HO helps clients with foreclosure prevention: I always knew that HO provides housing for the homeless but did you know they also offer a variety of financial counseling to help people keep their homes?  For example, I got to sit in on a counseling session for a client who wanted to explore reverse mortgage. Mastering Excel is something you actually need to put forth effort to do: As a Millennial, when people ask me questions like, “Do you know how to use the latest version of this Apple product?” or “Are you proficient at PowerPoint?”  I always answer instinctively, “I’m sure I could figure it out” (never mind that I despise Macs and Presi is my right hand man).  Generally, my arrogance isn’t completely unwarranted and after a few minutes of “messing around” I’m able to get the job done.  Turns out, this mind-set doesn’t work for Excel.  So […]

“I’ve come back to life – I’d checked out.  This is a miracle…[Housing Opportunities] saved my life, honestly.  I was on the verge of giving up,” a client told me when we were talking one afternoon in her apartment.  For this client, like the majority of those we serve, unforeseen circumstances prevented her from working anymore and a woman who was once a self-sufficient, engaged mother became homeless and suicidal.  “I had nothing – everything was gone.  I was so deep in a hole and I knew I would never get out,” she said.  Housing Opportunities was initially able to help this client by providing her with a temporary housing unit, getting her approved for Social Security Disability Insurance, and offering her companionship at a time when she had never felt more alone.  Five years later, she is a part of our permanent housing program and spends her free time […]