Success Stories
Community Housing Network Helps Turn Around a Life
How does a married man with children, who was a professional healthcare worker and competitive athlete, find himself homeless? Just ask Paul. It’s his story. For the most part, the story begins with a string of bad luck that’s all too familiar to homeless people. After surviving two bouts of cancer, Paul lost the physical ability to work full-time. He then developed a mental health condition requiring 13 very expensive medications. Along the way he also got divorced, lost his insurance, and lost his entire life savings. Where do you turn when all the money runs out and there’s no money coming in?
Paul had been looking for work in Maryland, unsuccessfully, when he returned to Michigan to be closer to his children. He heard of a system that he hoped would be able to help. Paul, in his mid-fifties and homeless, remembers the first year back in Michigan: “In 2005, I was about to be forced to leave the second shelter in six months because of an unpaid utility bill, when Jessica stepped in. She helped me find assistance with the bill and I was able to stay at the shelter longer.” Jessica Mumma is a case manager at Community Housing Network (CHN), an organization that helps homeless people, like Paul, when they’re at their lowest.
A year later, Paul was still having a hard time. He was converting part of his food stamps into cash to pay medical bills and eating pasta three times a week. “I couldn’t afford anything else,” he said. Once again, Jessica and CHN stepped in and helped Paul by finding him a job through Title V grants.
When Paul’s physical limitations made it difficult for him to work any more, he fought for, and received, disability benefits. These benefits helped Paul ease his financial situation. Then Jessica and CHN helped him find an apartment through the CHN Homeless Leasing Assistance Program. To Paul, finding housing was an immense relief. “I always feared being on the street,” he said. “The folks at CHN saved me. They’re terrific! A lot of people like me are just victims of circumstance. CHN gives us a chance in very meaningful ways, especially for families with children. They can help change lives. Just like they did for me.”
As for his life today, Paul is exuberant. “I’m down to nine medications and I have a place to live. I even have access to doctors, plus a health club so I can keep fit. And I see my kids. I can’t imagine what my life would be like if I was living on the street. I’d rather not think about it,” he said. “It horrifies me. I see homeless people on street corners and on the news all the time and think, ‘There but for the grace of Community Housing Network go I.’ Hey, it’s true!”
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