A first-of-its-kind housing program in Fond du Lac has been hoping to address housing insecurity in the area—before people are in crisis.
The program was started a year ago by the Salvation Army, and Synia Nash-Young is an early success story. She said the program allowed her and her four children to keep a roof over their heads.
- The housing retention program aims to help people before they're on he streets.
- The program offers assistance with rent, budgeting, childcare and more.
- Video shows one woman describing her family's experience.
When Nash-Young broke her leg earlier this year, she could no longer work as a certified nurse assistant.
"I just thought, like everything was over, kind of, because I didn't know when I was gonna be able to get back on my feet," Nash-Young said.
She fell behind on bills, and received an eviction notice.
"We could be out on the street or back into, like a shelter or something—yes, I was worried about that," Nash-Young said.
She isn’t the only one struggling to keep housing.
This fall, Fond du Lac released a housing studythat found a third of renters are spending more than 30 percent of their income on rent. It also shows home prices are currently $70,000 more on average than what median-income households can afford.
"It does get really hard," Nash-Young said.
Nash-Young was soon in contact with the Fond du Lac County Salvation Army, which began the housing retention program last winter when they discontinued their nightly warming shelter.
The program works with other local nonprofits to help people with things like budgeting, job searching, and finding childcare.
"When they are getting that eviction notice, we want to stop it before they would get to the streets," said caseworker Julie Hooper.
Nash-Young applied for the program and was accepted, connecting her with Hooper.
"We set goals together," Hooper said. :So it's not my goals on what we're going to do, it's what they want to work on together."
With funding from the program, Nash-Young received $600 a month for rent and help with budgeting.
Now, with a healed leg, she's pursuing a career in welding, receiving her certification earlier this month.
She was also able to keep her family in their home.
"My kids are really happy that we didn't have to leave, move somewhere else," Nash-Young said.
She’s still working with Hooper, but now has a different outlook on life, saying she's optimistic for the future.
"I'm happy that to see that I can come back from something I thought that was going to keep me down and out for a very, very long time," Nash-Young said.
More information on the housing retention program is available on the Fond du Lac Salvation Army's website, and the city's 2024 housing study is available to the public on their website.
