Searching for Home–

Carrie Gore-Dalton and her two sons, Caleb Gore, 20, and DJ Dalton, 5, first moved from Arkansas to Michigan on Christmas Eve in 2017, seeking a fresh start with family renting a house in Battle Creek, MI. Soon after, seemingly without warning, their landlord decided to sell the house, leaving them homeless. After months of struggling to afford hotels in Battle Creek, Carrie took her sons to stay at the Kalamazoo Gospel Mission but felt mistreated and concerned for her family’s safety living in that environment.

In late-August, Carrie decided to leave the Gospel Mission with her family and joined a homeless demonstration to protest a lack of affordable housing and adequate shelter space in Kalamazoo. A few weeks later, the city of Kalamazoo moved three families with young children, including the Gore-Daltons, out of the park and into hotel rooms. The intent was to put the families in a safe location until they could be transitioned into more long-term emergency housing. Weeks passed, the money dried up, and there was no housing located for the family.

After four weeks of staying at three different hotels funded by members of the Kalamazoo community, the family was given two options: Return to the Kalamazoo Gospel Mission or have travel costs covered for a bus back to Arkansas. The with an uncertain future, the family decided to go back to their home state for another try at starting over, again.