A New Beginning: Relocating A Family with YNN’s Help
Hear from one of our Navigators about helping a young person relocate her family to a different city in Ohio. She writes, “I started working with a young person back in February of this year. She lived in Columbus and wanted to relocate herself and her 9-month-old daughter to Lucas
Pursuing Housing Options in Lucas County
We began right away by creating a support plan. The young person focused on calculating the total moving costs and informing her new culinary program about the move duration to determine school options in case of any delays. She was also pursuing at least one resource from her resource binder to fund her move.
After researching moving costs and communicating with her school program, she decided she would be able to cover her moving costs and instead needed help with rent.
The resource that she initially found would not support moving someone from Franklin to Lucas County, but would only help those residing in Franklin County. So, we began to re-focus our attention on applying for flex funding and finding her low-income housing in Lucas County, as she did not want to live in an apartment.
Although she had section 8 assistance in Franklin County and could transfer the voucher, she desperately wanted a house, and Lucas County does not allow tenants much freedom when picking their homes. She is employed, and therefore decided she would rather try to pay her rent on her own, without section 8, so she would have the freedom to choose a home of her liking.
Overcoming Obstacles and Achieving Success
I sent this young person a new binder focused on low-income housing resources in Lucas County that might be affordable without section 8. After several weeks, she updated me stating that she was unable to find low-income housing that was affordable and decided to transfer her section 8 voucher.
After a few more weeks, she contacted me to let me know the voucher was successfully transferred and she found a house that she was going to apply for. This was huge because we did not think she would be able to find a house (but only an apartment.) Only a few days later, she texted that she was approved for the house!
I then focused on contacting her landlord company to get all the info needed to complete the flex funding request. This process alone took several weeks, as the landlord company had to wait to hear from Lucas County Metropolitan Housing to give the total amount needed for her move-in costs and first month’s rent.
Finally, the landlord company called back with everything needed to complete the flex funding request. At last, the request was completed and then approved. I was so excited and shared this news immediately with her, only for her to respond a few days later that the landlord company had failed their inspection.
She was understandably discouraged and asked if the flex funding check could be applied elsewhere. At this point, it was the end of April and we had been at this process for almost three months straight, so I understood her frustration. But, I also knew starting the entire process over, finding new housing, and working with a brand new landlord company could take much longer.
I reviewed the list of items needed to be fixed by the landlord company and found that it mostly contained quick fixes. I encouraged her and shared with her that the choice was up to her; however, starting over would most likely delay her process even longer, and although it was annoying, most items on the fix-it list seemed like quick fixes.
She responded that her landlord company emailed her directly and let her know they were ordering parts that day and planned to get her in her house by mid-May. I encouraged her to focus on finding things she wanted to put in her new home, to which she responded she had filled an Amazon cart!
On May 17th, I got a text from her stating, “Good Morning! MOVING IN!!!!” She then texted within our congratulations text frenzy. “This means so much! You have never met me in person but u always seem to shine a light on me! Others around me don’t even notice the hard work I put in. So thank you so much for all your help!”
To make matters even better, she was accepted and is now attending a new online culinary school!
This young woman REFUSED to give up, no matter how many no’s she got, no matter how many times she had to pivot, she kept pushing forward and got EXACTLY what she wanted!
YNN was able to pay for all of her moving costs, her first month’s rent, and we will soon be pursuing furniture.