Working on the next chapter ....Commitment!

WORKING ON THE NEXT CHAPTER ……..

COMMITMENT!

      

Hi, my name is Glory White and I am a new AmeriCorps member serving at Metro Community Development in Flint, MI.  I work mainly with the HARP Housing Choice Voucher.  There is nothing more rewarding then assisting a homeless client find and move into safe and clean housing.  I do however, have to admitted I feel torn between the satisfaction of assisting a homeless client succeed in meeting the goal of being housed and the feeling that the client should contribute more in preparation for and the maintenance of housing once they receive a voucher.

One of my clients lived on the street last winter.  I assisted him complete TBRA and the HARP programs applications. He slept at an abandoned house on most cold nights while waiting for a voucher.  A friend and I would go to the abandoned house where he slept on some of the colder nights and take blankets or hot coffee.  We were able to convince him to go to a shelter on the bitterly cold nights.  When his name was pulled from the TBRA list and he picked an apartment, he looked so happy when the property manager gave him the key to his own unit.  He proudly said to me “If you need me I’ll be at my apartment”

The client lived at the unit quietly and seemingly happily.   He attended substance abuse counseling, found a doctor and started treatment for some long standing physical ailments.  He attended support group sessions held for TBRA and HARP recipients’ everything went well until, he received his SSDI approximately nine months later.  He stopped participating in his support and treatment groups and reverted to in his words “a Lover”.   He began cause problems in the neighborhood around his apartment necessitating police involvement.  His main goals seem to be substance abuse and finding a mate.

I enlisted everyone on his “Team,” his Disability network counselor, his doctor, his substance abuse counselor to work with him but, nothing we could do steered him back on track. The most glaring part missing from this team effort was the support of the TBRA voucher.  There is nothing in the program that mandates (or in the HARP voucher) a client continues services or treatment once they receive a voucher.

 I feel the most powerful weapons that should be in the arsenal to end homelessness are Individual accountability and Personal Responsibility.  Many of the grants written for programs assisting the homeless find and maintain homes do not contain an expectation or a mandate for those individuals receiving assistance to participate in building independence by learning skills necessary to maintain housing, such as budgeting, how to pay your bills, (or paying your bills) how to be a good neighbor, getting a GED , job training, attending college, or attending substance abuse counseling.  This could   lead to the achievement of total independence without relying on a housing voucher or any other government helping services.

On the Certification of Eligibility and Residency used in the HARP application packet there it is noted

“Applicant household is willing to engage in a jointly-developed plan supporting housing stability” this criterion has no “bite” voucher recipients are not held accountable by the progran when they discontinue the plan.

 This chapter in the client’s life ended with his losing the voucher.  He spent time in jail and when released he then went back to living in shelters and places not meant for human habitation.  The furniture and household items the team found for him were lost or stolen.   He showed up at my office after almost a year looking for housing.  He still has his SSDI and said he is willing to work on a new chapter of his life.  I continue to assist him however, since this housing search is sans program, we put together a plan with several goals he must meet to maintain services.   Including but not limited to, substance abuse treatment, not being under the influence of substances when he meets with me, making appointments with his medical doctor and taking his medication, attending budgeting classes and applying to CMH for therapeutic services.