She plans to get on her feet and into an apartment by the time her son goes back to school in August.

“I was going to get on my feet,” she said. “I’m not going to live like this in winter time. Now I’m just thankful that I’ve got this to get me to the next step.

Although she has been to food banks and used some of the local resources available to the homeless, Norris has most of what she needs is in her camper. Many nights, she cooks over an open fire, and her neighbor — who lives in the same house Norris used to own — has offered her the use of his electricity and water.

“I’m doing what is comfortable to me,” she said, noting her Native American heritage. “It’s just natural to me, and I just don’t seem to mind it. I wanted to teach (my son) the values in life and there are more things than computers and games. I just wanted him to know there is another life besides city life.

“Even though I am struggling financially, I am enjoying life.”

Not everyone arrives at homelessness through relationships, but for many women, domestic violence plays a role.

“A lot of women who are homeless, it starts with domestic violence,” Lee said. “Of course you’ve got your addictions, you’ve got drugs and alcohol and they’ve gotten into trouble. Sometimes they steal or commit a crime to feed that habit. Their family support system has said we can’t do this anymore.”

Veterans make up large numbers of homeless people as well, Lee said, and local shelters like Stepping Stones for veterans are starting to see them come from the Iraq War.

“They’re expected to make a transition back to life in just a matter of a couple months and they struggle,” Lee said.

Elizabeth Ploog, director of House of Hope of Madison County, provides shelter for up to 15 men struggling with addiction.

“Most of them when they come to us are homeless and that’s a direct result of their addiction,” she said. “They become estranged from their families, they lose their jobs, they’re really at their bottom.”

House of Hope provides transitional services in its half-way house, and some of those it helps move up into its three-quarter house when they are ready. Others are rehabilitated and move into their own homes or back with family members.

“We help them build a foundation of recovery,” Ploog said. “We deal with the critical problem. The critical problem is the addiction which creates all the other problems in their life.

Ploog said those who enter the 90-day program can come from all walks of life.

“It really reaches across all the socioeconomic boundaries, everything from the street person to a married man with a family and good job,” she said. “Addiction doesn’t know a stranger.”