After a wait of about two months,one of the residents here at CASS, moved into her own apartment today. I will call her "Suzy", to maintain her privacy. Suzy has had her own place before, but has not managed to stay long in any of those places. There are several reasons for her short stays and consequential states of homelessness. She is a recovering substance abuser, has a severe mental illness and has a soft spot in her heart for anyone in need. The latter caused her problems in the last place in which she resided. At one point, according to Suzy, she had up to 20 people living with her. Eventually the coming and going at all hours of the night by the people she had taken into her apartment, the fights between the same people in Suzy's apartment and the overall disruption caused by these circumstances, resulted in Suzy being evicted from the unit.
We hope things are different this time and are providing the necessary resources to ensure that they are so. First, we are encouraging her to seek day treatment for some of the problems that have caused her to be evicted in the past. We are keeping in contact with her mental health case manager to ensure that she is maintaining compliance with her mental health treatment. We are also following up with her to make sure she is remaining clean and sober. CASS is making sure she stays in this healthy state, by making several visits to her apartment each week. During these visits we will provide whatever support she needs to keep living in her own apartment. That would include food, clothing, cleaning supplies, budget management assistance and referrals to other service providers.
As of right now she is set in her apartment. She has a bed, with a box spring, a TV, a chair and a desk. She also has plenty of food, blankets, sheets and other necessities. Thanks to the hard work of great team comprimising of some current residents of CASS, a former resident who lives in the same apartment complex, and some CASS employees, all of Suzy's belongings were moved from her former residence, where they were being stored, to her current residence. No small task. Suzy was extremely grateful for everyones hard work and even pitched in to help herself. All in all it was a good day.
