The seas have been a bit rough for McKenzie Harrell, a U.S. Navy veteran, but she has since found safe harbor.
She left her Alabama hometown because she felt it was not friendly to people like her who identify as queer, and headed to California, which she thought was more accepting of the LGBTQ+ community. Upon completion of her five-year Navy commitment, McKenzie enrolled in film school under the GI bill. But the pandemic hit, the school closed, and she went into depression, which led to her falling behind in rent and getting evicted.
Without a home, McKenzie “couch-surfed” with friends before getting enrolled in the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Community Engagement and Reintegration Service – a Los Angeles-based center that provides high-risk unhoused veterans with healthcare, social work, and a safe and stable place to reside throughout the process of placing them into transitional or permanent housing.
Today, McKenzie is living in a new apartment secured under a government-backed master leasing program that supports the increased utilization of tenant-based rental subsidies.Partners in this effort included the Los Angeles County Homeless Initiative and Los Angeles County Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, as well as the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, PATH, and L.A. Care Health Plan and Health Net through the Housing and Homelessness Incentive Program (HHIP)
McKenzie says she is now focused on re-starting her career aspirations.