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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 10, 2017)
Street Roots • Feb. 10-16, 2017 News Page 11 ST. FRANCIS, from page 10 A person. Catholic Charities is prioritizing giving those units to homeless women. Deborah found out about the building through her case worker. “She’s pretty Up front and honest with me,” Deborah said. “She said, This one, you’re really going to love it.’” The other 91 units will be rented to people earning less than 60 percent of the median family income - $29,160 annually for a single person, or $41,640 for a family of four. ' T 'o apply to live in the S t Francis 1 Apartments, potential applicants must fill out a rental application, bring a photocopy of their I.D./a $42 screening fee, eight weeks of pay stubs from a current employer, a signed copy of their 2015 federal taxes with copies of the W-2s, copies of letters for rental assistance, utility assistance, food stamps and other forms of public assistance from the last 90 days, and copies of six months’ worth of documents from their most recent checking, saving and investment accounts. It’s enough to cross the eyes of a logistically-minded and financially literate person. Deborah said she didn’t have a problem getting the paperwork together. She is on Social Security, so some of the requirements did not apply to her. “All I had to do is go to my bank and (get) 1 six months of my checking and savings,” she said. *1 came pretty weft' prepared.’* For others, getting that paperwork together took leg work. fichóle Shepherd is a case manager with the Salvation Army Family and Veterans Center, and she was in the line outside of Catholic Charities on behalf of five of her clients, all of whom are homeless veterans. She guessed she spent around 30 hours preparing their applications and finding the right financial documentation, “That was definitely a challenge,” Shepherd said. “Not everyone has income statements for the last 30 or 90 days. And if you’re getting federal benefits, like (Social Security), or (Social Security Disability) or veteran’s benefits, you get the benefit letter once a year.” After working with Cascade Management. - the leasing office Catholic Charities is using to rent the St. Francis Apartments - Shepherd said, “we’ve got the crucial t 6:55 a.m., a woman with a crutch walked down the slope to the back of the line in front of Catholic Charities, which ran not down the sidewalk, but down the street along a line of parked cars. One woman lost her grip on her walker, and it rolled a few feet down the street and bumped into the curb. A person behind her grabbed it, and a couple people formed a small human chain to get the walker back to Hie woman. There was some grousing about the early hour. “I just don’t think it’s right,” one woman said. “What are we supposed to do?” another woman asked. Just then, Marilyn Fowler, a stout Wbnian with a quick grin, walked down the street using a walker. “Good morning, everyone!” she bellowed. “How’re doing? Best of luck to you!” Fowler is 67 and lives on the eighth floor of a project-based Section 8 building. Over the last few years, it has become more difficult for her to walk, so she is applying to the St. Francis Apartments so she can live on a lower floor. The only way for her to move to a lower floor in her current building, she said, is if someone moves, which rarely happens, or if someone dies. “It practically takes an act of God,” she said. As she spoke, staff with Catholic Charities opened the door,; and everyone walked inside. The social service agency pulled out all rnuiu dy JLOtrn ULUUt M arilyn Fowler, 67, applied to live at the St. Francis Apartments because, she said, it would be easier on her disabilities than the apartment she lives in currently. people, from being physically present during a lease-up event like the one Catholic Charities had two weeks ago. People who have disabilities or health conditions that prevent them from standing for long periods of time, who cannot take time off work or do not have access to reliable transportation may prevent them from being physically present oh a certain day or time. ‘Tt’s a terrible process,” one source, people can apply at any point with their case worker during an appointment, or at home before work, over coffee and in their pajamas. Buonocore said some people still show up to the office on the first day applications are open. “They’re anxious and have that instinct,” he said. “We assure people that it doesn’t matter if you signed up the first minute or the last minute. They’re in the pool, and it’s randomized.” The lottery system, he said, is a more potential renters to stand in line to submit efficient way of applications. handling “First serve and thousands of first ^W fcat I I h a w a ä I b I b m iä applications. In come (is) wage