I worked on Marfa's case again with Robyn and Paul. We were worried that her housing application could potentially be denied, like Junia's case, because of holes in her application. Since Marfa was not comfortable disclosing where she had been living with her son after leaving her abusive husband nine-months ago, Mr. Griggs at the housing authority might hesitate to quickly approve of her situation.
Therefore, we decided it might be beneficial to include a letter from WATCH clarifying her living situation. I drafted a letter explaining that she is currently homeless and enrolled in a homeless prevention program. The letter also included that she had been actively working with tenant advocates at WATCH to secure housing and the her situation needed immediate attention. Robyn and Paul added a few more details to the letter, and I left Marfa a voice mail asking her to come in to the clinic tomorrow.
The best option would be for Marfa to disclose the details of the past nine months in order to have a clear record. However, if Robyn is not able to get a straight response, we believe including our letter in her application would be the second best alternative.
I hope in Marfa's attempt to protect the people she currently lives with, she does not sacrifice her ability to gain public housing. It is frustrating that the Emergency Housing Application was designed for people in Marfa's situation, yet it is so complicated and detailed that often those who need housing the most have the least access. Let's hope for the best.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Hi Tiffany,
ReplyDeleteMarfa came in again today to finalize the application as per your instruction. She has kept the address as was on the form previously, based on a couple of issues. The WHA Family Housing Applicant reviewer is very strict, as we have also written to him about the case of Junia. He describes the WHA as a regulatory body and a landlord, wanting to find good tenants. The issues were as follows:
First of all, as I showed you and Paul on the form last night, the applicant needs to have been in a primary residence for at least 9 months. Therefore, those other places she has been staying would not help her meet this requirement. She also did not want to list those places, as she has been moving around from friend to friend. I then provided her with the letter from WATCH that you wrote last night. Thank you for your help in this. I checked over the application with her again, organizing it into parts and providing her with a complete copy. I explained the situation to her, and am hoping that all goes well. Let's keep our fingers crossed.
Robyn