Every day for six months, Dachea called 20 or 30 home care workers to see if anyone was available for hire. A kidney transplant and long COVID had left her with serious health issues that made it difficult to do household chores like take out the garbage, and she had been without a caregiver for six months. The state of Oregon had approved her for 65 hours of care a week, but after her previous caregiver retired, she was unable to find someone to take over. Until she met Denise.
Dachea and Denise are both residents of Clackamas Heights, an affordable apartment community in Oregon City owned by the Clackamas County Housing Authority. They live in permanent supportive housing, which means they have help with paying their rent and access to on-site services to support their wellbeing. Permanent supportive housing is designed for people who have at least one disability, have experienced long-term homelessness and have very low incomes.
Denise and her daughter have been living at Clackamas Heights for six years, after fleeing an unsafe living situation. Though she feels safe and secure in her current home, she also struggles with depression and chronic health issues. Her dream was to be a preschool teacher, but she was unable to continue her job working with children at the YMCA when the pandemic started due to health concerns. Then last year, she quit her job at a local movie theater when the manager wouldn’t let her take breaks, which were a necessity with her health condition.
Denise and her daughter moved into their home in Clackamas Heights six years ago after fleeing an unsafe living situation.
The loss of employment led to a difficult period for Denise; “I feel like I'm going into depression,” she remembers of that time. “I only feel like I have my daughter to support, and it doesn't feel like it's enough for me. I need to do stuff to keep me busy, keep me going.” That’s when Denise met Dachea.
Bernadette Stetz is a resident services coordinator working for the housing authority and supporting residents at two of their apartment complexes. As a member of the resident services team, she helps each person connect with the resources they need to thrive in their homes.
Over the past few years Bernadette has connected Denise with free clothes for her daughter through Bloomin’ Boutique, a gas card and work clothes through WorkSource, an air conditioning unit, and financial assistance to avoid a utility shut off when Denise was unable to pay her full bill. During the heat dome of 2021, Bernadette helped secure a hotel room for Dachea so her oxygen tank would have the power it needed to keep running.
Bernadette (left) is the resident services coordinator at Clackamas Heights, an affordable apartment community where Denise (middle) and Dachea (right) live. Her position is paid for by Metro's supportive housing services fund.
Bernadette thought the two women could be the solutions to each other’s challenges and proposed a conversation. Denise and Dachea got to know each other over the phone before meeting in person. Before they knew it, they’d been talking for three hours. “I get nervous meeting people in person,” Denise explained, “but I can talk on the phone!”
Dachea shared a list of things she needed help with and Denise told Dachea about her natural care-giving tendencies. “I love doing things for [people] and seeing a smile on their face,” Denise explained. Soon after, they had their first meeting at the apartment complex’s community garden.
Denise started helping Dachea with things like washing dishes and taking out the trash on a volunteer basis during the time she was earning the caregiver certification required by the state. Denise didn’t have a computer to take the online classes, so Bernadette gave her an iPad.
Both Denise and Dachea needed support to manage clutter in their homes, which put them at risk of eviction due to health and safety concerns. Denise had been struggling to part with some of her deceased husband’s belongings and Dachea was unable to maintain her home independently due to her health issues.They joined Bernadette’s weekly clutter group where they learned strategies to keep their homes tidy enough to pass regular inspections, and for their own wellbeing. Many people in the group were at risk of eviction due to clutter and all managed to successfully avoid that outcome.
Dachea waters her garden bed in the community garden at Clackamas Heights.
Denise has loved working for Dachea for the past six months. The first thing she does is make coffee for the two of them, and then does household work like cleaning, laundry and fixing lunch. It’s been “a blessing to be able to work for Dachea,” Denise said. “It's good; it gets me out of bed, it gets me moving.” Dachea understands that Denise needs to take breaks throughout the day and get off her feet due to pain from a hernia. Dachea is also teaching Denise how to cook healthy meals and bought her an Instant Pot pressure cooker for her birthday.
Now Denise has a little money to do fun things with her daughter and was recently able to get her a kitten. “God wanted me to be a caregiver,” she said, “so [this] was perfect.”
Bernadette's position is paid for by Metro’s supportive housing services fund, which enabled the housing authority to continue her employment when previous funding expired. The housing authority also used Metro SHS dollars to add a full-time housing retention specialist and two part-time peer support specialists to serve residents at Clackamas Heights.
The voter-approved fund has enabled Clackamas County to significantly expand their support system for people experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity.
Over the past six months they've been working together, Denise and Dachea have become close friends.