“We loaded up the U-Haul [trailer] with having no place to go," Brad said. "That was just one of those times when you’re just like ‘OK, Lord. We’re in your hands. What do we do? Where do we go?’”

The Blomgrens are not the only ones affected. Sonya worries about the neighbors they left behind.

“It was also hard on some good friends that my kids went to school with in the neighborhood," she said. [They asked,] ‘Where are Momma and Daddy B going?’ and ‘We can’t just pop in their house anymore?’ and that kind of thing. So, that’s hard.”

A community advocacy group called The Journey Home came to the family’s rescue, settling them in this three-bedroom house.

Murfreesboro, a city of 100,000, has long had a significant homeless population, but Journey Home Director Steve Foster sees the face of that population changing.

“Between 1,600 and 2,400 folks experienced homelessness over the last 12-month period of time," he said. "We have seen a significant change in that the segment of the population, that is parents-with-children, has grown significantly.

The Blomgrens are paying a small monthly fee to The Journey Home in place of rent, but it is well below market value. Foster explains that half of what they pay is held in a savings account, to be returned to the family later for use as a down payment on a place of their own.

“As they grow in their income and employment… things get more stabilized, then we do things like get the utilities in their own name," he said. "Therefore, when they move out of our property onto the next, they already have that foundation.”