Housing Retention One-on-One Services

Our Housing Retention Specialists can help when a household is experiencing housing instability because: 

• Someone in the household appears to need support, seems to be unwell (mentally, emotionally, medically, or otherwise), or is suspected of having a substance abuse or legal issue;
• The household has a hoarding, housekeeping, or squalor issue;
  
• The household has conflict with neighbors;
• The household is delinquent in paying rent or utilities and/or has accrued a debt with BHA, the landlord or with the utility company OR
• The household has a lease violation of a type other than as listed above

Services can include the following:

• Supportive counseling related to challenges with maintaining housing
• Referrals to other service providers for mental health, substance use disorder, medical, and/or legal support
• Advice on budgeting and general money management support, including referral for payee services 
• Support in dealing with domestic violence and custody issues (in conjunction with DCF)
• Convening and facilitating team meetings with other providers to strengthen awareness and take a collaborative approach to service-provision
• Support in addressing lease compliance (including neighbor and property management mediation)
• Coordinating efforts to remove contents from a hoarded unit
• High-level guidance related to maintaining a HUD rental subsidy (e.g., reporting changes of income, attendance at briefings, move and lease-up process)
• Support in identifying and securing consistent childcare and transportation
• Coordinating and/or occasionally providing transportation related to the service plan (e.g., Reach Up appointment, Family Safety Planning meeting, residential treatment)
• Referral to BHA's Family Self-Sufficiency Program or similar program to work on empowerment and economic stability and growth
• Other items as identified in the Service and Intervention Plan

Add on support services (services not typically provided, though sometimes available when other interventions have not been successful), include: 

• Housing search when current unit cannot be salvaged. 
• Assistance in securing back-rent and money owed from supporting organizations in the community.

While the services and support provided by the HRS are flexible and person-centered, they typically do not include providing the following:

• Packing or moving services
• Determining the status of housing application or current rental assistance
• Legal services or advice
• Supervising visits for child visitation through DCF
• Payee services, collecting rent or security deposits, bringing rent to a landlord, or collecting money of any kind from the client/household
• Temporary or permanent storage of client belongings
• Briefing any outside provider about the details of a case, including the property manager/landlord without express consent, in the form of a written release, from the client

To make a referral to the Housing Retention Team, please click the link above or here. All referrals are triaged within two business days.

For more information about the Housing Retention Program at BHA, please contact:

Crystal Jones 
Director of Housing Retention and Services
802-540-3202
cjones@burlingtonhousing.org

Homeless coordinated Entry Program:

Our community, through close collaboration with many local partners, including BHA, has established a coordinated entry system. This system identifies and secures housing and services for Burlington's homeless population and participated in the 100,000 Homes Campaign.