Sunlight Home in Naples, Florida, offered shelter and a new start to pregnant women on the brink of homelessness, but required them to get permission before leaving the facility and to download a tracking app on their phones, former residents said, and facility policies stated that this was the case.
At Hannah's Home in South Florida near West Palm Beach, women needed permission from their pastor to have romantic relationships and were forced to attend morning prayers, according to former residents, employees and volunteers, and were required to give up food stamps to pay for communal groceries — a practice that two government assistance experts said was likely against the law.
In many parts of Florida, where housing costs are soaring and lawmakers have sharply restricted access to abortion, pregnant women and teenagers in need of a safe, stable place to live are increasingly turning to one of their few options: charity-run maternity clinics.
Most of these facilities are affiliated with churches or Christian nonprofits and often serve women or teenagers who have escaped abuse, left the foster care system or completed drug rehabilitation.
But in Florida, most homes operate without state standards or state oversight, and an investigation by The New York Times and the investigative podcast and radio show Reveal found that many require residents to agree to stringent conditions that limit their communications, financial decisions and even their behavior.