My Housing Program issue seems to have been resolved. I haven’t gotten any phone calls other than the two before noontime from the individual who had finally acquired all the material from my case manager that they needed to process my recertification for another year. I should probably keep a stack of pictures handy for all who wish to have one for their dartboard after what I did to reach this point. You know. “Just as a courtesy.”
Of course, just because I haven’t received any more phone calls doesn’t mean I’m out of the woods yet. But… The activity via email and phone seems to indicate positive forward motion. So… “I’ll take it as a tentative win.”
I remember a time when the offices were right here in Newton. Back then you went to the office, sat down for a face to face with your case manager and did the application together right on the spot. They inspected your residence during that period as well, the entire process lasting about six weeks from start to finish and that was that.
Ever since the Department of Community Affairs consolidation of Housing Program Field Offices, the process involves you getting the paperwork that was once done in the office through the mail. Now you have to return it to them within a two-week period, which includes the time that paperwork takes to reach you in the mail. There have been some years when this process has lasted up to 14 weeks, “Me only finding out what my portion of rent would be two weeks before it was due.”
Over the past few years, we seem to be on an 8-week cycle from start to finish. So, it has gotten better. But there are times when I’m pretty sure I’d have been royally screwed and homeless if I didn’t keep a careful watch on the progress of my recertification.
I don’t see myself as entitled. Because I am blind, I’m aware that there are more resources I could tap. But I don’t because I’ve been able to manage what I have without them.
I didn’t ask for any of this and have gone to great lengths over the years to get away from it all. But it’s just not happening.
I’m left with the sense that New Jersey is simply running the Housing Program as cheaply as possible because there’s something in it for a handful of people at the top. Otherwise, they wouldn’t bother with the program at all.
That’s just my sense, right or wrong. But at least for now, “It would seem that I don’t need to go to Walmart to by a tent just yet.”
It is frightening to think about what might have happened if I took a laid-back approach to yesterday afternoon’s phone call though. I really do wish there was a better way of getting through life for me. But equal opportunity is nothing short of a disingenuous slogan and sham perpetuated by Wokeism. “So there really is no other way for me to go.”
I wouldn’t be surprised down the road if society here in the United States decided that disabled people in general shouldn’t exist and move to euthanize us all. Of course, that will probably turn the economy on its ear somewhat. But, if a handful of people figure out a way around that with an increased profit margin to go along with it, “I’m sure they will make it so.”
In the meantime, I’m just doing the best I can do. As for the way The New Jersey Department of Community Affairs Housing Program operates? “It is what it is.”