"A Place For Us Too"

Supportive Housing Project!

“A Place for Us Too” is a program like no other in Pierce County and is the brainchild of Jill Kruger. Jill conceived and created this project four years ago as a direct result of and response to the continual contact with numerous disabled and homeless people while working as the Senior Housing & Employment Specialist in the HELP Department of TACID-Tacoma Area Coalition of Individuals with Disabilities. " A Place for Us Too” is funded by a grant from HUD which is overseen by Pierce County Community Services. ”A Place for Us Too” does just what its name says; it provides housing for people that are often overlooked and feel left out of the mainstream. These are people with disabilities who are also homeless. Until this program came into existence, there were supportive housing projects for people with mental illness who were homeless, but there were no supportive housing programs for other disabilities be it physical, sensory, or cognitive. "A Place for Us Too" serves all disabilities.

Presently, we are providing safe housing and services for twenty-three adults and seven children in 13, 2-bedroom apartment units in three different locations: Four of the 13 are in the Hilltop area, and 9 are in the Parkland area. What is unique here is that these people are not just given the housing at a reduced rate, they are given help and support along the way. True their rent is subsidized by the grant, but they also have a case manager to teach them how to shop and clean, educate them about helpful community resources, advocate for them, and drive them to appointments, etc. We hold regular Life skills training workshops that provide instruction in such diverse areas as financial advice, sex education and developing housekeeping skills. The majority of our clients are either on a GAU (General Assistance Unemployable) through DSHS and receive $339 a month or on SSI of approximately $560 a month. With major waiting lists or closed lists for subsidized housing in Pierce County, "A Place for Us Too" brings hope to many who had used up their time in the shelters or were on the streets with no where to go.

By paying 30% of their income for rent on time, they build a sense of pride and responsibility and learn to be good tenants. One of the goals of the program is that after some time, clients will have paid off debt and will have a good reference to go out into the world into mainstream housing and rent a home with a good referral and a good rental history and be able to sustain their housing.

It was Jill’s dream that our clients would feel a sense of pride and self-esteem and so she insisted that the apartments were furnished with new furniture, dishes, towels and bedding. These homes help all who live there feel a sense of worth instead of the demoralization of homelessness and despair. It is clean and sober housing so there are more rules than regular rentals, but most of the residents don’t mind as many of them have had chemical dependency problems in their background and wish to make more positive choices in the future. They appreciate being warm and comfortable and having a place to turn to when the going gets rough. Jill functions from her heart with a lot of wisdom and common sense thrown in and under her direction we have changed the lives of many people.

Success stories are plentiful for our clients because people are given room and knowledge to succeed. There have been two high school graduations. One boy in one of the families is going to start college this fall. One resident is still in college and doing an internship to help set up a local food bank. We have other clients in school either working toward their GED or going to college. One of our clients volunteers for TACID and brings in many donations of goods and services to benefit the program and its clients.

To view photo's of some of our units, please click here!

 

 

To Contact Us:                                            

Mary Beth Quinsey
(253) 565-9000 Ext. 14
(253) 565-5443 (TTY)
E-mail:

or

Lisa Horn

(253)-565-9000 Ext. 25

(253)-565-5443 (TTY)

E-Mail:

or

Melody George
(253) 565-9000 Ext. 39
(253) 565-5443 (TTY)
E-mail: