It is always an occasion to celebrate whenever we are able to assist our program participants secure permanent housing, so we are extremely proud to announce the success of our rental assistance program in doing exactly that. Over the past few months the Dream Team marriage of the Next Step Rental Assistance, Housing & Warm Hand-Off team (made up of Adriana Zavala, Ana Arteaga, Claudia Zavalza, Tonya Ward and Vanessa Haro) and Open Door’s Housing Navigation & Financial Empowerment team (made up of Patricia “Pat” Tyler and Anny Delance), have worked in close step to make it possible for four rental assistance program participants overcome the housing insecurity they faced. The four participants include two participants that were having difficulty finding permanent housing for themselves and two participants graduating from Next Steps’ own reentry housing program.

Of the two participants not in Next Step housing, John had recently paroled in January and had success being approved for SSDI but was experiencing great difficulty in finding suitable housing that would lease to him due to recently being paroled. The second participant not in Next Step housing, Clifford, was living in temporary community housing and had success being approved for SSDI also, but again, he had great difficulty finding suitable housing that would lease to him due to his justice involved history. Adriana and Vanessa referred both to the Housing Navigation & Financial Empowerment team to determine what their SSDI income and current budgets would support. After years of having to share their housing space with several others, both naturally preferred to live privately. Luckily, Anny determined both these individuals’ income and budgets would be able to sustain living on their own in an apartment and so they moved onto Pat’s housing navigation services. Pat has worked diligently to create relationships with local apartments and other housing providers endorsing the benefits of Next Step’s rental assistance program and was able to successfully secure leases for both of these gentlemen. Each has already moved into their new private apartments, making possible their goal of being self-sufficient and living on their own.

Even more exciting, has been the graduation of two of our Next Step housing participants, Pamela and Celia, who have worked hard while in our program, doing all they needed to do to prepare themselves for exiting into their own apartments. Pamela came to be in our housing last summer, immediately after her release on parole. While in the program, she developed her goals and worked hard to achieve them; attending several self-help classes, taking advantage of resources offered to her and securing gainful employment. She saved the money she earned each month towards her exit and also successfully applied for SSI. Pamela’s case manager, Ana, referred her to the Housing Navigation & Financial Empowerment team for their assistance. Anny and Pat determined she would indeed be able to support herself with her SSI and employment income. With Pat’s help, Pamela was able to move into to her new apartment as of this month.

The second of the Next Step housing graduates to secure a lease for an apartment, Celia, came to us late last year and has since made great efforts to reunify with her 2-year-old baby girl, secure gainful employment and find a suitable home for her and her child. Celia’s case manager Claudia also referred her to Anny and Pat’s services. With their assistance, she found an apartment to lease. But, although Celia successfully completed her supervised probation while in Next Step housing, she was told by the probation department that her housing with Next Step would no longer be funded by them since she was no longer on probation. To provide Celia additional time to complete all the requirements to be approved for her apartment, Next Step approved to extend her more time in housing despite not being funded. We are happy to report Celia will be moving in at the beginning of April.