By Isabela Gamez
The Primavera Foundation
After five years of homelessness and eight months of coordinated support, Rhonda received the keys to her first apartment.
Rhonda’s success from the streets to Belvedere Terrace, a new affordable housing complex in Tucson, was made possible through an integrated system of care, community partnerships, and staff partnering with Rhonda to help her achieve permanent housing.
This is her story.
Rhonda was initially identified through the H2O Program in October 2025. At the time, there was no contact information available for her.
Rather than close the case, Primavera Senior Outreach Resource Specialist Cindy Carrillo researched her last known whereabouts through HMIS records.
After reviewing case notes from her previous case manager at a partner agency shelter, Cindy reached out to coordinate efforts to locate her.
Cindy learned that Rhonda had been admitted to a local hospital.
After receiving the proper consent, Cindy visited Rhonda in person and spent time establishing a relationship.
When Rhonda was ready for discharge, the hospital contacted Cindy. While Rhonda was medically ready to leave the hospital, she had nowhere safe to go. Returning to the streets would have placed her at risk.
At the time, STAR Village was preparing to open.
Cindy advocated for the hospital to delay Rhonda’s discharge for 48 hours while completing STAR Village’s intake process, ensuring a safe placement was available. On October 20, 2025, Cindy transported Rhonda from the hospital to STAR, where she became one of the program’s very first participants.
“When Cindy found me, I was just… I don’t know. She was like the light at the end of the tunnel,” Rhonda said.
Throughout her stay at STAR Village, staff provided support, crisis intervention, and case management. Rhonda transitioned to Primavera’s Casa Paloma Women’s Shelter a month later, in November.
Other Primavera programs got involved. The Rapid Rehousing team coordinated housing and Section 8 vouchers to help secure Rhonda an apartment at Belvedere Terrace, an affordable Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) senior living community for which Primavera provides housing coordination and case management.
In February and again in June, Rhonda experienced setbacks.
She left Casa Paloma in June, returning to the streets. Primavera Outreach re-engaged her, and she returned to STAR in March.
In early June 2026, believing she had been denied housing, Rhonda left STAR Village once again, returning to the streets. Later that month, she was approved for housing at Belvedere. Cindy went back to the tunnels to find Rhonda and delivered the news.
“If it wasn’t for the Primavera Foundation, I don’t know where I would be,” Rhonda said. “They gave me a chance.”
On June 17, 2026, after five years of experiencing homelessness and more than eight months of coordinated support through Outreach, STAR Village, Rapid Rehousing, and H2O, Rhonda received the keys to her first apartment.
“Outreach is about believing in someone and the process long before they start believing in themselves,” Cindy said. “Rhonda’s story reminds me why outreach is so much more than finding someone on the street—it’s about never giving up on them, even when the road is long.”
Many agencies and people played a role in helping Rhonda find hope again, Cindy said.
“Watching her finally reach permanent housing wasn’t just a success story; it was proof that when we collaborate and refuse to give up, lives can truly be transformed.”