Why one family moved from Indiana to Arizona to Indiana again
Why one family moved from Indiana to Arizona to Indiana again
Over the past five years, Devonte and Cassie Bradford moved their family from Indiana to Arizona, and then back to Indiana. Now, the couple is saving up for what they hope will be a final cross-country move.
“I grew up in a small town called Oaktown, Indiana,” Cassie said. “It’s really small. You blink, you could miss it.” She and Devonte met while they were still in high school. “She’s been my ride or die since we’ve been kids,” he said.
In 2018, the couple moved with their two children to Phoenix, Arizona, where Devonte’s mother was living. “She was like, ‘I think you guys will do such a great job out here,’ and we just decided, you know what, we might as well give it a try,” Cassie said.
Though the Bradfords enjoyed the employment opportunities available to them in Arizona and the activities they were able to do with their young children there, they struggled to find affordable housing. “Everything’s a lot more expensive out there,” Devonte said.
Maricopa County, where they were living, has 125 times as many people as the Indiana county they’d moved from — 4.5 million compared to fewer than 36,000. “It was hard to get on insurance and find a doctor,” Cassie said. “The waiting list went for months and months.”
Pregnant with their third child, the Bradfords decided to move back to Indiana. “It was just easier, really,” Cassie said.
Now, the family of five lives in a three-bedroom apartment in Vincennes, Indiana, where their rent is $635 a month. “It’s low rent, and everything’s affordable, but you also got to look where you’re living,” Devonte said. “The jobs here pay so low,” said Cassie.
In Indiana, Devonte works as a foreman for a tree-cutting service and Cassie works as an associate teacher for a Head Start facility. The couple said they’ve faced discrimination as an interracial family in a community far less diverse than where they lived in Arizona.
“You got to ask yourself, ‘Is this where I want to raise my family? Is this where I want to live?’” Devonte said. “So, I think we’re gonna go out west and give it another shot.”
This summer, after their kids have finished school for the year, the Bradfords hope to move back to Arizona. They’ve researched schools and housing costs in a community called Goodyear.
“[We’re] just trying to find what fits us,” Devonte said, “where the housing isn’t so bad and you can find a good home … and find a decent job and make a good honest living. We’re hoping this is our last move,” he said.
Click the audio player above to hear the Bradfords‘ story. Tell us your housing story using the form below, and you may be featured on a future edition of “Adventures in Housing.”
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