Meredith: From Crisis to Stability
“Hi there. Call me Meredith. I was unhoused for several months, after my home was flooded. Up front, I want to say, Wei – and volunteers at The United Effort Organization – are My Angels!
After I was flooded out of my home of 30 years, I ended up sleeping at my son’s place, but I didn’t want to interfere with his family, so I moved into my car at Camden Community Center. After a career at a local community college, it was a wake up call to realize I had so few choices. I registered with the Section 8 Housing Voucher, and was pointed to The United Effort Organization where I found Wei, a volunteer leader there. Why do I say she is my angel? Once I called her, she actually CALLED ME BACK, took time to LISTEN to me, then talked with me about various solutions. When you’re homeless, so many people ignore you and don’t return your call. I felt seen and heard by Wei.
The first step was calling the Here4You hotline, which centralizes referrals for clients seeking shelter. I was so happy to get a call-back saying that I could go to a warming shelter in Saratoga! That was a bridge until HomeFirst had space. Here I was - disabled, feeling old (at 62), knowing my place was under water and I was just so stressed. I had only about 8 miles of gas left in my car, and, incredibly, another volunteer from the UEO, Poul Erik, found me to give me gas cards so I could get there - I couldn’t believe how nice that was!
Wei then guided me through the process to get a housing assessment done. A case manager at Abode administered the VI-SPDAT* in December, 2022. A few months later I was selected for (or pulled from) the Community Housing Queue by the Office of Supportive Housing (OSH) and Wei helped me collect and transmit the requested documents to the OSH. The process to find housing is confusing and complex, even for people like me who are well educated, because when you lose your housing, it’s extremely traumatic and stressful. Wei explained the process, answered my questions, and, incredibly, always answered my calls and responded to text messages. She really helped me a lot and I knew I could rely on her. I was so happy to get into the permanent supportive housing program.”
Wei added, “Our focus at The United Effort is on the whole person. We first make sure that their fundamental needs are met, then discuss a housing plan with each client, so we can consider options to find stable housing. As we did for Meredith, we do for all clients: we advocate on their behalf, we look into every possible public assistance program to find out what they might be eligible for. We mentor them, and, after they have been pulled from the community housing queue, we help them prepare for pre-screening for the permanent supportive program by walking them through the documents and the process.”
Meredith said, “I’ve worked hard my whole life - went to college, stopped to work in retail, sales and sales management, then went back to finish my degree, while working and teaching at a local community college. I know how to self-advocate, but even with all that, a disaster that made me homeless just side-swiped my life. I have been married and have two adult kids ages 46 and 36, plus 3 grandchildren. I don’t want to interrupt their lives and have tried to keep going on my own.
Thanks to my experience at the United Effort, I am now helping others on a regular basis in my new apartment!”
*Note: VI-SPDAT stands for Vulnerability Index - Service Prioritization Decision Assistance Tool, an assessment used to prioritize unhoused people according to risk.