For one month Manuel and Teresa along with their children crammed into a single room, six in total. It would be the blended family’s fifth move since linking up in the United States since immigrating from El Salvador. Manuel fled violence in his home country and arrived in June 2021, his son earlier in 2020. Teresa, her two children, and Manuel’s daughter soon followed in February. In July 2022, the family found their belongings tossed out onto the pavement after the apartment’s official tenant threw a fit after a city inspector found the apartment was illegally subleased. The family now facing the consequences of Boston’s overcrowded housing crisis was forced to move once again.

Manuel’s son Melquencedec Anthony carries a mattress through the streets of Somerville, Mass. to their new residence early in the morning of Sept. 2, 2022.

Teresa (left) helps pack her son, Raul Alexis’s (center), 6, school bag while Manuel’s daughter, Fernanda Aimee (right), 12, combs her hair in the early morning before school inside the shared room Manuel and Teresa rent in their old residence in Somerville, Mass. on August 31, 2022. All together six people live in the one single room in an apartment shared with 12 people in total.

Teresa (right) prepares tortillas for lunch while her son, Raul Alexis (left), 6, plays on his phone on the back porch of the old residence in Somerville, Mass. on August 31, 2022. While Manuel is at work, Teresa and her children hang around in the kitchen helping prepare meals.

Manuel waits to use the shower shared with 12 tenants while getting ready to head to one of his two jobs at the old residence in Somerville, Mass. on August 31, 2022.

Teresa’s son, Raul Alexis, 6, eats cantaloupe inside the shared room Manuel and Teresa rent in their old residence in Somerville, Mass. on August 31, 2022. Because the room is so small, there is limited space for the family to eat all together. The children often choose to eat inside because they are afraid of the other tenants.

Teresa (left) opens up an umbrella next to her son Raul Alexis, 6, before a rainy walk to school from their old residence in Somerville, Mass. on August 31, 2022.

Manuel packs bags with produce he picked up up from Food 4 All pantry in Somerville, Mass. on Sept. 27, 2022. He spent the time before distribution began helping set up the pantry.

Teresa, her daughter Kairy Lisbeth, 17, and Manuel ride the bus home after Teresa and Manuel finished work on Sept. 30, 2022.

Manuel moves belongings out of the old residence while Teresa and her son, Raul Alexis, 6, help at their old residence in Somerville, Mass. on Sept. 1, 2022. The family unit had to move in the late night, the only time where Manuel and Teresa did not have work.

Manuel’s son Melquencedec Anthony (right) and family friend Hector Henriquez (left) carry a mattresses though the streets of Somerville, Mass. to the new residence early in the morning of Sept. 2, 2022.

From top left) Raul Alexis, 6, Teresa, Melquencedec Anthony, Fernanda Aimee, 12, and Kairy Lisbeth, 17, walk up the stairs to their new home right before midnight in Somerville, Mass. on Sept. 1, 2022.

Teresa and her son, Raul Alexis, 6, embrace in joy inside the new spacious home while Manuel walks by in Somerville, Mass. on Sept. 1, 2022.

Teresa’s children Kairy Lisbeth, 17 and Raul Alexis, 6, Teresa, Manuel’s son Melquencedec Anthony, 21, Manuel and Manuel’s daughter, Fernanda Aimee, 12, hold hands in prayer after moving into their new more spacious home in Somerville, Mass. in the early morning of Sept. 2, 2022. “We have a roof, for six months — we have a place to sleep, so now everyone who wants to sleep can sleep. And, thank God, we’re together,” says Manuel.

(From left) Manuel’s daughter Fernanda Aimee, 12, Teresa and her son Raul Alexis, 6, work on schoolwork together while Manuel cooks rice and beans in the kitchen of their new apartment in Somerville, Mass. on Sept. 30, 2022.

Teresa’s son Raul Alexis, 6, and Manuel’s daughter, 12, fly a kite at the park near their new home in Somerville, Mass. on Sept. 3, 2022.