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Local woman fights to find homes for kids living in tents on San Diego streets

Posted at 5:17 PM, Dec 09, 2016
and last updated 2016-12-09 20:37:41-05

SAN DIEGO - A local woman is fighting to find homes for children living in tents on San Diego's streets.

Numerous tents can be found on the sidewalks of downtown San Diego's East Village, and inside two of them is where more than a half-dozen children live -- in the shadows of million-dollar condos.

Brianna Walker said she first became homeless with her family at age 13. Five years later, she is still homeless.

"Being out here was kind of hard, but then I just got used to it," Brianna told 10News.

Her mother is also still homeless, but she is not with Brianna and her 16-year-old sister.

"I want to go to college to study for law enforcement because I want to be a corrections officer," Brianna said.

Brianna and her younger sister share their tent with 14-year-old Monarch High School freshman Alyssa Hines.

"We've been homeless off and on for a while," Alyssa said.

Brianna and her sisters became homeless when their mother was evicted from their Santee apartment, she said.

Alyssa's mother and little sister sleep in the next tent over, along with her four-year-old brother.

Shantaya Pace-Kitchen, who leads the nonprofit League of Extraordinary Black Girls, said, "I was like, 'Where did all these kids come from?'"

Pace-Kitchen told 10News she met the children and their families while passing out feminine hygiene products to homeless women.

"They have to understand there is more to life than the streets," Pace-Kitchen said.

Pace-Kitchen created a GoFundMe account to get them what they need.

"Honestly, just an apartment or a house, and clothes," Alyssa said.

For more about their story and to offer them help, visit gofundme.com/TheSDThree.