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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPublic Comment from Anonymous on 011325 Un occ� kit 1 I had previously worked under Olycap's Head start program as a pre-school teacher.When I looked for a career change I still wanted to help people and saw all the good work this organization had been doing in the education and childcare space. I had heard about the new leadership stepping into the Housing Department and took that as an opportunity to interview and find out if there was positive changes being made there. I was accepted the job offer after being impressed by the new Housing Director Viola's commitment to bettering the services provided and the vision she had for what the department could be. Here are just a handful of snippets about the lives we have and continue to impact since I have joined; 23 year old, was living out of a car but received services for a year and 4 months, found a place to live and got helped with rental assistance,food, gas, and finding work. 18 year old, received services for 2 years, while on the street received assistance with food, getting their license, and recently just moved into their first home 18 year old, a DV survivor that had to flee and was in shelter for three months just got moved into their first place 24 year old,Was living in their car then moved to our shelter, after six months was able to move into housing 25 year old in a family of three,was able to help them retain their housing while they struggled with health problems and a new born while also providing necessities for the family. 21 year old was in a hotel after losing housing, provided space in our shelter for 8 months and then helped fund RV repairs and cleaning to have a habitable place to live. 22 year old having been couch surfing for three months got housed with move in and rental assistance. 19 year old, helped after they had to flee a DV situation and got them into housing, helped with necessities like food. 22 year old, Helped them secure housing that they are currently still at. In the process of helping them with finding their own place outside of our Olycap housing options 20 year old, Their family initially got help when they were a teenager. They came back as a young adult and got rental assistance with us to prevent them from becoming homeless and are actively working on stabilizing. When I came to Port Townsend in 2019, I was living in my van, I was pregnant and had my 6-year-old son with me. I had an amazing job in Spokane as a Substance Use Counselor and a nice home, but the baby's father was not so nice.Terrified I came to Port Townsend for safety and a fresh start. I had family here but the only space they had was a musty shed with a murphy bed. My stepmother told me about OlyCAP I went there and was helped by the nicest people,they had no quick fixes, but they did paperwork with me and gave me a direction. I was able to get a job at DSHS with help from OlyCAPs employment program and eventually OlyCAP was able to put me in their family emergency shelter AKA the Haines Street cabins. It was a year and a half later when there was finally an availability, it was March 1, 2020.Then the whole world shut down. I was so grateful to be housed where I was not responsible for rent because DSHS also shut down and only a handful of people there could work from home, so I lost my job.Throughout the Quarantine I was still called and visited by both my housing and my employment case managers at OlyCAP. It meant everything to have that support and not feel alone.After the world re-opened my employment case-manager was sending my resume to places for me and getting me interviews to use my counseling license again but then one day calls me to ask me if I would like to work at OlyCAP because I had been referred by several people that work there.Without hesitation I said yes! I could have made a lot more money working as a counselor stilt because of my credentials. However,the amount of support OlyCAP showed me through the scariest time of my life was priceless and I was so grateful I wanted to give that back to others -Single female that I housed into permanent supportive housing.After being unhoused for almost 10 years.while they were trying to change their lives, I did intensive case management with them for a year after taking over for their former case manager who had worked with them for a year. So,a total of 2 years.The year I worked with them I saw them about once a week sometimes twice a week every month! I also showed up for them at every court date they had which was about 1 time every month and a half. I advocated on her behalf,as her case manager in family court,to help her get the rights of her children and visits restored. If I had not been there, she would have been alone without even a public defender. She became a peer counselor and was awarded full custody of 1 of her children that lived out of state and prior to this had only got to visit for 1 week every summer! She was also awarded extended overnights with the child whose parental rights she had lost. -young person housed for the first time ever!They had been unhoused for over 6 years since living with their parents, I worked with them twice a month for 6 months until getting very lucky and finding a studio available for them. I did case management with this person for 6 months meeting with them 2 times a month and then once a month at their apartment after housed. I Also was with them for the walk through, lease signing and move-in 3 days in a row for at least 3-4 hours every one of those days. -senior person in remission of cancer and a list of other health conditions was living way up on the mountains,where the snow falls, in a self-made shelter of tarp, logs and rocks. He would have surely died up there and not made it through the winter. I Met with him on the mountain which took at least 2.5 hours of time just for the drive, paperwork and drive back on 2 occasions.Was able to get this person into a tiny shelter before the first freeze of winter.Then I personally drove up there on the 3rd occasion, because no other outreach or support team was available to"help"move him. I put help into quotes because when I got there, he had so much pain from his back popping out of place and his shoulder being dislocated that he could not help me, he could not barely walk. I had to carefully help him walk through the woods and hike up a sharp incline of a hill to get him to my car.Then pack and carry as much of his personal belongings that I could fit into my car as I can. Then drive him to the tiny shelter and unload my car and help him get moved in.This took an entire workday, and I had to complete the paperwork, case notes the next day. I do case management with this person and needed to get him back with a primary physician doctor. I was fortunate to get him in quickly and I have taken him on Friday mornings for 6 Fridays in a row and to the hospital3 times for follow-up X-Rays -I have been doing case management with a single family for the last 2 years seeing her 4 times a month and sometimes more to do home visits. I was able to graduate her off the intensive case management program to get her into a subsidized unit that she could afford without further assistance from OLYCAP because her income is less than $500 a month. So many agencies and people came together including people from several different departments to see this family housed before Christmas.The night before they were due to move in the unit flooded and the whole ceiling fell down. Our maintenance guys worked through the night for over 24 hours and cleaned everything and put in a new ceiling so that they could still move in on time and before Christmas.