenging." He has also received the Barry M. Goldwater Award from the Human Rights Fund. Recently, he was awarded the Studs Terkel Award.

Simon has hosted many television specials, including the PBS's "State of Mind," "Voices of Vision," and "Need to Know." "The Paterson Project" won a national Emmy, as did his two-hour special from the Rio Earth Summit meeting. He co-anchored PBS's "Millennium 2000" coverage in concert with the BBC, and has co-hosted the televised Columbia-DuPont Awards. He also became familiar to viewers in Great Britain as host of the continuing BBC series, "Eyewitness," and a special on the White House press corps. He has appeared as a guest and commentator on all major networks, including BBC, NBC, CNN, and ESPN.

Simon has contributed articles to The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times Book Review, The Wall Street Journal, The Sunday Times of London, The Guardian, and Gourmet among other publications, and won a James Beard Award for his story, "Conflict Cuisine" in Gourmet. He has received numerous honorary degrees.

Sports Illustrated called his book Home and Away: Memoir of a Fan "extraordinary...uniformly superb...a memoir of such breadth and reach that it compares favorably with Fredrick Exley's A Fan's Notes." It was at the top of several non-fiction bestseller lists. His book, and Jackie Robinson and the Integration of Baseball, was Barnes and Noble's Sports Book of the Year. His novel, Pretty Birds, the story of two teenage girls in Sarajevo during the siege, received rave reviews, with Scott Turow calling it, "the most auspicious fiction debut by a journalist of note since Tom Wolfe's. . . always gripping, always tender, and often painfully funny. It is a marvel of technical finesse, close observation, and a perfectly pitched heart." Windy City, Simon's second novel, is a political comedy set in the Chicago City Council. Baby, We Were Meant for Each Other, an essay about the joys of adoption, was published in August 2010.

Simon's tweets to his 1.25 million Twitter followers from his mother's bedside in the summer of 2013 gathered major media attention around the world. They inspired his New York Times bestseller book Unforgettable: A Son, a Mother, and the Lessons of a Lifetime. Laura Hillenbrand, the author of Unbroken and Seabiscuit, called the book "poignant, funny, intimate, and unforgettable." Scott Turow called it "a treasure. It is as poignant and tender and wise as Tuesdays with Morrie, with the added virtues of being unflinching and, quite often, very funny." Laurie Halse Anderson just called the book, "Amazing. Breathtaking. Affirming. This book will change lives, restore hopes to the brokenhearted, and remind the rest of us what is truly important." Carlos Lozado of The Washington Post called it, in a rave review, "a book that easily matches its title."

Simon also wrote the book Just Getting Started with Tony Bennett. His latest books is My Cubs: A Love Story about his lifelong fandom of the Chicago Cubs, and their historic World Series victory.

Simon is a native of Chicago and the son of comedian Ernie Simon and Patricia Lyons Simon. He is married to Caroline Richard Simon, and their daughters are Elise and Paulina. His hobbies are books, theater, ballet, British comedy, Mexican cooking, and "bleeding for the Chicago Cubs." He has thrown out the first pitch at Wrigley Field (low and outside) and appeared as Mother Ginger in the Ballet Austin production of The Nutcracker. Scott received the Order of Lincoln from the State of Illinois in 2016, the state's highest honor. He adds, "If you prick me, I'll bleed Chicago Cubs blue."

See stories by Scott Simon