A Couple Catches a “Lucky Break”

Affordable Housing

March 9, 2023

Peter & Rachel

Catholic Charities Archdiocese of Santa Fe, New Mexico

Peter, a veteran, was disabled in a 2012 workplace accident. No longer employed, he moved to Tucson with a friend. Every place, including the VA, had limited housing resources. Then he met his love, Rachel. But rent was always just out of reach, even with Section 8 vouchers, and working anything more than a part-time job jeopardized his disability payments.

The couple relocated to Albuquerque, to be nearer his doctors. Waiting lists for affordable housing were long there, too.

Then, “we finally just caught a lucky break,” Peter said, in the form of a Catholic Charities program giving priority to veterans. Peter and Rachel moved to the Encantada Apartments, which offer social services such as health and nutrition education and financial literacy. “I feel that I have been blessed with this opportunity of hope in finding home.”