Advocating for Homelessness

One of the reasons these past few months have been really rewarding at HELP is I've seen two people, whom are incredibly difficult to work with because of mental illness, be housed.  My co-worker Whitney has spent countless and a lot of thankless hours with each of these clients and succeeded in getting them both housed in Ventura County.  Although we like to keep Ojai people in Ojai, with our ever persistent housing crisis it's not possible.

In this same time period I have also worked with someone who has become homeless.  We are using "worked with" and homeless as very loose terms because the person is actually taking advantage of an elderly person.  This person was a tenant and stopped paying rent, but continued to live in the home and take advantage of our client.  The almighty Karen kicked her out and HELP subsidized her rent while we helped her find a new roommate.  In order for our client to survive in her home, she has to have a roommate to afford rent.  The new roommate came in, but so did the old one.  Since we were no longer putting money into the client, we didn't have a say as to whether or not the old roommate could stay.  So she stayed for four months, paying no rent and irritating the new roommate.  Our client and the new roommate decided they wanted her gone and could see the bad in the situation, but couldn't kick her out because of their developed friendship.

Every week the old tenant was on the verge of moving out.  Just one more car repair or test or clean out or whatever situation it was.  It got to the point where the client and the roommate were fed up and wanted her gone.  It was intense and I was playing mediator between the three of them.  Everybody was communicating in twos instead of threes.  The two roommates would talk or the client and one of the roommates.  There were rarely three people conversations.  In the end, we helped the client and new roommate by putting them in touch with a person that could help get rid of the old tenant.

Now what do I do?  I just helped a person become homeless, which is what we try hard to prevent.  Karen told me not to worry.  The old roommate is resourceful and recognizes opportunities that nobody else sees.  I didn't believe her and continued to check in on the situation, but of course Karen is right.  The old tenant had bought a new van in two weeks, which she had been almost buying for three months.  She found a place to park and has water and gas hooks up through organizations she works with.  She is a survivor.

Sometimes it's hard to be an advocate when you can see the good and bad in the situation.  I can see the good the old tenant did in the home, but also know how toxic she was.  I can see why our client liked her, but can also see how she manipulated the client.  I can see how the unwanted roommate was a bonding point for our client and the new roommate, but wonder what will happen now she is gone.  This time I was lucky that it became clearer this was not a good situation and all parties were in agreement.