Phoenix program helps people experiencing homelessness find jobs in the real estate industry

Federal data points to roughly half or more people experiencing homelessness having at least one job.

One Phoenix-based nonprofit is working to help people experiencing varying levels of homelessness polish their interviewing skills, develop their resumes and find opportunities for work in partnership with the real estate industry.

When Atiana Clark moved to Arizona, she had a lot on her plate.

“I lost my grandfather earlier that year,” said Clark. “And I was getting ready to start my divorce process.”

Not only that, she was pregnant and caring for her two older children.

Initially skeptical of the Entryway program, Atiana said she soon realized it was a genuine support system.

“Know it’s not too good to be true,” she said, “when you hear that a program is really there to be, like, a true support from making sure that you're properly trained to making sure that you can make it through an interview process, know what to expect. It comes with housing. You're going from having, like, a job to having a career. And, like, they truly support you from start to finish.”

Kirsten Dorman/KJZZ

Ana Ryan remembers being shocked when receiving the news that she was being evicted in 2022. But recently, she secured housing and started a new job through the Entryway program.

“I ended up living in a homeless housing program, which is where I'm at now,” Ryan explained. “Then I was introduced to the Entryway program, and I was able to take training and learn how to fix my resume, do interviews and then also get to meet certain people.”

As she continues to work toward housing for herself and her daughter, Ryan is still balancing training and her new job.

“If it was just me alone, it'd be one thing,” said Ryan, “but because I have a daughter, it was something different.”

Clark said during the most difficult points in the process of exiting homelessness, her older children were her primary motivation.

“I don't think I got to enjoy my pregnancy because of the amount of stress that I was under. I don't think I truly got to, like, live in my experience of being pregnant for the last time,” she said. “I'm actually never going to have another baby. So, just to know that I couldn't enjoy that last pregnancy, it bothers me a little bit.”

But, she added, her situation now is starkly different.

“I went from staying in a home that catered to pregnant women to now being on my own, capable of sustaining myself again,” said Clark. “I no longer have to worry about, you know, where am I going to sleep at? What am I going to eat? Is my baby safe?”

With a new job under her belt and an upcoming graduation for her associates degree in business, Ryan said she’s glad to be able to pass this knowledge onto her daughter earlier in life.

“We sometimes play leasing agent,” she said with a laugh. “It's made me, like, practice things."

Kirsten Dorman/KJZZ

And with a more secure future within reach, Ryan is planning ahead to fulfill her determination to provide a stable environment for her child and eventually give back to the Entryway program by mentoring others.

“I'd like to move up to at least full-time and then eventually advance my career,” said Ryan. “Maybe I can buy a home instead of living on one of [my employer’s] properties."

And now that Clark works on-site for a property management group in Ahwatukee, she said that along with the stable income, living on-site has been a significant advantage for getting her feet back underneath her.

Moving forward, she wants to encourage a more compassionate attitude toward those experiencing homelessness.

“There’s people who are working hard, who are trying to scrape by and do what they need to,” she said, “but it does not always work like that.”

Clark added that she hopes others will use their experiences with homelessness to better help those still navigating it.