THE LONG ROAD TO HOME — TWO FAMILIES’ SEARCHING STUMBLE OVER WELFARE

(Article published in HWW Jan-Feb 2009)

OLGA’S STORY

Olga Deaza was out of work, lost her apartment, and arrived at Concourse House last June with her son Darwin. Her baby Amy was born in July and her search for a job and an apartment began soon after.

As Olga tells her story, “I started working in October in a clerical job at a firm that does home attendant training. I got a Work Advantage voucher in November. A friend referred me to a broker and I started looking and found an apartment in the Bronx. But then, at the end of November, the people at Concourse House heard that my public assistance case was closed because I was earning too much money. I should have been rebudgeted to a single issue p.a. case. I couldn’t stay in the shelter – and I couldn’t use my voucher – without it. I went to the welfare office in Brooklyn to explain that my case should be changed to a single issue case. They gave me a supervisor’s number to call so I could follow up. So I went home and I called the number they gave me but no one answered. So I went back and the supervisor was on vacation. They took my paperwork and said I should wait to hear from them. I made my third trip to the office on December 26th and they were still working on it.

I’ve lost that apartment. The broker says he has another one for me, but I can’t do anything about it now until my case is open. “

“I have missed three days of work trying to fix this and I’m tired of asking my boss for time off.”

Olga works fulltime, 40 hours a week, earning $10 an hour. She looked for apartments on her lunch break, but she can’t move until her case is fixed. Though the landlord of the apartment she had found couldn’t wait, he says he has another one for her if she’s ready.

SHANTE’S STORY

Shante Knox lost her home and came to St. John’s Place Family Center in February, 2008, with her four children, ages 8, 5,1 and 1 month. In May, as soon as she qualified to apply for a housing subsidy, she put in her application. Because her 5-year-old is on SSI, she applied for the Fixed Income Advantage rent subsidy. She received her voucher August 20.

“They gave me a package that included the voucher and brokers numbers,” she remembers. “There had to be hundreds of names on the list. I started calling. One problem is my voucher was only for a two bedroom. They said my three daughters could sleep in one bedroom, me and the baby in the other. Most landlords didn’t want so many people in a two bedroom. A lot of them said they would only take Section 8 or working people.”

“I went to see quite a few that weren’t suitable for anybody. They were falling apart. Or they looked like the Police done run through them. The nice ones, the rent was too high.”

“I finally found an apartment on my own. I walked around the neighborhood, Crown Heights, looking for signs, for empty apartments. End of October, beginning of November I found a nice two bedroom. The living room is big. Nice size bath, new tiles. Good size bedrooms. Lots of windows. It’s a three-family building, one apartment on each floor. Rent $1,070. At first, it failed the inspection because of one little screw in a window. Next day, my landlord said the inspector hadn’t called back and so I started calling. I called the inspector and he said he would send someone the following Monday and it passed inspection.”

“Meantime, my p.a. case was screwed up from July to December. I was sanctioned for not doing WEP. But I shouldn’t have been sanctioned cause I was working and I was exempt from WEP. I won my Fair Hearing.”

“So now I can sign my lease tomorrow and begin moving my things.”