The case of recent Austin Street Center guests, Pearl* and Donna*, is instructive. With the encouragement of Austin Street Center staff, both women were, separately, looking for housing. Pearl is a restaurant server, who makes about $400 a week, and Donna lives on less than $800 a month from Social Security. With rents as high as they are in Dallas, Donna was finding it impossible to find housing, and Pearl did not really want to part with more than half of her income, every month.
Fortunately, they both attended a “Speed Dating” style activity, organized by MDHA’s Housing Resources Team member, Cynthia Scaife (pictured). In speed dating, you meet a large number of potential romantic partners, and can then choose who to follow up with later. A few of our team members have attended a similar type of activity for networking at United Way of Metropolitan Dallas. The idea of the activity Cynthia held was to match potential roommates. Pearl and Donna really hit it off! It was, if you will, a housing match made in heaven…
Both women had already joined Cynthia, separately, to look at different apartments and houses, and they each just loved a cute little duplex, that with their combined resources was suddenly right in their price range, with a rent of less than $800 a month. They could already envision themselves sitting out on the patio, relaxing together after a long day. There was, however, the issue of the deposit. $600. Each. Wow. How were they supposed to swing that?
Enter the MDHA Flex Fund. As readers of our blog know, the Flex Fund is designed just for these cases, to cover minor but impactful expenses, that if unmet can prevent folks from ending their homelessness. Austin Street Center submitted a Flex Fund request to our Coordinated Access and Assessment Team, and its Director, Shavon Moore, quickly approved the request. A check was cut to the landlord, and the deposit was satisfied. So, now they could move in, right?
Well, not quite. Even the cutest duplex is not going to work, long term, without some basic furniture. Pearl needed a bed. Fortunately, Austin Street Center already has a relationship with the Dallas Furniture Bank. It was off to their showroom, where Pearl had her own private appointment to choose her new bed. Donna had furniture in storage, but getting it to their new digs would cost $200, if they had to rent a truck, so Austin Street Center used their truck to help her move in, saving her that cost.
On April 20, 2018, Pearl and Donna moved in to their new abode. They are no longer homeless. Upon moving in, MDHA and Austin Street Center provided them with our New Tenant Resource Guide, which is chock full of information on how to keep and thrive in your new housing. They have already set up that patio, and after a long day, you can find them sitting there relaxing and smoking. (We all need our vices!)
Back at Austin Street Center, word of their good fortune has gotten around. One guest even exclaimed that she feels like she missed the boat. Austin Street Center staff, however, reassured her that that is not the case. They intend to keep working hard at housing, as many guests as they can, and we will help them do that, in any way we can. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we really have to get back to work, as the 90 in 90 Emergency Shelter Challenge continues!
* Names have been changed to protect our friends’ privacy.
