Part 4: I Got a Little Island

In December, we profiled Shakira Crawford, a single mother living with her three children in a homeless shelter in East new York. We followed her as she searched for a permanent home for her family. She works full time for $17,000 a year, and she's armed with a city voucher specially designed by the de Blasio administration to help her leave the shelter system. Ten months later, they were still stuck in the shelter. 

As our series resumes, she's still looking. With all the publicity, she starts to hear from people who want to help, and she inches closer to finding a place to call home. She and her children — 13-year-old Joshua, 12-year-old Jordan and 8-year-old Julia — have shared a 500-square-foot room in a shelter for 16 months. They're yearning for something more. 

Click the audio player above to hear Shakira and her children talk about the emotional toll, and to learn what steps the city is taking to address the needs of the tens of thousands of New Yorkers just like them. 

To read more about Shakira's story, see Mirela Iverac's article at The Guardian U.S.