Tom had been living in Simon Hall for many years when he received word that we were closing the facility. Tom has a disability that makes him vulnerable to suggestion and exploitation. He depends on friends and family to get some daily tasks done but for the most part is able to live independently. While his case manager was working on a housing plan with Tom, he disclosed that he had been drugged and assaulted multiple times by someone who he thought was a friend. The case manager contacted Matt Weaver, Associate Director of Clinical Services. The case manager and Matt collaborated with our partners to get Tom to a treatment facility for his drug use (some of which had been coerced and some of which was helping him cope with trauma.) Once Tom exited treatment, he went to a hotel and then to a safe facility at St. Vincent de Paul Louisville where we will continue working on his next step for housing. All services and next steps were tailored to help Tom maintain sobriety and stay safe from his alleged perpetrator.
With a 90-day deadline looming, Sheila was struggling to find housing that accepted her voucher. Many landlords refuse housing vouchers or their rents are far too high for someone on a housing voucher. Luckily, she had the support of a case manager that helped her find an apartment. Sheila was so excited and couldn’t wait to get out of the emergency shelter, where she had been living for six months, and into a place of her own. Sheila was waiting on the landlord to send paperwork back to SVDP but her Housing Specialist had not received the paperwork. Her case manager jumped in to help her communicate with the landlord and SVDP staff. It turned out the landlord had rented the unit that Sheila had applied for. Now she was back to square one and was feeling really overwhelmed. She had two weeks left to find a place and every landlord she called either charged too much rent or didn’t have an open unit. Her case manager started calling landlords too and found her an apartment. Then her case manager contacted other SVDP staff to accelerate the paperwork process so that Sheila met her deadline. Sheila has been in her place for almost 2 months now and she enjoys having coffee in her kitchen by herself every morning.
Leave a Reply