As clients learn to “adult,” their paths lead to success!

 Wrap-around services are key

Nick beamed from ear to ear. He had worn out his shoes on his construction job, saved first and last months’ rent and was ready to lease his very own apartment! He lived on the streets, worked and was setting his life right again!

Andrea sat on our corner, completely broken. He had torched his tent in the woods the night before. He wanted a fresh start and to quit methamphetamines. We discussed it, but he wasn’t ready yet. He wanted to go to college to learn film-making, stay sober, have a place to live, and recover from abusive parents and relationships. The more he talked about it, though, the more he knew he wasn’t ready, so he returned to hiding, hoping to avoid the legal challenges of being homeless until he was better prepared for change.

It's so exciting to watch clients find their way, but it can be heart-breaking to walk with them while they seem so lost. Recovery happens much more often than the anecdotes we hear lead us to believe. Most of our clients recover! Rejoice in that great news! We know that because our relationships with clients span years and years, and they are such a joy! Our clients are strong, and they are survivors! Guidance and encouragement go a long way to easing their paths.

Some organizations offer our clients free, HUD-sponsored housing, no strings attached. That gives young homeless adults a chance to experience apartment living. Initially, the housing was for six months, but that proved too short a time. At the end of that period, half the clients had improved outcomes but were not yet stable. Quite a few said they were worse off. Many told us the system should have been more selective about who was offered housing.

Partly at our urging, HUD adapted its program. We asked for two innovations suggested by clients: lengthier stays and mandatory wrap-around mentoring. HUD rejected the latter but eventually agreed to 36 months of housing support. We reasoned that’s a period similar to what college students need to mature and find their way. We hoped our clients would accept a year of voluntary mentoring that was part of the program and be stable by the end of their free housing. Unfortunately, none of them accepted the mentoring portion of the program.(As a result, SYMin stepped up efforts to reach housed clients and focused more on guidance and mentoring for them.) The 36 months of free housing are over for many now. Some remain housed, but others chose to return to homelessness due to overall instabilities, just as the clients themselves predicted. Importantly, however, it did set some on the right path.

Robert remained housed for a year, in an apartment beset by rodents and mold. He then decided living in a tent was better, left his apartment and still lives hidden in the woods. However, in the last 24 months, Robert has managed to stay sober for increasing lengths of time, has worked hard to avoid violent friends and enter better social circles, and has kept a job for more than a year. He is charting his own course into adulting, and he’s making considerable progress!
Rebecca remained housed for the full 36 months. She was working initially but found she really didn't need to. She battled depression but didn't seek counseling. She renewed relationships with family members but had difficulty keeping them on healthy footings. Her 36 months ultimately expired. Now she works, rents her own place, goes to church, has new, healthy social circles and maintains healthier boundaries with people. It may not be a straight line, but she is charting a path to recovery.

Several clients have had free housing multiple times. Even after failing, they received no special guidance or monitoring to help make it work. Each time, their unstable behaviors caught up with them. They either walked away from housing or were evicted for lease violations. Each homeless cycle seemed to teach them they were failures, but we know that’s not true. They regret their decisions but lack the discipline to do anything else on their own. While on the streets, we see them set goals, work and achieve them all the time, but the free housing trips them up because there are no conditions or limits set.

Unfortunately, there are few options between no-strings-attached free housing and making it on their own. We believe there should be. We pray for legal camping. We pray for safe boarding houses to make a comeback. We pray for safe, shorter-term, transitional apartments with required mentoring. We pray for Oxford Houses. We pray for strongly led cooperatives. We pray for housing with options for community support. No single option will work for every street youth. No single agency will have all the answers in terms of housing, sobriety, employment, mental health or guidance. We pray for a compassionate system -- one that listens to the youth and gives them step-wise options and safety along their journeys to recovery.

Learning to adult is difficult, but we continue to applaud the vast majority of clients who make progress and succeed like Nick, Robert and Rebecca. And we continue to advocate for safe, more immediate options for clients like Andrea. The HUD program is great for some. Community First! (a rent-paying housing community) works for some. Oxford House works for some. Austin Community College and employment work for some. Counseling for substance abuse or mental health works for some. Some just need more time and a "safe-enough" place to continue exploring options before they take their first steps.
We are so blessed to be a part of the solution -- with your help. "We know you care. That’s what makes you different": those words from clients are the truth, and so important for them to know. You are a blessing to so many, and we are blessed in return! 

— Terry