My experience here after an abusive home life and experiencing homelessness with my daughter was poor, but I was grateful to have a roof over my & my daughter’s head, a bed to sleep in and a place to call home! The fee is not bad, but when you have no job and they’re expecting you to pay it’s overwhelming. I ended up getting a great job.. got my license, certification and pay raise in healthcare during my stay here, got my drivers license and had good daycare for my daughter. However there is a lot of rules and restrictions; (no candles, cannot cook past 9 O’clock, not allowed to have other children in the apartment even if they are your own (which was never an issue for me, but quite saddening for moms of multiples) keep everything clean and tidy for apartment checks when you’re not even home (which can be a hard thing to do with a baby/toddler, especially if you’re a person who is at work ALL DAY & get home late from your shift, after the checks had already been done).
CONS: One of the ladies at the office had told me maybe I’m not a good fit for the program, because I had to rely on my father for a ride to and from places, seeing as I had no license nor car. The case worker I had ended up with was great at first.. Understanding, not in everyone’s personal business (just focused on how to better manage and communicate and help the woman build a future), etc. until one day she just stopped showing up & then my building got stuck with a new case manager, whom picked and chose who and who not to have compassion for and to be tough on, she was compassionate towards me and others, but not everyone. Some of the women have their own cliques, personalities differ, it gets ugly… one woman left a nasty note on my door accusing me of stopping her wash cycle when her clothes were in the community washers.. to wash mine instead, when the washers had actually been broken. There has been physical altercations, it gets loud and chaotic depending on the people who are in your building.
PROS: The therapy provided was great and I loved the therapist and how she was helping me to manage my past, stress and dealing with everything else in between! Mandatory Class on Thursdays, and Psychological counseling as well as child care.
February of 24’ I had found an apartment I could afford before my 2 year contract was up and at the same time I was slapped with a “termination” from the program before I could even tell the program manager of my plans, essentially I was being terminated due to me missing a mandatory class on Thursdays, I had just gone to the dentist and had to have a molar pulled; My face was swollen and I was in pain the class being held was a self defense class which I did not feel well enough to attend. I had told them the previous week that I had dental work to be done that day and that I may not make it to class (if you were going to miss class or had an emergency you were supposed to let them know ahead of time). Since then I have referred 2 young women to this program and one of them being my friend had mentioned me to one of the program case workers who said to her “Oh well just do a better job than ___ did.” As if I had not tried my best then to get to where I am at today, which I did not appreciate, especially after talking so highly of this program and referring other women as well, it was disheartening to hear!