Diane has lived in her own CASA apartment for nearly 6 years. She tells what she remembers about moving from the homeless shelter to a transitional housing program, and finally to her own place.
(A transcript of the interview is below)
“CASA has been the dream of my life. I always thought these people was nice people to get along with. I took one look at them, and I like them, you know? I liked them as a person.
What happened was I [went] down the Salvation Army. I walked up there, and I asked them, I said, “Can I stay with y’all tonight?”
The lady said, “Yes.”
So she carried me back there, and I filled out my name and my address and everything. Then she took me around there where the girls was.
She told me, said, “This is your bunk.”
So I stayed there that night. The next day I went down to Social Services, and they give me this case manager. And this case manager carried me over to a building, over here behind the women’s shelter. And she told me to stay there. She would come back and forth and check on me. She would come back and forth and check on me, and I said, “I’m fine, I’m all right.”
Then she told me one day, she said, “These people got you an apartment.”
And I said, “What people?”
And she said, “CASA.”
I said, “CASA?”
She said, “Yeah, come on we got to go over there.”
So I came over here. She brought me out there to look at this apartment, and the maintenance guy told me, he said, “You just better go on take it, you just better go on and take it.”
He said, “You will like it. Go on and take it.”
So I moved in there, and it was furnished. So that’s where I been ever since. So now, now they can’t move me with a board!
I love my apartment. There’s nobody there but me. I don’t have no trouble out of nobody. Nobody bothers me, I don’t bother nobody so that is… you can’t find that every day. I just love it. It’s peace and quiet.
Me and my apartment, all these people, I hear, come to it, they want it. They want it, “Lord, Diane, it’s so pretty. It’s so neat in here. You got the nicest apartment. Your apartment is nice!”
My apartment is no nicer than yours, you know. That’s the only home that I see, my apartment. That’s what I call my home. As long as you is a decent person, and looking for somewhere to stay, CASA will help you if you meet the qualifications of a house.”
