She was homeless for 10 years. Now, she’s sharing the stories of others who were homeless alongside her.

Over a period of 90 days in 2014, Patricia Williams lost everything.

A longtime school teacher in Ohio, she had been on leave for about six months taking care of her 17-year-old son, who was sick. When he passed away, Williams came to San Diego to visit her daughter, who was in the Navy. While here, Williams’ house in Ohio burned down, her contract for her teaching job was canceled, and she was stranded in a new city with nowhere to live.

“I lost everything. Life had to start over,” she says. “I had been on the street for 10 years, off and on. I was out in the street from 2014. Sometimes I had apartments, but I never got a physical job until 12 years ago, so I’ve been unemployed for over 10 years, that’s why I couldn’t get an apartment.”

Despite earning associate’s and bachelor’s degrees in business administration, and a master’s and doctorate in education before losing her child, her job, and her home, she wasn’t able to land a job. She says she submitted more than 100 applications with local secondary and community college school districts, took and passed the required exams, but says she was told that she had too much experience. Voices of Our City Choir, a nonprofit that supports people who are homeless with their choir and additional resources and services, was able to help and she got a part-time job at the Oak Park Library four years ago and affordable housing in Vista two years ago.

During h...