JANUARY 12, 2024 HOUSING HOUSED: On being your own advocate and the fight to find a place LINDSAY CALKA Publisher For this edition of HOUSED, Groundcover News talked with Glen Page, Groundcover vendor No. 407, and discussed the challenging process of finding an apartment after being pulled for a Housing Choice Voucher, often know as Section 8. LC: Tell us about your journey to housing. GP: I had to make myself marketable so I was “user-friendly” when I filled out an application. I found a couple of jobs and stayed into that. I had to stay busy and maintain my situation. I worked at FedUp Ministries and Groundcover News and did odd jobs running errands for people. There were Beal Properties, McKinley Properties and smaller landlords. They always told me “if you start doing ‘this,’ than we can do ‘that.’” They want you to make three times the rent, or have a cosigner. RPI [an agent for the Michigan State Housing Development Authority who manages Housing Choice Vouchers] is dysfunctional; they moved offices three times on my watch and I had to chase them down each time in order to get my voucher. Being pushy helped me out. There is a great lack of communication in the system. Delonis is dysfunctional, too. When my caseworker left Delonis, everything slowed down. He was the only one really honest with me. I didn’t really have any help after that. Besides a handful of people, there’s no one really qualified to advocate for us to find housing. You have to know your shit, and not many people do. [Delonis is] already short-staffed. People are leaving to work at Avalon Housing, or just straight up leaving. It’s spookier than it used to be. Really, it took three tries. My first opportunity was at Courtyard Square. The front desk manager at the time made my life hell. There was no way I was going to come off the streets and live under her. I wasn’t scared to keep looking though. I knew I was looking for my house. The second opportunity was Aspen Chase. The third was where I’m at now, Huron Heights. What was the biggest barrier that you faced in obtaining housing? Knowing that there wasn’t help. I had to be my own advocate and find my own place. It took me nine months. I had to fight for that. Housing is a human right. A lot of kids, and even grownups, don’t realize that. We don’t need cats coming in here [Delonis] just looking for a paycheck. What is an unexpected positive thing that most people don’t think about when becoming housed? Just relaxing again. I’m so used to getting up, running out the door, to get where I’m at now. To get a job, find a place. Also, personalizing everything in the place just like how I do my clothes. My room is set up like a dojo and I make little movie nights by the window with my backyard and projector. But I’m still making it really feel like home. What is an unexpected struggle GROUNDCOVER NEWS 5 that most people don’t think about when becoming housed? Wrapping my mind around the fact that I’m actually in my place. I’m still waking up swinging. Additionally, I want to help my friends get on their feet but I don’t want to jeopardize losing my apartment. It’s really hard to just sit down and let this happen to other people. I have a lot of family down here, but growing up, I couldn’t ask for help from any of them, so I had to make my own way. Thankfully I ran into a lot of people like me. People who did want to help. What pieces of advice would you give to people who are experiencing homelessness? Don’t trust anybody, anything. Ask questions and when people seem like they are avoiding answers, ask for their boss. And try not to screw it up for other people. What’s next for you? I want to go to school, and keep up with selling Groundcover. I’ve been asked to be President of Circling Back Peer Support Network. That’s an affirmation of my work ethic. I landed in the right place, with the right people around me. Any place called home is enchanted Everybody who has a home has an enchanted cottage. It is a blessing to have a home. When you have a home it is good for your health. A home is a place you can totally be yourself in. When you have your own home, you can rest and work. When you have your own home you can play when you want and have fun when you want, too. You can decorate your home and have it look the way you want. A home is very beautiful, no matter what it is, no matter where it is. A home gives you shelter from bad DENISE SHEARER Groundcover vendor No. 485 weather. A home gives you shelter from wild animals that could attack you. No matter if you live in a hotel room or a rooming house or an apartment or house of your own, it is always good to have somewhere to live. You can also have get-togethers with family and friends when you have a place to be. You can cook lunches and dinners for company when you have a place to be. You can watch things on TV and dream when you have a place to be. You can have a comfortable place to talk to Jesus when you have a place to be. You can make your enchanted cottage however you want it when you’re the only one who lives there. People who share a place, that’s an enchanted cottage too — it just takes more compromise and consideration when you share a place. Any place to be is an enchanted cottage. Any place someone calls a home is an enchanted cottage as long as comfortable. someone is
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