Homeless Mothers, Children Sleep Outside Housing Office

Claiming they have no other options and nowhere else to turn, a group of homeless women and their children are spending the night sleeping on pavement outside of Philadelphia’s Office of Supportive Housing.

“I’ve cried so much I don’t even have tears,” Keyanna Delvalle said.

Delvalle and nine others gathered outside the building on 15th and Cherry around 7 a.m. on Tuesday and stayed there the entire day to protest. The women say the city agency that was supposed to help them has turned them away.

“They have no room for me and my five boys,” said Georgianna Lawton, who is recovering from a C-section after recently giving birth to her fifth son. “Where am I supposed to go?”

Another homeless mother, who did not want to be identified, says she lost her job in customer service at Philly International Airport. She joined the protesters and brought her 3-year-old son with her after they ran out of money to pay for a motel room.

“This is real when you can’t go to someone who is supposed to help you and get the help from them,” the woman said.

Cheri Honkala, a former homeless mother and currently a homeless advocate, says she’s helped find shelter for the homeless for two decades.

“The problem is out of control,” she said. “I’ve never seen it this bad in 20 years.”

Honkala says she’s tapping into all of her available resources and is asking local restaurants to share leftovers. One local pastor brought in blankets as well as water and prayed for the mothers and their children.

“They have no idea where they would be,” Honkala said. “They would be sleeping on a bench by themselves in a very dangerous situation.”

NBC10 reached out to the Mayor’s Office as well as the Office of Supportive Housing but did not hear back. As for the mothers, they plan to spend the rest of the night outside the Housing building. They also say they plan to take their protest straight to the mayor if they don’t get help soon.