Teaching Tenancy

Assessing client’s history First step is assessing client’s history as a tenant If client has been through an eviction (or a few) find out what happened and have conversation early on (at intake or during housing search/pre-CTI) Try to gauge client’s level of understanding of the issue If client has never rented before ask their knowledge of leases/expectations for moving High need/chronic clients vs low need clients

Viewing Units On first apartment viewing together, prep client to meet landlord/property manager and have them prepare some questions to ask Let client take the lead and redirect when necessary Discuss the viewing afterwards and bring up anything they could do differently next time

Lease Signing and Inspection Get client involved in inspection as much as possible Make sure client is reading the lease and ask if they have questions before signing with landlord present to answer Make sure client gets a lease copy Have client get landlord contact info and preferred method of dealing with issues (building super, maintenance line, direct contact?)

Reviewing the Lease Many people sign leases without reading or understanding Things to look for – dates, names (make sure agency is not on lease), amounts, appliances, due dates, Biggest tool for educating client – knowing what is on the lease Make sure they understand what is acceptable to do on their own and what they need to ask about first

First Month Consistently focus on maintaining housing Always asking “How do you think that will impact your housing?” Establish guest policies with client that align with lease Many chronic clients may try to move in friends, allow them to stay (CCEH) Monitor and guide communication with landlord (too much, too little)

Addressing Issues Be real!! Always link back to impact on housing Discuss past housing success If client is frustrated/expresses not wanting to follow rules, ask what their plan is if they lose apartment

Specific Scenarios Issue: Client drinking at inspection/lease signing Solution: Get through lease signing as smooth as possible (before landlord could change his mind) address client later when she was sober about appropriate time to drink and risk to housing (harm reduction) Issue: Client got a dog but would say it was someone else’s at every meeting – Solution : Reminded client of lease, made plan that if dog was not gone by next meeting we would call animal shelters together to find a place for her, continued pop up visits to confirm that dog was re-homed

Scenarios Issue: Clients upon move in were a couple, domestic issue occurred, damage done to apartment, boyfriend moved out. Client also allowed child’s father to stay at unit, had domestic issues as well Solution: Discussion with client on getting boyfriend removed from lease and why it was important, discussed how allowing others she doesn't get along with can affect family’s housing

Additional Resources CCEH Webinar: Housing Solutions for Challenging Clients https://register.gotowebinar.com/recording/40122 49148662078978 For shared housing clients: Written roommate agreement http://cceh.org/housing-solutions-for-challenging- clients/

Questions? My contact info: Jamie Randolph Jamie.Randolph@use.salvationarmy.org 860-305-5536