Hi, everyone. Lauren here. We're bringing you a special bonus episode because we're running a

fundraiser for On the Rise, an amazing organization that serves homeless women and gender nonconforming

people. As many of you know, my most recent book, this is all I got, is about a year in the life of

a young homeless mother, a woman I call Camilla. I'm a journalist. It's nonfiction. It's a story

about a brilliant and tenacious young mother who understood the workings of the system better than

any social worker she met. I wanted to see if someone unusually well-equipped by mere dent

of her own mind and will could find her way out of homelessness. Camilla's first year of

motherhood saw her decline from someone with a robust spirit and the ability to hold court in any

room, whether it was a political science class or the nail salon, to someone who was a shadow of

that self. She couldn't control what circumstances she was born into any more than her own son could.

She learned what millions of Americans today know all too well that poverty is usually its own

life sentence. So imagine your woman like Camilla. You carry your documents and your backpack

every day, just in case. You refuse to drop out of school. You've even thought about law school.

Half the people at Family Court think you're a lawyer anyway, the way you present yourself.

And yet, you can't get traction to lift yourself out of a situation you were born into because

you're always sent to another office or given the wrong paperwork and you're alone.

Camilla would often say to me, you're nothing but a number. Your case number, your social security

number, your number on the housing wait list, all humanity erased. Your individualism nullified.

Not to mention any tailored care that your unique situation could use.

And it's not always a straight line from instability to stability. If you think that's a personal

failing, think about how many more people are living in a place of precarity than their parents did.

And since the pandemic, since eviction moratoriums were lifted, since massive job losses have

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