That is one of the most iconic scenes in all of cinema; so much so, that the only words spoken in it have become an idiom that can be used in many different situations. Now, the enemy we are trying to vanquish may not be an inexplicably vengeful shark, but to defeat homelessness, we definitely need a bigger boat. Our “boat” has to be big enough to deal not only with different types of homelessness, but with homelessness in different locations, not only in Dallas County, but in Collin County too.
Julia’s story is emblematic of this concept. Julia is a hardworking single mom of three beautiful kids. Unfortunately, she lost her apartment in Plano, this past February. With $600 to her name, she moved her family into a Days Inn, where she had a cleaning job. She knew this could only be a temporary solution, not only because raising three kids in a crowded motel room is a problem, but also because it is against motel policy for employees to permanently live there.
Bust of Blessed Professor Antoine-Frédéric Ozanam, founder of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul
Julia is one resourceful mom, so she called our good friends, at the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, at St. Mark the Evangelist Parish in Plano. They said they would be happy to help her pay for the motel room, while she looked into getting a new apartment. They then connected her, with our secret weapon in Collin County, D’Arcy Drescher.
D’Arcy came to MDHA, after having worked for our partner and grantee, Family Gateway, as a case manager. She started off as an HMIS data clerk, and was then promoted to Coordinated Access & Assessment Case Manager. In this role she spends part of her time assisting the Coordinated Access team in our office, and part of her time assisting our Collin County partners and their clients. To make it easier for them, she spends three days every week officing out of the Assistance Center of Collin County. This excellent partner has gone out of its way to be welcoming to clients who come seeking assistance with housing.
Back to Julia: D’Arcy sat down with Julia, and strategized with her. Every month, Julia had $607 in SNAP benefits, $1,600 from her job, and $376 in child support. If she could find an apartment with reasonable rent, she could get back on her feet. Julia could see the light at the end of the tunnel!
The next step was to go apartment hunting. Now, if you know anything about apartment hunting in this market, that is no easy task. It would difficult enough, if you didn’t have three young children, and had a stellar rental history. So, Julia knew she had to hustle. Eventually she found an apartment that would rent for $700 a month. There was, however, the “small” matter of the deposit. In a previous post we put the word in quotes, but this time we really need to, since the deposit was (gulp) $1,000. Julia was able to put down $500, but that was all she could afford.
Julia reached out, once again, to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, but since they had already paid for her motel stays, they couldn’t really afford to help her with the remaining portion of the deposit. Julia asked D’Arcy if she had any ideas, and D’Arcy knew just what to do. This was, once again, a job for the MDHA Flex Fund!
The idea of the Flex Fund is simple. A minor but impactful expenditure impedes a client from (making progress in) ending his or her homelessness. The Flex Fund pays for it. That’s all there is to it.
D’Arcy completed the simple one-page Flex Fund request form. She included Julia’s basic information, the details of her story, what stood between her and ending her homelessness, i.e. the remaining $500 of the deposit, and an explanation of why other resources cannot provide the solution. She attached correspondence with the folks at the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, as well as a letter/receipt from the apartment complex, and emailed it all, just like any service provider would, to FLEX@MDHADallas.org.
With that, Shavon Moore, Director, Coordinated Access and Assessment, approved the request, and had a check quickly cut, and D’Arcy picked it up, and delivered it to the leasing office. Finally, Julia and her three kids could leave the motel, and move in to their new apartment. Their homelessness ended, and they could now move on with their lives…
