A year after graduating from North Hollywood High School in 2013, family disputes pushed Michael Jaramillo to living on the streets.
Sometimes he’d find relief, like when his friend invited him to stay with his parents for two weeks. Odd jobs in construction, moving services and retail netted him just shy of $800 a month and enough to swing hot meals and the occasional night at a hotel.
During several episodes of homelessness totaling nine months he slept in laundromats, hospital waiting rooms, other people’s cars and on the rooftops of apartment buildings. While other 19-year-olds crammed all night for college exams, he “would bust an all-nighter and just walk around” on evenings he couldn’t find a place to rest.
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