NEW YORK — Alyssah O’Connor says she’s ready to leave her apartment in the Bronx for good.
The 37-year-old mother of three says she’d rather go home and spend time with her kids, and the cats would enjoy being outside.
“They’re my family,” O’Conners said.
“I want them to be safe.
I want them safe in their neighborhood.”
O’Connor, a former public health officer, is leaving the city to live in an apartment with her two dogs, Rachael and Lenny.
She has been homeless since she moved into her apartment last month, and says she has no plans to return.
“I’ve got three cats, and I want to be able to keep them out of the streets, and not have to worry about them being sick or being neglected,” she said.
O’Conner has been in the city for four years, and has been to shelters on two previous occasions.
She says she’ll leave behind a city she loves and a community she’s always known.
“It’s not like I want my kids to live somewhere else, and my family to live anywhere else,” she told ABC News.
“We’ve got a home here, and we’ve got dogs, cats, I love them all.”
O-Conners, who has two children, says she and her husband, Chris, plan to get rid of their apartment and move to a new one.
They say they plan to find another apartment.
