The homeless experience and the events leading up to it certainly has the capacity to serve as a catalyst to trauma. Picture this: you have lost everything that has any sense of value to you, find yourself living in a shelter with other families, where privacy and space are limited and you have next to nothing in your possession–your children are looking to you to provide for them, as you are now surrounded by a sea of people in similar situations. While sitting in the shelter, the following questions may start arising in your mind:
How did I get in this position?
What does moving forward look like?
Where do I turn from here?
This is the story for one of Aurora’s Vision 1505 clients. Chanitha Adam’s is a client of Aurora’s Vision 1505 program, a permanent supportive housing project that provides housing and on-site supportive services for 32 formerly homeless families with disabling conditions.
In the year 2013, Chanitha was selected to move into Aurora’s Vision 1505 permanent supportive housing project. The transition from experiencing homelessness to being a resident of Vision 1505 wasn’t easy for Chanitha, as she struggled to get settled and find her way through the changes in her life. Stability is often at the forefront of necessity within our lives. Shear strength can easily count for nothing if we are without balance to ensure our footing.
Vison 1505 served as a foundational piece of stability for Chanitha and her family, offering stable housing with the support of Aurora’s social workers to help families achieve the objectives and goals that residents set for themselves and families.
Crowning the top of Chanitha’s goals was her desire to attain a formal collegiate education. She achieved that feat and more! While at Vision, Chanitha attended college in pursuit of a criminal justice degree. She received very high grades while in school, assisting to enlighten her path to Chanitha’s personal success we celebrate today!
Chanitha settled into her apartment, gained employment, and recently was promoted. Simultaneously, she successfully obtained a Section-8 Voucher and is set to move out of Vision 1505 within the next week to an ongoing rental subsidy, without the additional need of supportive services. This is a perfect example of why permanent supportive housing works. Permanent supportive housing provides housing with no exit date. Permanent supportive housing provides clients with stability of housing and the supportive services of accredited social service workers to assist folks to get on their feet without the fear and pressure of when they must be out. This program provides the opportunity to move at one’s own pace, moving towards achieving their goals on individual terms. Vision 1505 also gives clients the ownership in the process.
Vision 1505 families pay thirty percent of their income to the property management company and sign an annual lease renewal. Permanent supportive housing and Aurora’s staff support provides to our clients the solidity, through which, we see successes like Chanitha’s. Her success not only gives her the capacity to move forward in life to improved standards by her own terms, but it gives another family the opportunity to receive the same support and stability that will assist in another path to success. A recent survey of the vulnerability to homelessness and the accessibility to affordable housing in Evansville reported that our community has a need of 150 more permanent supportive housing units just like the one Chanitha lived in.