It was Christmas time. A time that’s usually full of cheer, but not for Tiffany. Tiffany was 22-years-old, had never been alone before, and was now homeless.
Dakota Center for Independent Living (DCIL) immediately sprang into action. Her advocate helped her to apply for housing assistance and searched for available apartments with reasonable rents; however, there were no openings and the application process takes one to two months. In the meantime, Tiffany went to the Adult Abused Resource Center (AARC) to see if they had any rooms. There weren’t any rooms available at AARC, but she did receive some food and supplies. Her advocate called around to several other agencies to see if there was any assistance available to keep Tiffany in a motel until housing opened up, but the only assistance available was rent assistance for those who already had an apartment.
Tiffany used up her available resources on motel rooms and food. The time came where she had to make the choice of moving away to live with family in another state or go to the homeless shelter. Tiffany was petrified of the shelter so she decided to move to South Dakota until there was reasonable housing for her back in Bismarck. Tiffany had to quit school, leave her friends and the city she called home.
In February, Tiffany’s housing application went through and she received notice that an apartment had opened up and she jumped at the opportunity. Tiffany had very little money and very few belongings. Tiffany’s advocate called around to several different furniture stores to see if they would work with payments on a mattress and it paid off. Fundamental Furniture agreed to put Tiffany on a payment plan and delivered the mattress free of charge that day. Tiffany was also taken to several different thrift shops to buy items for her place.
Before Tiffany could move into the apartment, DCIL had to seek out assistance for rent and a deposit. Without assistance, Tiffany would not be able to afford to rent the apartment. Tiffany’s advocate called various agencies and luck was on her side. AID Inc. and Salvation Army had assistance available. Tiffany was on track to move into her own place.
Tiffany moved in three weeks ago and now has a place to call home.