Crossroads – The Intersection of Housing and Education Policy

Chrystal Olson stood outside her Parkland, Washington, apartment on a winter day in 2012 as the few belongings she owned were removed. In the unsettling moments of eviction, she looked at her children’s faces and saw their confusion and pain.

She had been here before, and it was a place she swore to never let herself or her children come to again. If she could just get a little help.

Olson had used methamphetamines off and on for 16 years, and her children had paid a high price for it. In addition to having an unaccountable mother, the children had an abusive father, lived with little in the way of food, clothing, and shoes, and frequently moved from place to place.

Read more about the Crossroads Housing Education Policy.