Hector’s First Chance at Achieving Independence
Ready, Willing & Able serves the majority of people who experience homelessness: single adults who are not considered “chronically homeless,” do not have mental illnesses that prevent them from working, and are ineligible for permanent supportive housing.
The Doe Fund’s expansive portfolio of supportive housing serves the remaining 27%, underscoring our commitment to formerly homeless families, veterans, and individuals with chronic health conditions including mental illnesses.
For Hector, who lives at The Doe Fund’s Muller Residences, this commitment provided his first real opportunity for stability in life.
Born and raised in the Bronx, Hector always made family his most important priority. He did everything he could to support his mother, who raised him alone after his father passed away while Hector was a baby. He married, had a daughter, and tried his best to pursue education and sustained employment.
But again and again, something insidious stood in Hector’s way: schizophrenia. As a child, his after school activities consisted of visiting doctors with his mother. As an adult, Hector’s illness cost him his marriage, his job, and any sense of stability.
In 2016, he was admitted to the same hospital where he spent so much of his childhood. “I was bugging out,” Hector said. “I was hearing voices, and it was bothering me. It was like having a dream I couldn’t wake up from. I was stuck in the hospital for 20 days.”
With nowhere else to go, by 2019 Hector had entered the shelter system. “I had to start from scratch,” Hector told us. “I had to enter the welfare system, had to go to a back-to-work program, and my family wasn’t involved any more. I was all alone.”
Then, after two long years, Hector finally had some news worth celebrating: he had been chosen to move into one of The Doe Fund’s supportive housing units. At the Muller Residences, he now has access to on-site supportive services, job preparedness classes, and shared community spaces.
Hector’s life has changed drastically since moving into his own apartment. He has stability, receives the support he needs to focus on his mental health, and has built a vital community of friends he can count on.
“It felt like a one-in-a-million opportunity. I happened to be one of the lucky guys to be blessed with an apartment at The Doe Fund. I’m happy to have the chance to change my life,” he told us.
Now, Hector’s main goal for the future is to take care of his daughter — with the hope that she will move in with him. “I just have one beautiful Dominican-American royal queen. She’s turning 13. I’m trying to take care of Hailey. My goal is to not only change my life for the better, but to take care of my daughter’s future,” said Hector. “I’m just trying to catch up to her before she turns 18… My goal is to change my child’s life and raise her the right way.”
And he is on the right path. Every week since 2019, he’s participated in UPNEXT, a fatherhood engagement and workforce readiness program, where he’s received guidance and a safe space to become the best version of himself for his daughter. Through The Doe Fund, he also receives the help he needs to become the father he was meant to be.
Despite everything he’s been through, Hector has never let his schizophrenia define him. “Every time I fell, I got back up and tried again,” he said. “Now, I’m able to focus on my health and daughter. I’m thankful for The Doe Fund — and especially my Case Manager, Grace — for helping me.”
