Participants looking for stable and affordable housing are contacting St. Barnabas Community Resource Program with the dream of owning their own home or even making the current home safe and livable.

Participants are referred at different stages of meeting their housing goals: ranging from being evicted, sleeping on a relative’s couch, or being unaware of their housing options. ECS Housing Specialists are committed to assisting Participants

• Maneuver their next steps
• Identify barriers: financial, employment, rental history and criminal history
• Identify resources that may help reach their goals.
• Resolve barriers: ECS services, CLS, Expongent clinics and other community resources are utilized
• Identify options to fit their needs, income and disabilities (senior housing, housing for disabled, veterans, fair market, low income)
• Workshops to learn more about utility grants, homeownership, home repairs and information about other housing resources and new housing developments in the community

Participant Story

Ms. R came the housing specialist after being in a subsidized housing program for a year. She was graduating from the program with no plan for housing for when her time in the program ended. She spent her time in the program seeking employment and caring for her children. The year went fast and now she needed housing. The housing specialist coached the participant on the next steps. Helping her to understand the application process, the Barriers she had and what she needed to do to resolve them. She was able to review her rental history (to see if she was evicted or taken to court)to see what errors existed and the ones that needed to be addressed.

Applications for different low-income housing were completed. The participant was coached around obtaining the needed documents to complete the process. She was put on a waiting list for housing. We continue to seek housing and new housing that was accepted sooner rather than later. Her time in the program was coming up quickly. We met weekly, to complete online applications in different counties but she wanted to stay in Philadelphia. The waiting list is long and you must be aggressive in your housing search. Once some housing opens for availability, You may only have a week to submit the application and documents. If the application is not completed, it will be sent back. Ms. R was in luck we found housing that was accepted immediately. She came in to complete the application. she had all her documents. The application was submitted she was called and after completing the housing paperwork she was successful in obtaining safe affordable housing for the family.