Although I had applied for the Mobility Counselor position at Housing Opportunities on a whim, it turned out to be a great fit for me. I do enjoy helping people. Every day at work I created value by helping section 8 voucher recipients find the housing of their choice. I also had a chance to practice my Spanish. Most of the Spanish speaking recipients I worked with were from Puerto Rico. We even started having small group sessions in Spanish. The sessions were an introduction to our program at the Greater Buffalo Community Housing Center. Word started to get around that we had a Spanish speaking worker at HOME and the number of Spanish speaking recipients we served multiplied.
I had the honor of helping our recipients find the housing of their choice. The section 8 program is great because it makes housing much more accessible to low-income individuals. The section 8 agency pays part of the rent directly to the landlord. The most recipients pay towards rent is 30% of their monthly income. Although most people did look for housing within the city, there were a significant number who found housing in one of the outlying suburbs. So, I did a lot of driving, most of it mainly in the City of Buffalo. I had to print out my map quest directions every time I went out. I have a terrible sense of direction, and this was before car navigation systems became widespread.
Fortunately, over time that lack of faith dissipated. I came to really trust and admire my coworkers. In fact, I developed friendships with many of them. We were in our 20s and 30s and spent a lot of time hanging out outside of work. I was in my early 30s but could definitely still relate to my peers who were a decade younger. I really liked Mr. Kim a lot and was grateful that he took a chance of me. When he hired me, I didn’t have the best employment track record. I know that it helped that I wrote for The Spectrum and that I was a UB graduate.
It was at HOME where I first got my taste of doing outreach. I had the opportunity to represent HOME at tabling events in the community. I also had the chance to write for HOME’s newsletter. This was something I enjoyed doing very much. I love writing. Although sometimes it can be quite a challenge for me.
I was the Mobility Counselor for HOME for over two years. During my time there I was able to transform my work environment. Or perhaps it is better to say that I changed myself and this resulted in the metamorphosis of my workplace. When I first started working there, I had a general distrust of my coworkers. There was one of whom I was very suspicious. She was part of the admin team, and I had to work with her a lot. I don’t know why I mistrusted her. She didn’t really do anything to warrant it. It was just part of my illness. I did notice that whenever I started a new job, I always felt a sense of distrust around my colleagues.
We had an hour for lunch at HOME. It was a paid lunch hour which was very rare even back then. We would often go out for lunch with each other. We developed a sense of comradery and friendship. I was faced with a dilemma. While I was working at HOME, I did get married. Unfortunately, because of cost we had to limit the number of guests. I didn’t invite anyone from work. I had developed friendships with many of my coworkers. But I felt like I could not invite some of them and not invite others. My solution to that problem was to invite no one.
I loved working for Housing Opportunities Made Equal. I had developed a sense of family there. I came to really trust my coworkers. So much so, that during a team building exercise I came out to all of them about my mental illness. I shared that I was diagnosed with schizo-affective disorder. I felt like I was in a safe space and could do this. And in return I received warmth and acceptance.