Susan and John and their three children can attest to the difficulty of finding affordable housing in Snohomish County .

Although John worked full time, and the family was staying with Susan's mother, they never could pay all their bills and save toward all the fees required to move into a rental unit. Susan found employment, too, but the costs of childcare and transportation left too little to make it worthwhile.

Finally the situation became too much for Susan's mother and Susan and John decided they had to move. After calling the American Red Cross they learned that they could stay at Housing Hope’s Windermere Crossroads Apartments for three weeks while they waited for transitional housing to become available at Housing Hope’s Kennedy Court .

"Now that we're settled at Kennedy Court," Susan says, "things are much better." Family members interact more positively with one another and, "Everyone feels more stable." The children's behavior has improved dramatically. "The seven-year-old twins are doing much better in school now that they know they won't be moving away from their friends again. Things are calmer at home and there are fewer disagreements," she says.

Susan feels her family is making progress. "Our case manager helped us set realistic goals. She also helped us prepare a budget that we could live with and still save some money toward our future. We had a setback when my husband was laid off for two months," she continues, "but Housing Hope helped us with some food and our phone bill." The family also received some assistance from two local employee groups at Christmas.

Now that John has returned to his job, they feel more secure. Susan will soon begin attending a technical school to learn the computer and business administration skills she needs to earn more than minimum wage. She plans to seek employment in the health care industry.