Today we've partnered with BridgeDetroit for an in-depth look at the shortage of affordable housing options in the city.

For a lot of people that can mean the difference between having a home of their own or living in a homeless shelter.

BridgeDetroit and Detroit Free Press reporter Nushrat Rahman as the story of one woman's journey to find quality housing after a family tragedy left her homeless.

- I got married in September of 2021, and my husband Danny, we'd been together for eight years, and in January of 2022 I lost him to complications of COVID.

And when I...

I'm sorry.

When I lost him, I lost everything.

So in losing everything, I found myself losing my home, the business, him, and found myself homeless.

- [Nushrat] That's Tonya Hogan.

She's someone who, for the first time in her life, is without a home.

She's also among the growing number of women and families who are experiencing housing instability in Detroit.

- We start seeing more family calling and saying that they need more shelters.

I can say in the last two weeks we got at least, I'm gonna say at least nine calls for family who are big families, so we're talkin' about four children, mother, or four children, and a father, who needs shelters.

It is hard to accommodate such population unless if you are equipped for it with apartments.

- [Nushrat] That's because of a combination of multiple factors, including the end of pandemic era moratoriums on evictions, the shortage of affordable housing, and difficulties using Housing Choice vouchers, also known as Section VIII.

Audi said his organization's shelters are full.

- I mean, the bottom line is we don't have enough housing, and we're not addressing the cause of homelessness.

We're just patching the problem.

- Any one thing can lead to a displacement, a past due medical bill, a couple past due rent payments, past rent payment, can lead directly to homelessness because people do not have the savings and the economic mobility to sort of get past those incidents.

And so what happens is certain housing emergencies end up resulting in homelessness for families.

- [Nushrat] Hogan stayed at the Salvation Army's Booth Services Shelter in Detroit for more than a year.

- That first week was terrifying, and, I went through a lot of emotions.

I suffered from depression and anxiety, so I didn't have time to grieve.

So that first week I literally stayed in my room, I slept, I cried, I was tired, I had no appetite.

- And before that you kinda told me how you were living out of your car for a little bit.

I mean, what was that experience like for you?

- It was scary.

Yeah, it was scary.

But I parked at... (laughing) I parked in the parking lot at Motor City Casino.

(laughing) Because I knew that, one, they had security.

And it was a place that my husband and I visited a lot, so I knew that I'll feel kinda comfortable and safe there.

- After Tonya entered shelter, she got onto the wait list for the Housing Choice Voucher program.

It's a federal program that can help people pay for their rent by covering a portion of it.

It's meant to curb homelessness and poverty, but it's difficult to use.

After applying, the average wait to receive the voucher is about two years.

Only a fraction of eligible families across the country get accepted.

Then they have to find a place, but often they're confronted with a shortage of affordable units, and it can be challenging to find landlords with quality housing who will accept the vouchers.

- Because of the pandemic, a lot of homeowners decided not to accept the Section VIII anymore.

A lot of landlords with the buildings decided not to do Section VIII anymore.

So it's kinda scarce.

- Everybody's floatin' around in the same pool tryin' to get to the same properties, so it's limited.

It's not always something available.

- I almost felt like the system was setting me up to fail, because it was like, how can you say, okay, go out there and find your place, but there's nothing really out there.

- In total there is not enough housing stuff for affordable housing.

So there is a waiting list.

Even if you have the vouchers, there is not homes.

And then they will continue to wait in the shelter.

- [Nushrat] Bowser pointed to city programs like Code Blue, where staffers connect people experiencing housing emergencies with hotel stays and case managers.

Detroiters can also now call a new hotline, connecting them to a city-led coalition of housing service providers.

- What case management does and what the housing resource helpline does, it kind of centralizes those resources so that you don't have to go to five or six different organizations to achieve, to get help.

- After more than a year, Hogan is now in her own apartment outside of Detroit.

- It feels...

It's kind of bittersweet.

It's sweet because now I'm not in the shelter.

I have a place I can call home, but being by myself I still find myself grievin'.

I find it hard to cook for one.

- Homelessness doesn't have a face directly.

People hear homelessness and think drugs, think wayward activity.

But that's not always the case.

Homelessness- - You ready to go out?

- Is a result of life being life.

Sometimes it's up, sometimes it's down.

- When I would tell people that I'm living in a shelter the first thing that they'll do is they'll kinda give me a crazy look, as if I screwed over my finances or what kinda drugs are you on?

Or that's the misconception.

You have veterans who are in a homeless shelter, because their finances is not enough or their benefits are not enough or that they're dealing with health issues.

You have mothers in there with their kids because they were evicted because they didn't have the finances to continue paying for rent.

Or I would hear stories of the landlords upping the rent and they can no longer afford it.

For the most part, I just wanna be able to sustain myself, be independent, just be happy, and be able to travel and just enjoy life.

I wanna be happy again.