OVERTOWN, Fla. — Over 1 million women and 2.5 million children experience homelessness every year in the United States, according to the National Women's Shelter Network.
“We need to understand that this can happen to anyone," said Grettel Jiménez-Singer, Director for the National Women's Shelter Network. “We are a network of over 400 shelters on a national level from all over the country.”
WATCH: A look inside the largest women's homeless shelter in the country
The National Women's Shelter Network aims to break down homeless stereotypes while helping shelters across the United States with resources and tools to help women and children get off the streets for good.
“If a woman is experiencing homelessness, or families are experiencing homelessness, they easily find a shelter wherever they are," Singer said.
In Overtown, a neighborhood near downtown Miami, stands the largest homeless shelter for women and children in the country named the Lotus House.
“We want them to feel like they’re at home and not in an institution," said Lotus House Executive Director Isabella Dell’Oca. “We want them to feel great about themselves before they start their healing process from within.”
Over 525 women and children sleep at the Lotus House each night with an average stay of up to six months. They assist over 1,550 women and children annually.
The Lotus House is filled with playrooms, salons, cooking classes and the ability to heal while starting a new chapter full of educational and employment opportunities.
95% of the operations team at the Lotus House were once there seeking help and working to get back on their feet— a true example of the transformative work happening side their walls.
With over 40 homeless shelters for women and children in South Florida, four of them are in Palm Beach County: YWCA of PBC, Change my Community, The Lord's Place, Hannah's Home of South Florida.
“We need to change the way we look at homelessness," Singer said. "We need to understand that this is something that can happen to anyone."
For more information on the the National Women's Shelter Network click here.