parM lm e Jofe? The i t a ! June 2016, 8,130 disadvantageous eo»e^ firs t serve (precessi benefits applied to join to a lot of the Home Forward’s the people who are the saw iest, priority public housing » e s i able, mesi Illerate, sues! able populations,” said wait list. In total/ le c o m p e te /" Bobby Weinstock, the housing an affordable B O B B Y W E IN S T O C K authority only housing advocate N O R T H W E S T P ILO T PROJECT manages 2,500 with Northwest. units. Pilot Project, Other which provides affordable housing projects have used housing for low-income seniors. different ways of considering rental “What if you have a minimum wage part- applications. When the apartments above time job? The first come, first serve the Bud Clark Commons opened in 2011, (process) benefits the people who are the Transition Projects, Inc., which manages the sawiest, most able, most literate, most able apartments, used a system to rank to compete,” he said. applicants based on their medical For years, Home Forward, the Portland vulnerability, ensuring that the unhealthiest metropolitan area’s housing authority, applicants received housing. accepted paper applications that were pieces.” , . Weinstock thinks online application accepted first come, first served. She left her home in Wilsonville at 5 a.m. systems using a lottery are the fairest way to get in line early. Shepherd is applying for “It would be in your interest to line up, to allow people to apply for housing. “It early in the morning or the night before, her clients, all of whom are living in a allows people to apply online over a period Michael Buonocore, Home Forward’s transitional housing shelter, “because the of time,” he said, adding that everyone has a executive director, said. “It was hard on bus doesn’t run from Beaverton early , fair shot of getting their applications in. “It enough for them to get,here,” she said. It s people, generally speaking, but more ensures the broadest possible participation,” obviously for seniors and people with a barrier.” he said. Some of her clients could not take time disabilities.” Trell Anderson, Catholic Charities’ The line of potential applicants would go off work that morning or they are too Director of Community Development and down the street and wrap around the block, unhealthy - some of her clients have been Housing, said Catholic Charities had people waited hours to apply. A few years recently released from the hospital; one had considered using a lottery system. ago Home Forward completely revamped a heart attack within the last week. He emphasized that the Jan. 31 event was its application process due to that demand. “Their health really (isn’t) at a place “just a kick-off” and people can apply People now submit online applications over where I felt comfortable telling them to get in-person, via email or by maihng an a period of a week to 10 days. The on the bus and ride all the way down and application through early April. “The applications are randomized, and a lottery- then stand in line,” Shepherd saidi (application) process is still open and There are numerous barriers that prevent system is used to select applicants. on-going,” he said. ■ s ’ Dhring the period the application is open people, especially low-WQW °r th e sto p s to h elp p eo p le tu rn in co m p lete applications, th u s in creasin g ev ery o n e’s c h a n c e s th at th e y ’ll b e a c ce p ted . Over the next few hours, the potential applicants sat down with multiple people from Catholic Charities and Cascade Management who reviewed their application, answered people’s questions, and told them which pieces were missing and scheduled follow-up interviews to turn in final bits of paperwork. “They were so organized,” Fowler said. “They did a wonderful job.” Fowler’s appointment is during the third week of February; among other things, she needs to bring a letter from her doctor stating that her cat helps reduce her anxiety. She applied to live in a one-bedroom apartment, which has a tub and a kitchen bigger than her current one. “Dream big,” she said, laughing. “I’ll be there until I go to a nursing home,” she jaid . “I’m so excited.” People were left with a similar sense of excitement and high hopes. Shepherd, the Salvation Army case manager, said there haven’t been many affordable units available. She thinks the apartments will be great for her clients because there is a sense of community, and it would take a 30-minute bus ride to get to the veterans’ hospital rather than the hour and a half-long trip the commute currently requires. Aside from no longer being homeless, Deborah is most excited about living in a brand new apartment “It will be my apartment from the beginning. Nobody’s lived there, there’s no bad karma,” she said. “That’s special. And I’ll be out of the shelter. That’s the biggest prize of all.”
