The following is an excerpt of a Jan. 25, 2010 Time Magazine article written by Kevin O’Leary.

Photo Credit: Amy Sussman / Corbis

After her husband left her, Jennifer Santana lost her job. Evicted from her apartment, Santana, 37, held her family together by living with a friend and then in her van. But as the nights grew cold in early December, she stood huddled with her three children in front of the Orange County cold weather shelter in Santa Ana. “There were long lines of men and women and the people were laying out mats on the floor. It was scary. I could not believe I was standing there with my kids.”

In America’s communities, the local homeless shelter is just one step away from life on the street. Fortunately for Santana and other families, county and United Way funds pay for adults with children 18 and younger to be immediately housed in motels. Six weeks after moving into a motel, a small, unheralded federal program — the Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP) — began to help Santana move into an apartment. “I am so excited. Things are going to be normal again,” says Santana, a shorthaired blond who has found work as a licensed vocational nurse.

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Also be sure to check out When Joblessness Becomes Homelessness written by Douglas A. McIntyre.