Woburnite Recovers From Hardship And Keeps Working

Sitting at the table in her homey kitchen, with her collection of baskets and snowman figurines in a built-in display cabinet nearby, Lisa Bradley contemplated how her life has changed in the last year.

Just about a year ago, Bradley, who once owned a home and ran her own business, was homeless. The Woburn native and her younger daughter lived for several months in a Woburn hotel.

Now Bradley and her younger and older daughters live in a bright, small apartment here, her hometown.

Bradley works at Starbucks off Commerce Way. And she’s considering going back to school.

Bradley had been deemed one of the “success stories” by the Metropolitan Boston Housing Partnership, which has helped her pull her life back together with a kaleidoscope of services tailored to her life and work experience.

The then-unemployed Woburn High School graduate didn’t know about the partnership until she moved into the hotel, she explained Thursday afternoon. She was moved there because the one-bedroom apartment where she and her daughter had been staying, with her brother, was far too small, she said. 

“I had to put myself into the situation (of being homeless)," Bradley said. “It’s a Catch-22; what do you do?”

“I never thought I’d be in this position,” she said later.

Bradley moved back to Woburn after having marital problems in Florida, where she had moved to be near her mother, who subsequently died. Bradley said she had a beautiful home there:  three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a pool. Then the one-two punch. First she lost her job. Then her husband left.

But she’s a fighter and an optimist.

“Even if (you’re moving) an inch forward, it’s forward,” she said.

Things didn’t look so rosy when she was placed in the hotel in January, 2010. She felt, she said, like she was falling backward “more and more and more.”

“My frustration,” she said, “was that I didn’t belong there.”

Things could have been even worse, she said. She could have been assigned to a women’s shelter. They were all full.

She spent her days looking for a job. She asked for and received access to a computer in the business area. Bradley had owned and operated Sisters Florist at Hanscom Air Force Base for eight years, worked since she was a teenager. No success.

Then she was one of 16 families chosen for the state Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Rehousing program funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

The program pays $1,000 a month for a year, she said, for her rent.  She pays the difference.  Sometimes that’s tough, she noted. Staying at the hotel cost the state considerably more, she said, so this program saves the state money. She is in the process of filing paperwork for a six-month extension for her rent help.

“I couldn’t believe they accepted me (for the program)," Bradley said. They said they did, she recounted, because of her work history.

When Bradley was accepted into the housing program, she went looking for an apartment. One was “horrible” and tiny, she said. Some she couldn’t afford. Some landlords shied away from the paperwork, she said.

“I’d go back to the hotel. It was depressing,” she said. “I couldn’t find a place to live.”

Ironically, it was her brother, she said, who suggested that they drive around the city and look for an “apartment for rent” sign. They found a vacant, affordable apartment.

“It was very little,” she said, but “it had potential.”

Bradley moved into her apartment 11 months ago, in April, 2010.  The housing partnership even got her a moving company, staffed by formerly homeless people. They were fabulous, she said.

After she moved in, she continued to look for a job.

Again, her brother pointed her to what became her employer. According to Bradley, “He said, ‘I saw a sign at Starbucks. They’re hiring.’”

Three interviews later, this past May, she got the job. Now her superiors want her to become a shift supervisor. With an 11-year-old at home, she can’t put in late hours, she said.

Housing partnership staff want her to go to school, to possibly build on her skills as a businesswoman. They have resources to help, Bradley said, such as information and workshops.

She would love to work as a receptionist in a veterinarian’s office, as she did in Florida. That would be “a dream.” She’s approached some veterinarians. They want people with technical vet skills, she said.

“There are programs for people who really have true hardships, “ Bradley said, “people who need the help.”

She also thanked her family for their help and support. They’ve been “wonderful,” she said, but they couldn’t continue their help long-term.

Bradley’s story was first told in the housing partnership’s 2010 annual report. Then it was told on a state website about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Woburn Patch picked up where those stories left off:  how Bradley is doing since she moved into her apartment and got a job.

Bradley’s older daughter, Nancy, described her mother as “a strong woman” who “deserves everything, and the world.”

“I’m starting over,” Bradley said.

“I want to move forward—even an inch."