Heidi

Heidi has been involved with Brighton Center for over half of her life, as both a customer, and later an AmeriCorps VISTA Volunteer.

However, this story will begin in August of 2016, when the foundation of Heidi’s house crumbled during a severe thunderstorm.  The very next morning Code Enforcement came to the house, and ordered it to be condemned.

  Previously, Heidi had worked with a Resource Advocate through Brighton Center’s Dream It, Do It program, so when the housing crisis occurred, she knew where to turn.  Fortunately, Heidi receives housing assistance through the Housing Choice Voucher program, but finding housing at the same time as over 100 other Newport residents who were being asked to move to make way for a new road was proving to be extremely difficult.

Heidi’s Resource Advocate worked with her to apply to a shelter, but the waiting list was quite long.  Heidi then reached out to relatives and friends to inquire about staying with them temporarily while she was searching for housing.  Her manager at work was kind enough to let Heidi and her sons stay at her house during the housing crisis, otherwise they would have been sleeping in her car.

Having secured temporary housing, Heidi, along with her Resource Advocate, frantically searched housing resources that provide housing information regarding properties that accept Housing Choice Vouchers, but the lack of affordable options, combined with the limited of number properties that accepted the Housing Choice Voucher, was hindering Heidi’s search. 

Her Resource Advocate reached out to a landlord with whom he worked in the past, and that landlord referred them to another landlord friend who recently acquired an apartment complex in Campbell County.

The deposit was the next hurdle.  After reaching out to several agencies, Heidi connected with Red Cross, and they contributed financially towards the deposit but it still took most of Heidi’s savings to come up with all of the first month’s rent and rest of the deposit.  To ease some of the financial stress on Heidi and her family, Brighton Center was able to assist with food, hygiene items, and other household items which allowed Heidi to allocate the money she would have spent on those items, toward other expenses. Heidi and her sons are now stably housed and know they can turn to Brighton Center whenever they need to.