Many of the clients who come to Community Housing Innovations have experienced challenges that have set their lives into a spiral of either physical, emotional or economic chaos and have left them feeling helpless and hopeless.
CHI’s emergency shelter program offers them a temporary place to live and work alongside our highly trained and dedicated social workers and case managers to help them “untangle the knots” and set their sights on the horizons of hope and new beginnings
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In August of 2019, a mother and her daughter became residents of CHI’s Moreland Family Shelter. “R.C.” had faced the challenge many face on Long Island, of finding housing that would be commensurate with her low-moderate income. She became the tenant in a house owned by an absentee landlord. The unit she rented was in need of upgrades and repairs, but without many options she agreed to the terms of the rental. R.C. depended on rental subsidies through the Section 8 program, which helped her meet the monthly expense of her housing costs. In R.C.’s case, the rental subsidy was $300.00.
She notified her landlord of the conditions of her rental and asked him to please have the property examined and repaired as needed. Her numerous requests were never addressed.
R.C.’s health as a direct effect of a mold problem worsened. She was hospitalized and was placed in a medically induced coma for nearly 3 months. During this time, friends and family cared for her daughter at their homes. Given her compromised health, R.C. was unable to make the rental payments for the three months she was hospitalized.
To make matters worse, her landlord had her evicted.
With no place else to go, R.C. turned to Suffolk County’s Department of Social Services for guidance and referral, which is how she came to Community Housing Innovations. She explained to her program manager, Jen, that since her previous landlord filed an eviction notice with DSS, based on the arrears of $300, this impacted her eligibility for any future Section 8 voucher assistance which she desperately needed to find a new place to live.
Thanks to the Hand Up fund, which was initiated by Community Housing Innovations in June of 2019, there was a resource of immediate help. The CHI program manager, Jen, issued a request on behalf of R.C.’s need for $300.00 to reimburse her previous landlord and clear her record with Section 8.
The Hand Up fund is supported by compassionate community donors who understand that modest but critically needed financial assistance for CHI clients makes all the difference in helping individuals get their lives back on track. The Hand Up fund assists clients with needs such as workforce certification fees, applications for housing, transportation costs, employment attire and the like.
On January 31, R.C. and her daughter will be moving into their new home in Bay Shore
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Every day, in every way possible, Community Housing Innovations assists clients to help restore their confidence, direction and achievement of self-sufficiency and economic independence. We are grateful to every donor and community resource that partners with us to help make more stories like this on, have a happy ending. Thank you.