Malcolm and Heavlyn N., expecting a second child, and their young daughter were trapped in unsafe, substandard housing with no way to move to a better place.

Crammed into a small one-bedroom in Yonkers, on the fourth floor, the couple had no fire escape access, no vent in the kitchen or bathroom, a major water leak in the ceiling and no heat until November. There was no elevator to the fourth floor, making things extra difficult for Heavlyn during her pregnancy.

“We knew we needed a new place to live, but didn’t have the money to do this,” Malcolm said. “We went to court over the violations, which were confirmed by the building inspector, but the landlord did nothing. And, despite the fact that we were both working and paid the rent on time, the landlord refused to return the security deposit at the end of our lease.”

Luckily, the couple had only signed a one-year lease and by pinching and scraping saved whatever funds they could to get out of there. Still, the money fell short of their goal.

Referred to The Bridge Fund, they received an emergency loan of $1590, enough to get the family into a safe and violation-free unit in Elmsford.

Malcolm says, “The Bridge Fund came through at exactly the right moment.” The family moved in in December 2008, and the baby, a boy, was born two weeks later.